Umbrella Skirt
Refuge Wear
29.1.09
Digital Dawn
Digital Dawn was conceived to mimic the ability of plants to photosynthesise, Utilising the natural energy of the sun in the day and storing electricity that will be used later to illuminate the blind.
28.1.09
T-Shirt Issue
"Berlin-based Mashallah Design & Linda Kostowski have created items of clothing by scanning human bodies and using the data to create sewing patterns. The human form is turned into 3D patterns of polygons, which are then turned into 2D files and used to laser cut fabric".
See T-Shirt Issue
Oricalco, Shape Memory Fabric
"Nitinol is the name of a light weight Shape Memory Alloy having a content of Titanium of 45% and characterized by their extraordinary ability to recover any shape pre-programmed, upon heating. Until today Nitinol has been used in advanced sectors like aerospace and, recently, in medical applications.
Through the Technology Transfer Programme of the ESA, Grado Zero Espace has transferred this knowledge in traditional sectors, like the textile one. In this framework, Grado Zero Espace has used Nitinol to obtain an orthogonally weaved fabric, called Oricalco, used for manufacturing of the first shape memory shirt at industrial level. Its sleeves could be programmed to shorten immediately as the room temperature heats up. Besides, the inserted shape memory material permits to mechanically deform the fabric and, after heating it with hot air for few seconds, to return on the previous shape. It is possible to perform this "deformation-return in shape" transformation many times and it could be possible (choosing the most suitable textile structure) to decide almost every type of starting and deformed shape.
The competence derived from the manufacturing of this shirt included the knowledge of the most suitable design, materials, machines and type of weaving, together with the attention directed to the high costs of Nitinol wire. Besides, after Oricalco development, Grado Zero Espace continued its study on Shape Memory Materials and on other type of Ni-Ti Alloys accumulating a lot of experience in manufacturing different type of Smart Textile Structure (fabrics, knits, tubular, special yarn, hybrid yarn,...), and permitting, in some cases, to optimize the manufacturing processes also for serial production".
See Grado Zero Espace
Lizard Dress
"A dress inspired by the frilled lizard, whose collar raises in moments of aggression and fear, as an attempt to make itself look large enough to intimidate an opponent. Using servo motors in the collar and a flex sensor embedded in the sleeve of the coat, the dress's collar raises when the wearer crosses her arms – a sign of being uncomfortable or defensive".
See Fashioning Technology or Communication Apparel
Philips Smart Clothes
"Philips Design Probes is a dedicated ‘far-future’ research initiative to track trends and developments that may ultimately evolve into mainstream issues that have a significant impact on business.
The Probes generate insights from research in five main areas; politics, economic, culture, environments and technology futures.
With the aim of understanding ‘lifestyle’ post 2020, the program aims to identify probable systemic shifts in the social and economic domains likely to affect our business and create intellectual property in new areas. It challenges conventional ways of thinking to come up with concepts to stimulate debate. Deliverables range from scenarios and narratives to the creation of experience prototypes and IP fortressing".
See Philips
Walking City Kinetic Dresses
"Montreal-based fashion designer, Ying Gao, takes movement in fashion and garments to a whole new level. One of her recent collections, titled Walking City, includes three garments that respond to movement, wind and touch. The monochromatic garments seem simple, but they beautifully tailor an integrated complex web of air pumps and sensors that allow the garment to react and move.
Walk up close to the garment and it reacts to your proximity to it. Or blow softly and it reacts to the breeze. This brings a new aesthetic to the intangible forms that the garments react to that is both playful and gorgeous".
See Walking City
802.11 Wifi Detector Jacket
"802.11 Apparel is a line of clothing that reflects wifi strength detected in the wearer’s immediate environment. It is intended to literally 'bring to light' a portion of the invisible radio waves that pervade our surroundings. In each garment, up to five stripes are illuminated in accordance with the wifi signal strength.
Pieces are created using a hacked wifi detector, an Arduino microcontroller, LEDs and extended electronic components".
Fashion Victims
"A collection of garments that react (respond and change) according to the surrounding mobile phone calls.
