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origamiCeiling, hexa 64 x 3

2017

Reynaerts Duffel, Belgium

LAb[au], Manuel Abendroth, Jéröme Decock, Els Vermang

Aluminium, SMA springs, custom tailored electronics and programming

150m²

unique artwork
...

The project for the Belgian aluminium frame producer Reynaerts in the entrance lobby of their research center is a kinetic ceiling based on a tessellated surface of 192 hexagons. Each hexagon is subdivided into six kinetic triangles. The kinetic flaps are coloured on their backsides. These coloured flaps are activated by SMA springs which, when heated, pull the flaps upwards.. Un-powering a spring will lead to its cooling leading slowly to the weight of the flaps pulling them downwards. This kinetic principle uses no motor but a physical phenomenon; gravity to activate one direction of the flaps’ motion and a material phenomenon to activate the opposite direction of the flaps’ motion.

This binary logic of heated and non-heated spring corresponds to the logic of programming and simple permutation. The random motion of the flaps opposes the geometric order of the tessellation and the architectural framework. Sometimes only a few tiles are moving and sometimes the whole surface is updating, proposing a variation in rhythm. As such, it expresses the concept of randomOrder, a synergic principle between the elementary use of colour, geometry and motion following a stochastic system.

the work has been commissioned by the Belgium company Reynaert in 2016

permanent artworks indoor by : LABORATORY FOR ART AND URBANSIM - art and language - art and architecture - conceptual art - concrete art - kinetic art - digital art

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