Furl: Soft Pneumatic Pavilion from Interactive Architecture Lab on Vimeo. All Images via
Not all robots are born equal—in fact, the humanoids Damon Albarn played songs for, and the bipeds that do backflips are only a cross-section of the growing robot population.
Videos by VICE
Furl is a model of a kinetic interactive pavilion crafted from soft robotics. Imagined by researchers Bijing Zhang and Francois Mangion at The Interactive Architecture Lab, a masters program of the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, these flexible robotic appendages made from silicone “air muscles” can inflate, twist, and curl in response to brainwaves. “Through [a] combination of soft and hard architectural elements, Furl creates a new platform for a kinetic responsive architecture which can let space interact with users needs and adapt itself to environmental conditions,” explains the video description.
Dive into the making-of video, check out close ups of the “air muscle” and mockup for the pavilion:
The Making of Furl: Soft Pneumatic Pavilion from Interactive Architecture Lab on Vimeo.
Concept view through pavilion
Air muscle cast from silicon and inflated
Plan drawing for dynamically transforming pavilion model
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