PROJECTS: Self-Ventilating
By using solar energy, a thermobimetal system can be smartly designed to block the sun. This strategy is especially useful when trying to prevent solar heat gain and glare to enter a building, while using no energy and needing no controls.
Tracheolis
August 2012, ARS Electronica, Linz, Austria
September 2015, Copernicus Science Center, Warsaw, Poland
Project Description
In effort to make thermobimetals a feasible material for the building industry, various research is focused on the development of building components for the market.These studies of stackable blocks take inspiration from the grasshopper’s respiratory system. The grasshopper draws in air through holes in its sides called spiracles into a complex network of trachea. The blocks would similarly draw out air, utilizing Bernoulli’s Principle of fluid dynamic, through a matrix of small holes in the surface. Cantilevering geometries of thermobimetal perform as control valves at strategic points, allowing air to pass through the openings only when the temperature reaches a certain degree. When cold, the valves are closed, trapping air for insulation. Numerous versions of the valve are being studied for optimal operation when both hot and cold.
Credits and Information
MATERIALS: Concrete, polymer, thermobimetal, plastic
PROJECT TEAM: Doris Sung, Julia Michalski, Justin Kang, Michelle East, Yun Koo
FABRICATOR: Ron Rael/Virginia San Fratello (Emerging Objects)
AWARD(S): ARS Electronic [next idea] Honorable Mention
FUNDING: ARS Electronica, Copernicus Science Center and USC School of Architecture.
Selection Process: Upon receiving an Honorable Mention through a blind-review process by the ARS Electronica [next idea] jury where they annually get about 2,500 entries from 75 countries for six awards, Sung was invited to install the project for exhibit at the annual PrixArts Electronica Festival in 2012. The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the world’s premier awards honoring creativity and innovativeness in the use of digital media.
The same project was exhibited at the Designers of the Anthropocene, Przemiany Festival 2015 at the Copernicus Science Center in Warsaw, Poland on September 04-06. All shipping and installation costs were covered by the museum for this exhibition.