While embedding the channels we took under consideration the structure of each garment. The elements we needed as part of our exploration (the sensor, the channel), were considered part of the design itself: instead of hiding them, we integrated them in the garments. In particular, the brain of the garment (the electronics needed to sense the surrounding mobile phone calls) is embedded in the label, a very recognizable detail of the collection.
The metaphor we have decided to use for visualizing mobile communication comes directly from nature: clothes, as a second skin, react to the environment and change in color. Skin is the mirror of our health status displaying whether we feel good or bad. Skin alteration can be as physical as psychological: shame or embarrassment can make the skin blush, a knife can make it bleed. Here, as more and more phone calls are conducted in their surroundings, the clothes progressively and permanently change color. Driven by our desire of creating a visual language and not to measure and display information, we avoided on purpose digital and reversible form of display in favor of a more qualitative representation.
We have chosen to design a permanent behavior rather than a temporary alarm. We want to show mobile communications through a unique, organic, analogical pattern. We knit technology inside the fabric, keeping in mind feasibility, simplicity and creativity".
See Fashionvictims
Smart Materials
Smart materials are materials that have one or more properties that can be significantly changed in a controlled fashion by external stimuli, such as stress, temperature, moisture, pH, electric or magnetic fields.
There are a number of types of smart material, some of which are already common. Some examples are as following:
* Piezoelectric materials are materials that produce a voltage when stress is applied. Since this effect also applies in the reverse manner, a voltage across the sample will produce stress within the sample. Suitably designed structures made from these materials can therefore be made that bend, expand or contract when a voltage is applied.
* Shape memory alloys and shape memory polymers are Thermoresponsive materials where deformation can be induced and recovered through temperature changes.
* Magnetic shape memory alloys are materials that change their shape in response to a significant change in the magnetic field.
* pH-sensitive polymers are materials which swell/collapse when the pH of the surrounding media changes.
* Temperature-responsive polymers are materials which undergo changes upon temperature.
* Halochromic materials are commonly materials that change their colour as a result of changing acidity. One suggested application is for paints that can change colour to indicate corrosion in the metal underneath them.
* Chromogenic systems change colour in response to electrical, optical or thermal changes. These include electrochromic materials, which change their colour or opacity on the application of a voltage (e.g. liquid crystal displays), thermochromic materials change in color depending on their temperature, and photochromic materials, which change colour in response to light - for example, light sensitive sunglasses that darken when exposed to bright sunlight.
* Non-Newtonian fluid is a liquid which changes its viscosity in response to an applied shear rate. In other words the liquid will change its viscosity in response to some sort of force or pressure. One good example of this is Oobleck, a fluid that seems to temporarily turn into a solid when a force is applied quickly. Another good example is Custard, as long as it is starch based.
See Wikipedia
There are a number of types of smart material, some of which are already common. Some examples are as following:
* Piezoelectric materials are materials that produce a voltage when stress is applied. Since this effect also applies in the reverse manner, a voltage across the sample will produce stress within the sample. Suitably designed structures made from these materials can therefore be made that bend, expand or contract when a voltage is applied.
* Shape memory alloys and shape memory polymers are Thermoresponsive materials where deformation can be induced and recovered through temperature changes.
* Magnetic shape memory alloys are materials that change their shape in response to a significant change in the magnetic field.
* pH-sensitive polymers are materials which swell/collapse when the pH of the surrounding media changes.
* Temperature-responsive polymers are materials which undergo changes upon temperature.
* Halochromic materials are commonly materials that change their colour as a result of changing acidity. One suggested application is for paints that can change colour to indicate corrosion in the metal underneath them.
* Chromogenic systems change colour in response to electrical, optical or thermal changes. These include electrochromic materials, which change their colour or opacity on the application of a voltage (e.g. liquid crystal displays), thermochromic materials change in color depending on their temperature, and photochromic materials, which change colour in response to light - for example, light sensitive sunglasses that darken when exposed to bright sunlight.
* Non-Newtonian fluid is a liquid which changes its viscosity in response to an applied shear rate. In other words the liquid will change its viscosity in response to some sort of force or pressure. One good example of this is Oobleck, a fluid that seems to temporarily turn into a solid when a force is applied quickly. Another good example is Custard, as long as it is starch based.
