Moving, Blooming . . . Architecture?

When you think of a form of architecture, a building, a pavilion . . . you think of a solid structure, right?  Architect Doris Sung is challenging the precepts of traditional architecture with her new shade structure that moves and transforms with the heat of the sun.

Doris Sung, Bloom
image © brandon shigeta

The metal creation is installed at the Materials & Applications courtyard in Los Angeles.  This 25-by-40-foot area is dedicated to outdoor exhibition space,  a place where emerging artists and designers could collaborate on new ideas for public space. Sung’s installation (in  collaboration with Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter and Matthew Melnyk),certainly qualifies as a new idea.  It stands 20 feet tall and is constructed out of a metal skin that kinetically responds to the heat of the sun.

Doris Sung, Bloom
image © brandon shigeta

When the temperature is cool, the panels close down to a solid structure.  As the temperature rises, the individual metal components fan out to increase shade and air flow.

Doris Sung, Bloom
image © brandon shigeta

The piece consists of sections of laser-cut sheet metal assembled into a self-organizing pattern.

Doris Sung, Bloom
image courtesy of M&A

The installation will be on display until Spring 2012.  Read more at the Materials & Applications site:  http://www.emanate.org/