TIME selects best inventions every year, but this year, the best inventions of 2022 were chosen with a focus on growing fields such as electric vehicle industry, green energy, and the metaverse. Groundbreaking inventions were chosen on factors including originality, efficacy, ambition and impact. TBM Designs InVert Self-Shading Window is featured in an article is covered by Matt Alderton and can be read here. (November 10, 2022)

TBM’s groundbreaking thermobimetal research led to designing thermobimetal turbines to create rotational motion from heat energy alone.  (October 11, 2022)

The Digital Science Team hosts the annual Science Foo Camp in San Francisco. Known as an “unconference” with no fixed agenda, the Science Foo brings together scientists of all backgrounds and focuses to discuss the world today and science’s function in it all. SUNG is invited as part of this exclusive conversation. Read more about it here. (June 17-29, 2022)

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a membership organization for licensed architects, professionals, and partners. SUNG was asked to present as the Keynote speaker at the Long Beach Aquarium. (June 09, 2022)

The Korean-America Scientists and Engineers Association is a non-profit organization that aims to promote the application of science and technology for the betterment of society and foster international cooperation between Korea and the US. The 30th South-Western Regional Conference for (KSEA) was hosted at Claremont Mckenna College. SUNG opens the conference as the keynote speaker. See the brochure here. (May 21, 2022)

My Green Building Conference & Expo (MyGBCE) is hosted by USGBC-LA, a non-profit organization focused on transforming Southern California into a more sustainable region. MyGBCE brings presenters and abstracts to open discussions to address topics and solutions to achieve a better and more holistic community across Southern California. SUNG talks about the impact InVert might have on the Southern California community. (May 20, 2022)

Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum is located on the  California State University Long Beach campus, fostering a community for contemporary art and cultural appreciation. SUNG discusses art and her sm[ART] box installation. (May 12, 2022)

SUNG and her research are featured as one of 16 innovators to watch in 2022 Smithsonian Magazine. The article focuses on trailblazers known for innovating for good and seeking solutions to today’s biggest challenges. Read the article here. (January 4, 2022)

University of Westminster was established in 1838 as the first polytechnic in London striving to educate the working people of London. SUNG lectures on her inventive attitude, TBM Designs, and InVert to turn interest towards sustainability and environmental design. (December 02, 2021)

Frame is a global platform for exploring the future of spatial design in the interior-design industry. SUNG and her work on thermobimetal is featured in the article “Doris Sung: Moving Matters” by Adrian Madlener in the November/December 2021 issue. (November/December 2021)

Cooper Hewitt, a part of the Smithsonian Institution, is America’s design museum encompassing innovation, experimentation, and inclusivity. Each October, Cooper Hewitt hosts virtual programs as part of their National Design Month to encourage all to pursue education and career in design. SUNG is nominated and awarded the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for 2021. Read more here. (August 2021)

Falling Walls is a global hub for connecting science, business, and society to shape humanity’s future through dedication for breakthroughs across all disciplines. SUNG is awarded Falling Walls’ Science Breakthrough of the Year in Art and Science for 2021. Read her article here. (August 10, 2021)

Curated by Tom Kovacs, a series of influential architects and designers are featured as part of an online exhibition, the Italian Virtual Pavilion created by CityxVenice. SUNG is featured here. (May22-November 21, 2021)

Articulate Foundation for PBS and American Public Television explores how create thinking shapes the world. Sung makes an appearance on Season 7, Episode 6 to discuss “The Skinny of Smart Design” with Jim Cotter. Read more here. (June 04, 2021)

The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and the Chicago Atheaneum produce a program to create awareness on contemporary leaders in design and products. SUNG was awarded the 2021 Green Good Design Award across Ireland, Finland, Greece, and USA. (April 2021)

Technology | Architecture + Design (TAD) Journal is a peer-reviewed international journal covering the relationship architecture and design has with building technology. SUNG publishes “Notes from the Valley of Death: A Case for Entrepreneurship in Architecture”. (February 2021)

William McLean covers how design changes in a climate emergency in his Environmental Design Sourcebook. Chapter 2.10 highlights SUNG and her work on Bloom and Oculus and how thermobimetal addresses the climate emergency in her work. (2021)

