2012 Galleries

The Spark Gallery pages are one of our most popular design destinations, with thousands of visitors each year. Check out some of the latest Spark entries, in the galleries below.

BLOOM

Winner - Platinum

Competition: Spark:Product
Designer: Doris Sung - Assistant Professor
Design Type: Temporary Installation
Company / Organization / School: DOSU Studio Architecture
Website: http://www.dosu-arch.com
Team Members: Team: Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter (collaborator), Matthew Melnyk (structural engineer), Dylan Wood, Evan Shieh, Renata Ganis, Kristi Butterworth, Julia Michalski, Garrett Helm, Derek Greene, Kelly Wong.

A sun-tracking instrument indexing time and temperature, “Bloom” stitches together material experimentation, structural innovation, and computational form/pattern-making into an environmentally responsive installation. The form’s responsive surface is made primarily out of 14,000 smart thermobimetal tiles, where no two pieces are alike. A lamination of two alloys of metal with different coefficients of expansion, thermobimetal automatically curls when heated by sun or ambient temperature. The result is a highly differentiated skin system that can smartly shade or ventilate specific areas under the canopy without additional power. In order to heighten the sensitivity of the skin, the overall form is oriented towards the sun’s arc to maximize solar exposure and away from the shade, much like the growth of plants and flowers. The effect is further optimized by the use of powerful software to generate parametric patterns. With today’s digital technology and driving interest in sustainable design, this simple material can transcend its currently limited role as a mechanical actuating device to a dynamic building surface material, while expanding the discourse of performative architecture on many levels. For the future of buildings, it's a game-changer.