Responsive architecture, Adaptive material systems
Over the past two decades innovations in material sciences and embedded technologies led to the emergence of “sensing” and “active” matter as a new ground for architectural exploration. New materials, such as shape memory alloys and polymers are capable of generating kinetic, visual and other energetic feedbacks. With their capacity for dynamic feedback and energy exchange, these materials have a potential to imbue architectural spaces and structures with some of the properties of living organisms. Integration of these new material technologies in a built environment can result not only in novel tectonic, spatial and formal possibilities but also in dynamic and behavioral expressions of architectural spaces and surfaces that appear life-like. Dynamic matter behavior and material dynamics imply an enhanced relationship between architecture and its inhabitants and the surrounding environment, with matter as an interface. This research field is concerned with capabilities and limitations of the new material systems to imbue built spaces with qualities of the natural environment, such as self-regulation or adaptability to changing conditions in the environment.