Oculus, originally designed as an auction item, is a design meant to open and close when heated. “Going Circular” focuses our collective future on Earth, referencing Oculus. (2021)

The sm[ART] box, a 20-foot steel shipping container with TBM InVert windows installed finds its way to CSULB as part of a sculptural installation with the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum. Abstract art is featured on the walls of the container and continued on the thermobimental within the InVert windows. Read more here. (November 2020)

Women4Climate Tech Challenge, based in Lisbon, Portugal, challenges women in tech to submit their innovative solutions addressing several climate concerns. TBM Designs’ InVert Self-Shading Windows were selected as one of ten finalists. Read more here. (September 23, 2020)

SUNG and InVert™ are featured on ARCHITIME by Oleg Sochalin. Read the article here. (August 28, 2020)

Patented auto-shading system, InVert™, won Architect Magazine's 2020 R+D Award. Click here for more details. (July 2020)

TBM Designs joins Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator as a startup focused on smart, sustainable cities and building an inclusive, green community. Read more here. (April 01, 2020-March 31, 2022)

SUNG presents at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois. (March 11, 2020)

SUNG presents on "Material Concerns" at California State University, Long Beach. Watch here. (January 25, 2020)

Patented auto-shading system, InVert™, won Best Architectural Products on Architectural Record. Click here for more details. (2019)

Patented auto-shading system, InVert™ Self-Shading Windows, won Architecture MasterPrize 2019 Product Award. Click here for more details. (September 16, 2019)

Patented auto-shading system, InVert™, won Architect's Newspaper Best of Products Award. Click here for more details. (August 19, 2019)

Suk's studies show positive results for daylighting, visual comfort and glare for InVert Self-Shading Windows. The study only tested a limited amount of time. Modeling for an entire year will be next!

BOOK by Carla Sinclair 2020, Simon & Schuster: "Each mini-biography tells a story of a woman who has used her STEM skills to change the world. These women have saved countless babies' lives, revolutionized the way scientists studied insects, invented products to help victims of natural disasters, and used satellites in space to solve dinosaur mysteries. They are protecting the environment, perfecting self-driving cars, designing the buildings of the future, and pioneering new practices to save people—and pets too! They’re building robots on YouTube, creating plastic alternatives out of cactus slime, and turning killer snails into life-saving medicine."

Katie Burton featured Armoured Corset on her "Lessons from Nature" column in the April 2020 issue of Geographical Magazine, a London based magazine.

After a sudden postponement due to COVID-19, New Zealand Institute of Architecture annual conference resumed on November 23, 2020. Sung's keynote lecture on Zoom can be seen here. See the BuildNZ 2020 website here.

With Bill Browning, Wendell Burnette, Paulett Taggart and Jennifer Yoos, SUNG spend two days reviewing and deliberating over 180 projects to select annual AIA/CC Honor and Merit awards, Leading Edge awards and Maybeck award. Needless to say, the projects were amazing. It was a privilege to serve on this jury.

R+D for the Built Environment is the ideas workshop for design, construction, and real estate industries.

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Led by Michelle Kaufmann, the R+D for the Built Environment group is an amalgamation of makers, designers, architects, and engineers working on innovative solutions for commercial and residential buildings in the Bay Area. From the scale of the desk to the scale of the region, we generate ideas and prototypes that bring value to the end user and large tech clients. We aggregate the best thinking around today’s biggest design challenges and develop solutions that can be brought to life in our buildings and neighborhoods. With humans at the center of our work, we’re creating an optimistic, resilient, resource-efficient, technologically-enriched and beautiful future.

SUNG formed a start-up company with Karen Sabath and Scott Horwitz called TBM Designs LLC to commercialize her patented auto-shading system. The innovative product, called InVert™, won both the Jury and Popular Choice Awards in the Architizer A+ Facades: Glass+Glazing category.

Kristopher Gee interviews SUNG for a feature on "USC Professor Innovates Smart Building Materials for New Green Deal Era". Click here to see the video footage and article.

