Jardins de Métis Proposal

Title: My_SECRET[E].Garden

Team: Francis Bitonti (FADstudio) and Andrew Zientek (Terrain Studios)

This proposal for the Jardins de Métis garden festival by Francis Bitonti (FADstudio) and Andrew Zientek (Terrain Studios) uses augmented reality and other location based services to explore the notion of a secret garden . In the project Visitors, using their own smart-phones or those provided (and tethered), can view and create another dimension of the garden. The interface allows visitors to choose a new species of plant, attach a secret message and then “plant” it in the garden to be viewable by successive visitors. The garden grows, receiving and containing knowledge that is hidden from plain view. This virtual space laid over the physical landscape, tied to specific place through the technology of augmented reality. This digital evolution then spills back onto the physical as real plants are added, replacing digital versions. The garden starts with contained secrets, then writes them for others and finally translates them into material. The garden starts as subdued canvas and explodes with color.

Opening Reception: Input_Output: Adaptive Materials And Mediated Environments Symposium And Exhibition

This Friday the Input_Output: Adaptive Materials And Mediated Environments Exhibition at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Input_Output: Adaptive Materials And Mediated Environments Symposium And Exhibition

Francis Bitonti will be participating in this years "Input_Output: Adaptive Materials And Mediated Environments Symposium And Exhibition " at Temple University.

Francis will be presenting two projects, both the MULTI-PEDE CHAIR by FADarch and a collaborative project with Brian Osborn titled OPENHOUSE.

Abstracts:

Multi-Pede Chair::

Francis Bitonti¹

¹ Pratt Institute School or Architecture, Brooklyn NY

Abstract::

This project explores how specific functions and applications can be designed into objects that are infinitely reconfigurable. Multi-Pede chair is an adjustable chair with no mechanical parts. The seat is designed around an electronically activated shape memory polymer (SMP) core. The use of this smart material allows for the elimination of complex mechanical systems while still creating an object that is continuously adjustable. Shape Memory Polymers and other smart materials can potentially bring about a class of objects wherein function is undefined or varied. This project is an exploration into how we can embed specific applications and uses into materials with ambiguous or fluctuating properties.

OPENHOUSE::

Francis Bitonti¹, Brian Osborn²

¹ Pratt Institute School or Architecture, Brooklyn NY

² Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey School of Environmental & Biological Sciences

Abstract::

The project questions the finite state of common material assemblages by proposing a universal building block capable of iterative adaptation based on changes in social behaviors. Adjustment of the architectural form is enabled through the integration of code into building materials. This new construction methodology hybridizes software and hardware toward the creation of a new tectonic. The material assembly is designed to allow for reprogramming such that code becomes a medium for communication between the architecture and the user. Through serial revision the architecture becomes an ecology where organisms relate and respond to each other to create a working environment.

Elementary Cellular Automata Aggregations

RULE (89)

This simple exploration explores the use of elementary cellular automata to aggregate arrays of truncated octahedron. The truncated octahedron was chosen because when packed eight translation vectors are possible from the center of the previously packed octahedron, this is the same number of possible neighborhoods in an elementary cellular automata.

Elementary Cellular Automata

Elementary Cellular Automata Aggregations

Branching Pointset Reconstruction

Computational Tectonics Available Online

Francis Bitonti's paper from the 2009 ACADIA conference is now available the FADarch website at http://www.fadarch.com/loki.html.

Shape Memory Polymer Chair

Multi-Pede Chair: http://www.fadarch.com/multipede.html

Multi-Pede Chair is an adjustable chair with no mechanical parts; the chair is designed around an Electroactive Shape Memory Polymer core. Plug the chair into a standard electrical outlet and watch its material properties transform from solid to elastic, stretch, twist and push your chair into a new configuration. Unplug and watch your new design solidify.

Any configuration is possible; the chair has hundreds of legs that cover its entire body. The legs change material, lengthen, shorten and change their section as they change orientation, at times they are legs and at other times they are seats. We have not designed a chair but hundreds of pieces of a chair. The material is infinitely reconfigurable; we can not rely on one sitting surface or one leg so we must create hundreds.

Learn more about Shape Memory Polymers