ANDREW ELLIOTT​

The Critical Practice Studio had students work together in goups to create living architecture based on the mechanisms of natural organisms.  Teams produced systems that would improve a building and the elements around it.  The O’Dowd Hall facility on the campus of Oakland University was inefficient and monotonous in appearance.  In an attempt to revamp the facility, the group proposed a shading system to apply to O’Dowd Hall.  This design combined the efforts of technology and biomimicry to craft a working architectural product that may be affixed to, and expand from the building.  

The design began with the study of the tube anemone, which expanded and contracted as a natural reaction to light, temperature and touch.  Mimicking this concept, the shading material was made of a flexible membrane that could stretch to cover portions of the facility from light and heat when necessary.  The wire connections to the elastic material contracted with heat and electrical current, pulling the material in all directions which in turn shaded the building.  The spider-like structure branched out from the building near the ground.  This trait invited occupancy by creating a usable outdoor space that would be shaded in the summer.

Nature was found to be an efficient basis for design.  The applied system addressed the major needs of the building.  The shading feature made the building more energy efficient by essentially reducing the heat load during the summer.  The design of the system as an inhabitable, exterior oasis tackled the issue of social utilization.  In addition, since the system design was not linear or a closed loop, future expansion onto other parts of campus is possible.  The system may grow or shrink depending on its need to filter elements.  All these design concepts imitated the nature of the tube anemone.  by ​INTERIORS&CO.