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Kristopher comes to Spectrum News 1 with a background in independent and documentary filmmaking and composing. He’s even won an Akira Kurosawa Award for one of his short films. He’s now excited to be able to tell stories in a different way – by reporting on all the talent and diverse backgrounds that LA has to offer.

Hosted by Tammy Jow, SUNG presented the work of DOSU Studio Architecture and TBM Designs.

SUNG joins the USC Chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society as one of three inductees for 2019.

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From USC Chapter website: Founded in 1897 at the University of Maine, The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi (PKP) is one of the nation's oldest and largest honor societies and is a charter member of the Association of College Honor Societies. PKP's membership currently numbers more than 900,000 scholars from across the globe. Drawing membership from all divisions within the academic institution, PKP is the largest interdisciplinary honor society. It is in a unique position to cultivate consciousness of relationships by bringing together individuals from a variety of disciplines.

See her article titled "Thermobimetal Shutters by Doris Sung Self-Regulate the Temperature of Buildings" online here.

Check out the article  "USC Prof Devises 'Smart' Building Materials that Moves by Themselves (That's Right, No Motor, to Save Energy" which appeared in several Southern California newspapers here.

Sung is photographed with Rakesh V. Pandit and Sue Kim from the USC Stevens Center for Innovation.

USC Stevens Center for Innovation recognized several faculty members who's patented inventions were licensed. Sung's self-shading windows were recognized among many.

HKS employees formed teams to work over the weekend with a selected student from the local architecture schools to brainstorm on ideas for innovative urban designs. Invited by Diana Tang, jurors  Christopher Hawthorne,

Click here to read article in Landscape News, Global Landscape Forum.

Check out the article here for details.

With Joe Smoke at the helm, a group of artists, curators and directors, convened to review submissions for the City of Los Angeles (COLA) Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Master Artists for the 2019-2020 season. Click here for more info.

Photo of Sung with Karen Sabath at the Women4Climate Conference in Paris, France.

-The Women4Climate Tech Challenge is an international contest open to women  carrying out an innovative tech solution for climate action in cities. Complementary to the mentorship  programme, the Challenge is opened to all  C40 Cities and promotes concrete solutions  with a measurable impact.

-Technology and data are key agents to create and accelerate sustainable change in cities and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. These inequalities need to be addressed with tailored actions and tools to support female entrepreneurship and address the barriers women meet in venture capital and start-ups.

-In the framework of the Women4Climate initiative, the Tech Challenge is a key action for C40 to support and promote diversity and inclusion in technology and innovation, where women are largely underrepresented and provide to mayors the best women-led climate-focused tech solutions.

With jurors Thom Mayne, Christopher Hawthorne and David Martin, SUNG reviewed 20 projects submitted by self-selected groups of students at the USC School of Architecture. The imaginary program was for an olympic housing park in Carson, California. The selected winners received with cash prizes and recognition from the USC Architecture Guild.

Invited by Enoch Chow, SUNG with David Martin and Miller Fong juried some fun furniture proposals by self-selected groups. The event was followed by food and conversation.

Invited by Amr "Joey" Elbasuony, SUNG presented work from DOSU and TBM Designs.

The Artist in Residence (AIR) program awards fully sponsored residencies to approximately 50 local, national, and international artists each year. Residencies of four to ten weeks include studio space, chef-prepared meals, comfortable housing, and travel and living expense reimbursements. AIRs become part of a dynamic community of artists participating in Headlands’ other programs, allowing for exchange and collaborative relationships to develop within the artist community on campus. Artists selected for this program are at all stages in their careers and work in all media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, film, video, new media, installation, fiction and nonfiction writing, poetry, dance, music, interdisciplinary, social practice, and architecture.

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Read more here.

See it here in METROPOLIS Magazine.

The first volume of the Adaptive Environments series focuses on Robotic Building, which refers to both physically built robotic environments and robotically supported building processes. Physically built robotic environments consist of reconfigurable, adaptive systems incorporating sensor-actuator mechanisms that enable buildings to interact with their users and surroundings in real-time. These require Design-to-Production and Operation chains that are numerically controlled and (partially or completely) robotically driven. From architectured materials, on- and off-site robotic production to robotic building operation augmenting everyday life, the volume examines achievements of the last decades and outlines potential future developments in Robotic Building.