See Wikipedia
Raw Concepts
To narrow the research topic and focus on actual objects to be designed in order to achieve the previously stated goals, a typological analysis of suitable items in relation to their context and environment of use was conducted.
A dense technological infrastructure generates a complex electrogeography that can be monitored and outputted in proper maps. This urban electrotopography strictly depends on the physical realm in which it sits and unlike this, it doesn't have a permanent landscape: rogue stations, mobile phones, wifi notebooks and all portable devices zigzag through the spectrum and create erratic spots.
This suggested that the most suitable objects to design had to be portable, of everyday and primary use and integrated in the urban context, this would make any user aware of the shifting hertzian space surrounding him while he's moving from a place to another. Also, the objects had to have the power to change their structure on an input/output basis, they had thus to be shape-shifting and reversible, they had to be eye-catcher to work as signals for unaware people and they had to be as much shielding as possible to protect the user.
As a result of this typological research, clothes and clothes related accessories (bags, umbrellas etc.) turned out to be the most suitable objects to integrate all the above mentioned features. As for the materials to use, the smart materials (particularly smart textiles) were the best.
A dense technological infrastructure generates a complex electrogeography that can be monitored and outputted in proper maps. This urban electrotopography strictly depends on the physical realm in which it sits and unlike this, it doesn't have a permanent landscape: rogue stations, mobile phones, wifi notebooks and all portable devices zigzag through the spectrum and create erratic spots.
This suggested that the most suitable objects to design had to be portable, of everyday and primary use and integrated in the urban context, this would make any user aware of the shifting hertzian space surrounding him while he's moving from a place to another. Also, the objects had to have the power to change their structure on an input/output basis, they had thus to be shape-shifting and reversible, they had to be eye-catcher to work as signals for unaware people and they had to be as much shielding as possible to protect the user.
As a result of this typological research, clothes and clothes related accessories (bags, umbrellas etc.) turned out to be the most suitable objects to integrate all the above mentioned features. As for the materials to use, the smart materials (particularly smart textiles) were the best.
3. Protection
Protecting the people and the environment by using waveshield devices:
a. Faraday Cage
b. Conductive Materials: fabrics, plastics, glass, resins, paints, ceramics.
c. Jammers: devices to jam the phone or other waves.
a. Faraday Cage
b. Conductive Materials: fabrics, plastics, glass, resins, paints, ceramics.
c. Jammers: devices to jam the phone or other waves.
2. Exploitation
Conversion of EM radiations into useable energy by using an antenna to carry the energy to condensers, each set on a given frequency in order to be able to select and convert just the desired waves without interfering with the unwanted ones. Energy is then stored in a rechargeable battery, allowing the user to have 'clean energy' to be used for:
a. Light
b. Sound
c. Movement
a. Light
b. Sound
c. Movement
1. Visualization
Several ways to visualize the EM spectrum:
a. Augmented Reality: virtual reproduction of the hertzian space by blending computer-generated data and real world footage in real time. Creation of a three-dimensional topography in which people are able to navigate consciously.
b. Material Deformation: tangible reproduction of the hertzian space by alteration of matter. Use of smart materials.
c. Signage: conversion of radiations into signals to display informations.
d. Materialization: making the EM radiations tangible and thus visible by using extremely rarefied reactants. Kind of what happens with aurora borealis.
a. Augmented Reality: virtual reproduction of the hertzian space by blending computer-generated data and real world footage in real time. Creation of a three-dimensional topography in which people are able to navigate consciously.
b. Material Deformation: tangible reproduction of the hertzian space by alteration of matter. Use of smart materials.
c. Signage: conversion of radiations into signals to display informations.
d. Materialization: making the EM radiations tangible and thus visible by using extremely rarefied reactants. Kind of what happens with aurora borealis.
Project Goals
Starting from the analysis of the electrosmog and the hertzian space related implications on human beings and environment (both urban and natural), the project might have three different issues in order to achieve the idea of 'clean city':
Visualize the EM radiations, Exploit the EM radiations, Protect from the EM radiations.
1. Visualization: Helping people to become aware and comprehend the hertzian space we're all immersed into and the risks the electrosmog entails by designing devices that make visible the invisible.
