ULTRAPERFORMING Beams/ Columns Doors ... - fen-om data

ICFF last year, she approached him about designing a wallcovering collection that references
nature. Rashid jumped at the opportunity, but put a spin on the concept. “Nature can be dull,”
Rashid says. “It’s a given; it’s already created. I am much more interested in what we can create.”
So he proposed Digital Nature, which takes two-dimensional wallcoverings and makes them
appear to come alive. “I tried to get a complexity that makes them appear 3D with abstract
forms so that one can read things in them that have to do with nature.” The five patterns allude
to distinct natural aspects, from the pairs of bud-like shapes of Rosetta, to Zenith’s tentacles
that rise the height of the wall, to the irregular grid of Space Warp with its avian-influenced
forms. “But none of the patterns in this collection are actually Cartesian - no real grid,” Rashid
continues. “All are very organic, very human. You look at them and see all organic forms: Legs,
birds, waterfalls, when in fact all are digitally produced. I like that diametric.”
www.wolf-gordon.com
Dimension Elevator
The Dimension Elevator serves as a publicly accessible forum for immersive art. Environments are
realized through synchronized video projections on four walls accompanied by fourchannel audio.
Imagine four large video screens arranged to form a room for up to 20 people. Vivid panoramic
imagery and sounds surround and engage you. The focus of the installation is to provide a new
level of viewer experience and encourage creative explorations for both new media artists and
the viewing public. While immersive experiences have long been available in venues such as IMAX
theatres, rides at theme parks, and arcade hall videogames, the Dimension Elevator is different
in that it is accessible to both artists and art viewers. Rather than requiring a company to spend
a year creating a show that is highly strategized and targeted so that it can be economically
successful, a single person can create a unique sensory experiment in an afternoon.
www.dandelion.org/dimensionelevator
Film Speaker
Q-TI has produced a speaker which is as thin as paper, transparent as glass, light as vinyl, and
can be rolled up like tape. The speaker emits audio in all directions, and can be printed or painted
with any image. Film Speaker is made of a piezoelectric coating bonded with PVDF (Poly Vinylidene
Fluoride). Previously, it had been very difficult to adhere any material to a PVDF surface. However,
a new surface modification technology makes it possible to form electrodes on the PVDF surface
with strong adhesion After the polymer surface is irradiated by a low energy ion beam in a
reactive gas environment, polar functional groups can be formed on the surface and change into
a hydrophilic state. This IAR treated polymer can be easily printed with strong adhesion. Ultra
flat and uniform film can be obtained using a P&I coating technique (PICT). Electrical signal from
audio source, such as tape or CD player, is transmitted to a speaker via electric wire or wave.
Then a diaphragm vibrates air and reproduces the original sound. A simple sandwich structure
is created by forming polymeric electrodes on both sides of the surface-modified PVDF film.
Sound can then be generated from a sheet of film without any thermal treatment and additional
process.
GlassFresco
GlassFresco is an innovative new product that combines continuous-tone color imagery with
Cesar Color’s proprietary interlayer technology. Working from photographs, slides, digital-data
files or customer provided artwork, it is possible to create dramatic architectural glass products
in opaque, transparent or translucent compositions. As shown in Amanda Weil’s three-sided
shower design above, fine art and photographic images can now be used as design elements
achieving effects not previously possible. Processed under heat and pressure, Cesar Color’s
tough and resilient thermoplastic laminating interlayer permanently bonds two lights of glass.
The completed product is a laminated safety glass which complies with all major building codes
and industry standards. Laminated glass resists penetration by impacting objects and is almost
impossible to cut from one side. GlassFresco offers significantly greater resistance to forced
entry than ordinary monolithic glass. Cesar Color’s design staff assist specifiers by facilitating
the transfer of artistic expressions within the glass medium. Custom applications and designs
are encouraged.
www.cesarcolor.com
Intelligent Fabrics
Today’s switching and sensing technologies are basically rigid or semi-rigid. This results in
extensive limitations on their applications and new product design becomes constrained
by their physical inflexibility. ElekTex is the combination of conductive fabric structures and