Parametric modeling, rapid prototyping and 3D printing of an interactive façade
Résumé
As part of the COP 21 and the exhibition “Virtual / Real Climate " proposed by the Center for Technical Scientific and Industrial Culture in Grenoble (CCSTI - Casemate), dedicated to the issue of climate change, our team, including researchers and students, designed fabricated and installed 4 prototypes of interactive facade and smart street furniture. Anthropocene and the 3rd industrial revolution constitute a theoretical background for the morphogenesis of these « ambient devices ».
Mechatronics :
Attached to the facade of the Center, four dynamic envelopes are reconfigured according to climatic variations. Equipped with sensors, servo control (arduino), actuators (servo motors, stepper motor ...), addressable LED strip, these "smart surfaces" adjust their parametric morphology and their luminous intensity depending on the thermal variations, the strength of the wind, the passage of clouds, or the presence and proximity of the inhabitants.
Sensible city and smart surface :
These architectural elements are at the same time sensitive forms to the climatic changes to which they are reactive, and sensitive forms, luminous and haptic, which the users perceive. Informed by the environmental conditions, they inform the passer-by about the atmospheric state of his environment and are therefore involved in the construction of an environment. These four prototypes thus propose an updated imaginary of what is the smart city or a smart city, less subject to a technological determinism than defined as a sensitive city, which profiles through its interactive ornamentations and its digital affordances, tomorrow’s architectural atmospheres.
DIY
These demonstrators are entirely designed and manufactured by students and researchers. They are designed using parametric modeling tools (Rhino + Grasshopper), manufactured using numerically controlled industrial machines (ABB IRB 120 Robot, CNC Biesse Rover A) and rapid prototyping tools (Trotec speedy laser cutting). 100 - Ultimaker 3D Printer 2 Makerbot replicator 2X, BZT P1100 cutter). They have been prototyped and manufactured at Digital RDL, Research by Design Laboratory at the ENSA Grenoble, in the Grands Ateliers de l'Isle d'Abeau and the Fab Mstic (LIG)