Topic : HYLOZOIC GROUND
Author: Philip Beesley
Report : Hylozoic Ground
Paper Link : hylozoicground_2010_112
Hylozoic Ground is a uniquely Canadian experimental architecture that explores qualities of contemporary wilderness. The project transformed the Canada Pavilion into an artificial forest made of an intricate lattice of small transparent acrylic meshwork links, covered with a network of interactive mechanical fronds, filters, and whiskers.
Tens of thousands of lightweight digitally-fabricated components were fitted with microprocessors and proximity sensors that reacted to human presence. This responsive environment functions like a giant lung that breathes in and out around its occupants. Arrays of touch sensors and shape-memory alloy actuators (a type of non-motorized kinetic mechanism) create waves of empathic motion, luring visitors into the eerie shimmering depths of a mythical landscape, a fragile forest of light.
