A figure that is with an environmentally approachable installation was being displayed at the Materials and Application Gallery in Los Angeles, California. This sculpture was designed with the intent of being a sun-tracking apparatus, which would also catalog the time and temperature of the day at its location.
The design team laser cut roughly 14000 pieces of temperature perceptive sheet metal. When the sunlight hits the sculptures exterior surface, the surface manifests the theatrical disparity in form and function. The metal covering plates are distorted by the heat, then the curl and allow air to enter the structure and ventilate the space. When it responds to the environment, the installation is expected to reach its peak function on March 20th, the spring equinox.
Courtesy of DO|SU Studio Architecture
Similar to how the metal plates distort to the sunlight, the frame of the sculpture was also designed with the intent to adjust itself to various environments. This design process produced the final form of a lightweight and flexible structure, which is composed of 414 hyperbolic-parabolic shape panels. Some of the modules of metal panels are made more durable by increasing the number of riveted connections.
This provides supplementary interior structural strength. Between the face and the surface is where the structure achieves optimal stability. The DOISU Studio Architecture team wishes to further develop this thesis of design by combining responsive thermo-bimetal material with glass to achieve a passive shading system.
By Andreas Papazafeiropoulos