2. Exploitation: Making a productive use of the EM radiations by designing devices that convert them into useable energy.
3. Protection: Designing devices made out of shielding materials to protect the body.
Visualize the EM radiations, Exploit the EM radiations, Protect from the EM radiations.
1. Visualization: Helping people to become aware and comprehend the hertzian space we're all immersed into and the risks the electrosmog entails by designing devices that make visible the invisible.
2. Exploitation: Making a productive use of the EM radiations by designing devices that convert them into useable energy.
3. Protection: Designing devices made out of shielding materials to protect the body.
Electrosmog
Electromagnetic radiation can be classified into ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation, based on whether it is capable of ionizing atoms and breaking chemical bonds. Ultraviolet and higher frequencies, such as X-rays or gamma rays are ionizing. These pose their own special hazards.
Non-ionizing radiation is associated with two major potential hazards: electrical and biological. Additionally, induced electric current caused by radiation can generate sparks and create a fire or explosive hazard.
The best understood biological effect of electromagnetic fields is to cause dielectric heating. For example, touching or standing around an antenna while a high-power transmitter is in operation can cause severe burns. These are exactly the kind of burns that would be caused inside a microwave oven. This heating effect varies with the frequency of the electromagnetic energy. The eyes are particularly vulnerable to RF energy in the microwave range, and prolonged exposure to microwaves can lead to cataracts. Each frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum is absorbed by living tissue at a different rate, called the specific absorption rate or SAR, which has units of watts per kilogram (W/kg). The IEEE and many national governments have established safety limits for exposure to various frequencies of electromagnetic energy based on SAR, mainly based on ICNIRP Guidelines, which are only oriented to thermal, short-term exposures (6 minutes). Using these guidelines (i.e. SAR 0.08 W/kg), examples of minimum safety distances could be 90cm@30Mhz and 30cm@3Ghz for a 40W emitter.
There are publications which support the existence of complex biological effects of weaker non-thermal electromagnetic fields (see Bioelectromagnetics), including weak ELF magnetic fields and modulated RF and microwave fields. Fundamental mechanisms of the interaction between biological material and electromagnetic fields at non-thermal levels are not fully understood.
The definite existence and possible extent of non-thermal effects is not fully established. The chairman of the United Kingdom's Health Protection Agency (HPA), Sir William Stewart, has said that "evidence of potentially harmful effects of microwave radiation had become more persuasive over the past five years." His report said that while there was a lack of hard information of damage to health, the approach should be precautionary. The HPA, however, disagrees with his assessment, and claims that there is no risk and no need for precaution. The official stance of the Health Protection Agency is that there is currently no proven risk from RF communication devices.
The preponderance of evidence shows that the low-power, low-frequency, electromagnetic radiation associated with household current is very safe, and whilst some biophysical mechanisms for the promotion of cancer have been proposed (such as the electric fields around powerlines attracting aerosol pollutants, none have been substantiated. Nevertheless, some research has implicated exposure in a number of adverse health effects. These include, but are not limited to, childhood leukemia, adult leukemia, neurodegenerative diseases (such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), miscarriage and clinical depression.
See Wikipedia
Non-ionizing radiation is associated with two major potential hazards: electrical and biological. Additionally, induced electric current caused by radiation can generate sparks and create a fire or explosive hazard.
The best understood biological effect of electromagnetic fields is to cause dielectric heating. For example, touching or standing around an antenna while a high-power transmitter is in operation can cause severe burns. These are exactly the kind of burns that would be caused inside a microwave oven. This heating effect varies with the frequency of the electromagnetic energy. The eyes are particularly vulnerable to RF energy in the microwave range, and prolonged exposure to microwaves can lead to cataracts. Each frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum is absorbed by living tissue at a different rate, called the specific absorption rate or SAR, which has units of watts per kilogram (W/kg). The IEEE and many national governments have established safety limits for exposure to various frequencies of electromagnetic energy based on SAR, mainly based on ICNIRP Guidelines, which are only oriented to thermal, short-term exposures (6 minutes). Using these guidelines (i.e. SAR 0.08 W/kg), examples of minimum safety distances could be 90cm@30Mhz and 30cm@3Ghz for a 40W emitter.
