

With few exceptions, the buildings we occupy are rigid and stationary. This is generally a good thing. After all, no one wants an office tower toppling over with a big gust of wind. But what we gain in stability, we lose in flexibility and adaptability. As buildings become smarter and more responsive to their internal environment, it stands to reason that the architecture should be somewhat responsive, too. The problem is, that’s not exactly easy to do.

Architects have long explored the value of adaptive architecture through conceptual projects (we’ve seen it with tensegrity structures like this one modeled after the behavior of slime mold). A project from three students at Barcelona’s Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalunya continues that exploration by looking at how physical spaces could someday morph based on various environmental inputs.

The project, Translated Geometries, tackles the idea by developing a new use for Shape Memory Polymers, a composite material that can deform and return to its original state when activated by cues like heat, humidity and light. In its proposal, the team (Ece Tankal, Efilena Baseta and Ramin Shambayati) created a modular component that expands and contracts based on temperature. The idea is that by attaching a SMP joint to a tessellation of material (in this case plywood), you can expand that component’s surface area to four times its original footprint.

Exposing the SMP to heat above 60 to 70 degrees Celsius causes the material to become flexible enough to undergo geometric deformations. The material then cools into its new rigid form. Apply another round of heat, and it will return to its original memory state. The team decided on an origami-inspired shape that folds inward and outward. You watch as heat is applied to the SMP and the structure begins to twitch, unfolding to an almost spider-like appearance. “You can reuse the same material intelligence embedded in the building to help with different scenarios or needs,” explains Shambayati. This is similar in principle to the shape-shifting material MIT developed, though MIT’s foam and wax prototype is meant for robotics and doesn’t have nearly the strength to support an architectural form.

Its benefits might be hard to grasp as a concept, but adaptable modular components could save on material by serving dual purposes. Not to mention, the team added, the concept could be used to make molds on a construction site instead of the architecture itself. Regardless, it's a step toward what Shambayati describes as “an architecture that isn’t so rigid, that tries to be more attuned with its environment.” Right now, the team is still developing the concept and exploring how different composites would react to the level of stress a system like this would introduce (which is a lot due to the bending, twisting, heating and cooling required). “Someone came up with the term ‘material empathy,’ says Shambayati. “They said they felt bad for the material and all the stress we were giving it.”

So for now this is a concept, and an interesting one at that. Will we someday see this principle applied to architecture? “That depends on what you consider architecture,” Shambayati says. "Maybe your apartment buildings won’t be transitioning quite yet, but something like pavilion? I don’t think that’s too far fetched.”