Living Architecture Spring 2007 Columbia

Using part of an umbrella arm, we are hoping to create a system that will expand and collapse a sheet of fabric (tentatively for shading) when movement is perceived by the sensor, trigger the flexinol wire that would release a latch. In order to maximize the impact of the flexinol wire, we are looking into introducing a pulley system that will reduce the amount of energy required to trigger the reaction which will in turn open and collapse the fabric. For this week we manufactured a prototype consists of a plexi platform with slots for gears and levers.


This is our prototype in compression (the umbrella arm is in a resting state, no force has been applied to the flexinol wire).

This is the umbrella arm in tension. The contraction of the flexinol wire (triggered by movement) releases a latch that previously holds the counterweight (bottle of glue). The weight of the glue creates enough force to pull and extend the umbrella arm.