CAPACITOR
Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI.
2013
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Related articles:
DesignBoom 2013
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 2013The sculpture opens, closes and pulses with interior light. Information from wind and temperature sensors on the roof of the building is relayed to a digital controller. This information is compared with historical temperature and wind data. The discrepancy between real-time readings and historical norms determines how quickly the sculpture opens and closes as well as how rapidly the interior pulses with light. The controller drives a geared transmission that pulls and releases cables attached to the top of the sculpture via pulleys arrayed around the gallery ceiling. As information about wind speed and air temperature is communicated to Capacitor, temperature changes dim or brighten its lights; the shifting winds contract or expand the entire sculptural form—which opens and closes like a blooming flower— so that the whole of the sculpture appears to be very slowly breathing. The forms are inspired by coccolithophore, a single-celled marine plant that lives in the upper layers of the ocean. These photosynthesizing organisms are environmentally significant because they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping to cool the planet. Each fluted shape in the sculpture represents an individual organism; each cluster communicates specific information, as a visual manifestation of the weather patterns outside the museum walls.
IMAGES
Capacitator, Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, 2013. 15’ x 30’ x 25’ (in the closed position). The sculpture is made with hinged wood frames covered with skins of flash-spun high-density polyethylene fabric. Internal light-emitting diodes are linked to the controller.
CAPACITOR
Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI.
2013
Related articles:
DesignBoom 2013
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 2013
The sculpture opens, closes and pulses with interior light. Information from wind and temperature sensors on the roof of the building is relayed to a digital controller. This information is compared with historical temperature and wind data. The discrepancy between real-time readings and historical norms determines how quickly the sculpture opens and closes as well as how rapidly the interior pulses with light. The controller drives a geared transmission that pulls and releases cables attached to the top of the sculpture via pulleys arrayed around the gallery ceiling. As information about wind speed and air temperature is communicated to Capacitor, temperature changes dim or brighten its lights; the shifting winds contract or expand the entire sculptural form—which opens and closes like a blooming flower— so that the whole of the sculpture appears to be very slowly breathing. The forms are inspired by coccolithophore, a single-celled marine plant that lives in the upper layers of the ocean. These photosynthesizing organisms are environmentally significant because they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping to cool the planet. Each fluted shape in the sculpture represents an individual organism; each cluster communicates specific information, as a visual manifestation of the weather patterns outside the museum walls.
IMAGES
Capacitator, Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, 2013. 15’ x 30’ x 25’ (in the closed position). The sculpture is made with hinged wood frames covered with skins of flash-spun high-density polyethylene fabric. Internal light-emitting diodes are linked to the controller.
PROCESS
Capacitor was designed with portability in mind: when disassembled, it condenses to fit within three 4’ x 4’ x 5’ crates. Fabric “socks” pull over wood frames. The wood frames break down into linear sections that nest together efficiently for transport.