Zaha Hadid Architects worked together with design offices Kollision, CAVI and Wahlberg to create the interactive installation 'Parametric Space' for the exhibition 'Zaha Hadid - World Architecture', which is on view at the Danish Architecture Centre through September 29, 2013. The installation is a fully parametric space that reacts to the visitors' movements by changing shape and expression. Learn more after the break.
At first glance, ‘Parametric Space’ is a dark rectangular volume – four walls, floor and ceiling. However, in the presence of a visitor, what appears to be a normal flat ceiling reveals itself as a glowing and flexible membrane that physically moves down into a funnel that protrudes out towards the floor. The closer a visitor gets to the funnel, the further it moves down; by stepping back the membrane will retract back into the ceiling.
In addition to changing its shape, the membrane is also brought to life by thousands of dynamic light particles that inhabit the surface and react to the membrane’s movements. This creates an almost dreamy, yet tangible experience related to the architectural language that Zaha Hadid is known for.
Technical Setup
The installation is brought to life by two laser scanner sensors that continuously gather information about visitors' positions in the space. The positions are used for calculating the heights of the four actuators pushing and pulling cylindrical volumes on the topside of the membrane. The cylinders are equipped with RGB light sources that express the cylinder height by color and intensity, while four projectors built into the floor project the light particles onto the membrane. These particles are spatially calculated on a virtual 3D surface of the approximate membrane shape.
Credits
The exhibition was developed by Zaha Hadid Architects in collaboration with the Danish Architecture Centre, supported by Realdania and Kvadrat. Kollision managed the design process and the technical project development of Parametric Space together with Zaha Hadid Architects; CAVI programmed the infrastructure and the parametric actuator and lighting control; Wahlberg constructed the membrane installation together with the actuator and the light source integration; and Zaha Hadid Architects developed the real-time graphics projected onto the membrane.