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Sung's chapter, "A New Look at Robotics in Architecture: Embedded Behavior with Smart Materials", discusses the value of co-bots in the construction of architecture.

Photo of SUNG with Marilyn Long of the Long Family Foundation at the dedication of Fuller at the South Coast Botanical Garden.

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The Long Family Foundation (LFF) is a private foundation, which was established in 1992 by John and Marilyn Long to further their desire and commitment to share their hearts and resources to support projects, programs, and endeavors in the United States as well as China.

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See more here.

Laka Perspectives is a pocket-sized source of inspiration presents interviews and essays of renowned experts in disciplines such as architecture, urban planning, computational design, digital fabrication, smart materials, mobility, fashion, art and biomimicry. The book is about the people who have decided to take action for the future through architecture, technology, and innovation. 

The COLA Individual Artist Fellowship allows accomplished artists to create new work with increased freedom to innovate and experiment.

The Fellowship Program grant category honors a spectrum of the City’s most creative artists who:

• Are dedicated to an ongoing body of excellent work.

• Represent a relevant progression through their pieces or series.

• Exemplify a generation of core ideas in their field.

• Are respected by their peers and are role models for other artists because of their distinguished record.

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See article in LA Weekly for more info.

Compiled by a not for profit cultural collective of 17 creative women, all driven by passion for a more inclusive vision in architecture. The biographies of these female architects, complete with images of their projects and links to sources, have been published each day over the course of one year on Architette Facebook platform. The emphasis is on designers with a substantial CVs, demonstrating the commitment and experience indispensable to reach a high quality and innovative level of design as well as social engagement.

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The project started in May 2017 by a collective of 17 creatives in Italy, between 25 and 45 years of age, producing a publication to coincide with the opening of the Biennale Architecture 2018 in Venice. The full book represents 12 months and 365 bios. Click here for the online book.

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"Transforming the DNA of the Built Environment" is a two-part meeting held in the Spring and Fall of 2018 to kick off a collaboration between The Center for Ecosystems in Architecture at Yale (CEA--pronounced 'see') and New Lab at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. In Spring 2018, new strategies for inking systems for energy, water, air, food and material life cycle throuh the mission of emergency housing was discussed. The fall 2018 meeting will consider innovative ways in which new DNA for materials, devices and integrated systems could lead to fundamentally different infrastructural models for distributing resources at the urban and district scales. Kip Bradford, Demetrios Comodromos and Aletheia Ida presented their work and ideas on the Water Panel.

Only two were awarded this year. See list here. Scroll to the bottom.

The text on the award reads as follows:  Doris Sung is a visionary experimental architect whose work marries the highest levels of art and technology. Her projects combine cutting-edge science with great artistry, using thermo-bimetals and taking inspiration from mathematics and biology. These intricate geometric assemblies open and close like a field of flowers, and demonstrate how solar heat energy dynamically transforms the shape and geometry of thin metal sheets to perform a range of transformations—including ventilation, light, shading, and structure—on the facades and in the structure of her architecture. As beautiful as they are functional, these innovations are geared toward a wide spectrum of potential applications, and promise efficient and elegant solutions to pressing environmental problems. Indeed, she has received funding to develop her research practice with a range of industry leaders.

Among five invited lecturers at the Adaptive Facades Symposium in Iowa State University on April 19th, Doris Sung presented the environmentally responsive work of DOSU Studio Architecture. Ranging from academic research to client-based work, the various projects and work presented throughout the day challenged various aspect of adaptation on building facades. Click here to read more about the symposium.

The Symposium engaged participants in an exploration of “living at the intersection” of engineering and the arts with thought leaders, researchers, artists, faculty, students, and professionals who create at or near this intersection.

CST is launching the biennial Living at the Intersection Symposium series in service to its mission to broaden and deepen participation in STEM. The Symposium series facilitates engagement that is unconstrained by disciplinary labels by cultivating opportunities for new and meaningful study, exploration, and collaboration, at intersections of the sciences, engineering, humanities, arts, and social sciences. Click here to read more about the symposium.