There are publications which support the existence of complex biological effects of weaker non-thermal electromagnetic fields (see Bioelectromagnetics), including weak ELF magnetic fields and modulated RF and microwave fields. Fundamental mechanisms of the interaction between biological material and electromagnetic fields at non-thermal levels are not fully understood.
The definite existence and possible extent of non-thermal effects is not fully established. The chairman of the United Kingdom's Health Protection Agency (HPA), Sir William Stewart, has said that "evidence of potentially harmful effects of microwave radiation had become more persuasive over the past five years." His report said that while there was a lack of hard information of damage to health, the approach should be precautionary. The HPA, however, disagrees with his assessment, and claims that there is no risk and no need for precaution. The official stance of the Health Protection Agency is that there is currently no proven risk from RF communication devices.
The preponderance of evidence shows that the low-power, low-frequency, electromagnetic radiation associated with household current is very safe, and whilst some biophysical mechanisms for the promotion of cancer have been proposed (such as the electric fields around powerlines attracting aerosol pollutants, none have been substantiated. Nevertheless, some research has implicated exposure in a number of adverse health effects. These include, but are not limited to, childhood leukemia, adult leukemia, neurodegenerative diseases (such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), miscarriage and clinical depression.
See Wikipedia
Hertzian Space
"Electronic objects, from mobile phones to washing machines, are often described as 'smart'. But using this term to describe objects with enhanced electronic functionality encourages a bland interpretation of the things that are an integral part of our daily lives. Electronic objects are not only 'smart', they dream - in the sense that they leak radiation into the space and objects surrounding them, including our bodies - ... The dreams of electronic objects are made from electromagnetic radiation. These dreams radiate outwards from the objects, creating a new, invisible but physical environment that we call hertzian space... If our eyes could see (or tune into) energy of a lower frequency, these objects would not only appear different, but their boundaries would extend much further into space... The extra-sensory nature of electromagnetic fields often leads to the EM spectrum being treated as something notional. But while cyberspace is a metaphor that spatialises what happens in computers around the world, hertzian space is real".
[The Secret Life Of Electronic Objects by A.Dunne, F.Raby]
[The Secret Life Of Electronic Objects by A.Dunne, F.Raby]
Placebo Project
"The Placebo project is an experiment in taking conceptual design beyond the gallery into everyday life. We devised and made eight prototype objects to investigate people's attitudes to and experiences of electromagnetic fields in the home, and placed them with volunteers. The objects are designed to elicit stories about the secret life of electronic objects both factual and imagined. They are purposely diagrammatic and vaguely familiar. They are open-ended enough to prompt stories but not so open as to bewilder.
Once electronic objects enter people's homes, they develop private lives, or at least ones that are hidden from human vision. Occasionally we catch a glimpse of this life when objects interfere with each other, or malfunction. Many people believe that mobile phones heat up their ears, or feel their skin tingle when they sit near a TV, and almost everyone has heard stories of people picking up radio broadcasts in their fillings. We are not interested in whether these stories are true or scientific, we are interested in the narratives people develop to explain and relate to electronic technologies, especially the invisible electromagnetic waves their electronic objects emit.
* Loft: A place to keep precious objects safe from electromagnetic fields.
* Compass table: EM fields given off by electronic devices placed on the table?s surface cause the compass needles to twitch and spin.
* Electro-draught excluder: Strategic positioning of this device helps deflect stray electromagnetic fields.
* Electricity drain: By sitting naked on a stool, accumulated electricity drains from the body into the chair then out of the house through the earth pin of a special plug.
* GPS table: The table has a small display set in its surface witch either shows the word 'lost' or its co-ordinates. It should be positioned by a clean window with a clear view of the sky.
* Nipple chair: Nodules embedded in the back of the chair vibrate when radiation passes through the sitter's upper body reminding them that electronic products extend beyond their visible limits.
* Parasite light: A light that feeds off the leaky radiation of household electronic products; it only works when placed in electromagnetic fields.
* Phone table: The mobile phone is given manners; the phone's ring is silenced when it is placed inside the drawer and instead, the table top gently glows green when the phone is called".
27.1.09
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