ex_03: case study

Aegis Hyposurface - dECOi

"It is...a harbinger of nanotechnology-the intersection of information and matter itself"
-Mark Goulthorpe of dECOi

images: PRAXIS: Journal of Writing + Building, Issue 06, 2004





































DATA:
Client: The Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre
Design: Mark Goulthorpe of dECOi Architects
Location: Birmingham, UK
Duration: 1999-2001

CONCEPT:
The design of the Aegis project was initially conceptualized in response to an interactive art work competition hosted by the Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre in the UK. The competition proposed an art work that would translate the interior actions of the theatre to the exterior.

images: AD Hypersurface Architecture II, Vol. 69 9-10, 1999























APPLICATION:
The Aegis Hyposurface is "a giant sketch pad for the new age". It is a kinetic surface with the ability to respond to external stimuli, such as sound, touch, motion, light, temperature, and electronic information, through the use of active and passive sensors. The input data is used to describe a parametric variable, such as direction, amplitude, and speed, allowing for near limitless articulations of the surface. The surface can produce any possible mathematically generated pattern or form. As a result, the Hyposurface is not a designed surface but rather one "generated by random sampling, a deployment of electronic sensory-input". The role of the designer switches from author to editor. (quotations from Smart Materials and Technologies and A+U: Architecture and Urbanism, Issue 370)


video: www.hyposurface.org


image: Designing for a Digital World, 2002












REALIZATION:
The Hyposurface can create a truly responsive "terrain" in real-time. This is made possible through the use of a sophisticated electronic "brain" and highly performative components. The digital control is able to calculate a response to input data in real-time because of extremely high flow rates of information and its parallel-processing ability. Composed of small metal triangles powered by a matrix of 896 pneumatic actuators with the ability to pulse every 0.01 sec, the Hyposurface is able to displace its skin up to "500mm two to three times per second" and create wavefronts "propagating at speeds of up to about 60kmh". (quotations from Designing for a Digital World)


images: PRAXIS: Journal of Writing + Building, Issue 06, 2004






































The Aegis Hyposurface is "the translation between the intangible information world and the very tangible, and omnipresent, tactile environment." (quotations from Smart Materials and Technologies)


REFERENCES:
Designing for a Digital World, Edited by Neil Leach, 2002
AD Hypersurface Architecture II, Vol. 69 9-10, 1999
PRAXIS: Journal of Writing + Building, Issue 06, 2004
A+U: Architecture and Urbanism, Issue 370, Jul 2001
Transmaterial, Edited by Blaine Brownell, 2006
Smart Materials and Technologies, Michelle Addington and Daniel Schodek, 2005
http://www.hyposurface.org
http://www.sial.rmit.edu.au/projects/aegis_hyposurface.php