The first-ever Princeton Environmental Ideathon (PEID) is a two-day competition at Princeton University for bringing together academics and leaders of industry from the East Coast to address challenges and propose solutions to developing a greener and more sustainable modern city. Keynote speakers included Doris Sung, Pablo Lorenzo-Eiroa and Ashley Dawson. Read more here.

The Design Forum two-day conference will showcase dynamic figures in art and architecture who have embraced the blurring of lines between the disciplines. Presentations from Eric Höweler, Doris Kim Sung, Nathan King, David Freeland and Refik Anadol, among others, will offer insight into how we can utilize the ever growing and changing resources that expand the limits of design. Click here to read more about the event.

Invited by Virginia San Fratello, Associate Professor in Interior Design at the San Jose State University, SUNG presented work from DOSU and TBM Designs.

Click here to read more.

Bloom and other projects are feature in this article by Ben Schulman. Click here to see article online.

Hosted by Renee Cheng, SUNG reviewed numerous projects for the 2017 AIA Utah awards via virtual meeting.

Guest Curator: Mariah Nielson

This exhibition presents digital and handmade architectural pavilions by Bay Area, national and international architects. The work included in Architectural Pavilions: Experiments and Artifacts will transform the galleries of the Museum of Craft and Design into an immersive architectural environment, demonstrating a range of projects from small-scale models to full-scale installations.

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The content included in the exhibition is diverse – material samples, drawings, films, models, mock-ups, and full-scale installations reflect the broad range of techniques that architects employ to build pavilions at variant scales. This exhibition addresses architecture’s physical and collaborative processes through the presentation of digital and handmade pavilions by eight architectural studios: Carmody Groarke (London); DOSU Studio Architecture (Los Angeles); Future Cities Lab (San Francisco); Jay Nelson (San Francisco); Materials & Applications (Los Angeles); SITU Studio (New York); UC Berkeley Architecture students, Prof. Lisa Iwamoto (Bay Area) and Warren Techentin Architecture (Los Angeles).

Part of the «Exploration of the City of the Future», SUNG presented work in response to: How will the City of the Future look like? How can we shape a creative and sustainable future?

X–Festival is an annual cross–disciplinary, visionary, inspirational and stimulating ideas festival at the crossroads of science, technology and art towards a creative and sustainable future. X–Festival aims to bring together different worlds, to stimulate innovation through cross–overs, to explore new frontiers and horizons and to be a Big–Bang of reflection and action.

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Click here to read more.

This year’s theme celebrates the museum’s recent return to our DTLA roots and will highlight each of the distinct neighborhoods that make up the cultural mecca of Downtown Los Angeles. Through a world-class silent auction featuring inspired DTLA designs, CELEBRATE: DTLA will explore the past, present, and future of Downtown Los Angeles as a source of inspiration for artists, designers, and design enthusiasts alike.

Each year the Celebrate Gala grows in audience, designer participation, and wow factor! We are looking forward to welcoming even more members, friends of A+D, and DTLA neighbors as we raise crucial funds for the year ahead and celebrate the vibrant and creative community that is Downtown Los Angeles.

This is the highest achievement for journal publication in the U.S. for architecture.

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Click here to see past recipients.

Invited by Patrick T. Mather, Dean of the College of Engineering at Bucknell University, SUNG presented her work at DOSU Studio Architecture to the engineering faculty at their annual retreat.

“Future Forward is part of an ongoing expansion of The Creators Project’s mission to support the creation of meaningful original works,” says Gerhard Stochl, The Creators Project publisher. “In Toyota and the all-new 2016 Prius, we have a one-of-a-kind partner that continues to inspire and enable us to help make great art that’s accessible to everyone.”

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Doris Sung’s technology-focused piece is a “kinetic chandelier” built around material responsiveness. “The piece will be made of thermal-bimetal, a material that expands and contracts with temperature swings independent of any driving electronic mechanism,” Sung says. “So the sculpture’s behavior–that of perpetual motion–is essentially programmed through the use of this material technology.”

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See video here.

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