Title & Author:

Hylozoic ground : liminal responsive architecture : Philip Beesley / contributions by Rob Gorbet ... [et al.] ; edited by Pernilla Ohrstedt & Hayley Isaacs.

Edition:

1st ed.

Publication:

[Cambridge, Ont.] : Riverside Architectural Press, c2010.

Description:

195 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 23 cm.

Notes:
"Hylozoic ground, Canada's entry to the Biennale di Venezia 12th International Architecture Exhibition, is part of a series of collaborative installations that have developed during the past four years."--P. [5].
Includes bibliographical references.
Introduction : Liminal responsive architecture / Philip Beesley -- Synthetic geology: landscape remediation in an age of benign geotextiles / Geoff Manaugh -- Liberating the infinite architectural substance / Neil Spiller -- Queasy posthumanism: hylozoic ground / Cary Wolfe -- Architecture of contingency / Michelle Addington -- Integrated systems: the breathing cycle / Jonah Humphrey -- Topology and geometry: the hylozoic mesh / Christian Joakim -- Component design and actuated devices: an evolutionary process / William Elsworthy -- Revealing the hylozoic ground interaction layer / Rob Gorbet -- Hylozoic soil chemistries & unanswered questions in the origin of life -- Hylozoic series: component detail plates -- Afterword : Immanence and empathy -- Hylozoic series chronology: 2007-2010.

Summary:

Canada's entry to the 12th International Architecture Exhibition, la Biennale di Venezia, offers a vision for a new generation of responsive architecture. The collaborative work conceived by Philip Beesley is an immersive, interactive architectural installation fitted with arrays of sensors and kinetic devices. Lightweight interlinking systems are interwoven with next-generation chemistry that supports exchanges within the environment, in pursuit of an environment that c̀ares.' The book contains essays by theorists and designers, extended photography, and detailed design documents of the evolving project.
Contributions by Michelle Addington, Rachel Armstrong, William Elsworthy, Rob Gorbet, Eric Haldenby, Jonah Humphrey, Christian Joakim, Geoff Manaugh, Detlef Mertins, Neil Spiller, and Cary Wolfe.
Hylozoic Ground is an immersive interactive environment made of tens of thousands of lightweight digitally fabricated components fitted with microprocessors and sensors. The glass-like fragility of this artificial forest is created by an intricate lattice of small transparent acrylic meshwork links, covered with a network of interactive mechanical fronds, filters, and whiskers. The environment is similar to a coral reef, following cycles of opening, clamping, filtering, and digesting. Arrays of touch sensors and shape-memory alloy actuators create waves of diffuse breathing motion, luring visitors into the shimmering depths of a forest of light.
The project's title refers to h̀ylozoism,' the ancient belief that all matter has life. Hylozoic Ground offers a vision for a new generation of responsive architecture. The Hylozoic Ground environment can be described as a suspended geotextile that gradually accumulates hybrid soil from ingredients drawn from its surroundings. Akin to the functions of a living system, embedded machine intelligence allows human interaction to trigger breathing, caressing, and swallowing motions and hybrid metabolic exchanges. These empathic motions ripple out from hives of kinetic valves and pores in peristaltic waves, creating a diffuse pumping system that pulls air, moisture, and stray organic matter through the filtering Hylozoic membranes. L̀iving' chemical exchanges are conceived as the first stages of self-renewing functions that might take root within this architecture. --Book Jacket.

ISBN:

9781926724027 (paperback)
192672402X (paperback)

Subject:

Beesley, Philip, 1956-
Interactive art Canada.
Kinetic sculpture Canada.
Installations (Art) Canada.
Art and architecture Canada.
Sculpture, Canadian 21st century Exhibitions.
Art interactif Canada.
Sculpture cinétique Canada.
Art et architecture Canada.
Art and architecture.
Installations (Art)
Interactive art.
Kinetic sculpture.
Art and Design.
Canada.

Form/genre:

Exhibition publications.

Added entries:

Beesley, Philip, 1956-
Isaacs, Hayley, 1980-
Ohrstedt, Pernilla, 1980-
Gorbet, Rob, 1968-

Holdings:

Location: Library main canada 268996
Call No.: NA44.B416.A35 2010
Status: Available