ACTIVE LIGHT CLOUD

by Bo Rodda

The Active Light Cloud is an innovative approach to how we light the world of tomorrow. Using advanced computer vision that tracks any human movement against the basic static interior space, and inductively expands on that gesture to create an expanded field of pixel vectors, , the system is able to predict the user’s particular lighting needs. Users can throw light down a dark hallway or bring a cluster of task light with a single gesture. Most importantly it knows to turn off the lights once the room is empty, dramatically reducing energy consumption. The Active Light Cloud’s designer, Bo Rodda, is using a similar system to track the movements of a school of fish through a series of connected aquariums at the 2009 NeoCon conference this June in Chicago.

The functional prototype of Active Cloud Lighting was developed in collaboration with SAIC’s world renowned art and technology professors, most notably Matt Nelson, Systems Programmer, Ed Bennet, Electronic Systems Designer, Anna Yu, Systems Production Supervisor, and John Manning, System Executive Producer. The system’s programmed intelligence can be extended into a wide range of commercial and residential situations. Light switches might soon be replaced by a wide variety of gestures, controlling the affect and impact of our interior lighting in more intimate, fluid, intelligent, and environmentally conscious manner.

DIGEOTRUSS STRUCTURAL SYSTEM

by Cara Ellis

Today’s pursuit of sustainable architecture has sometimes pointed to extreme, curvy or irregular forms as a means to enhance building performance. Such structures require customized, non-homogenous components, and are often complex and costly to produce. The Digeotruss project proposes a middle ground between contemporary digital fabrication techniques and feasible construction. Inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome, the Digeotruss system uses geometry to achieve irregularly curved structures that are self-supporting and strong. The GFRY kiosk is the first full-scale prototype of a Digeotruss structure. Constructed of planar birch plywood and steel tensioning cable, the kiosk requires no custom joints or angled cuts. It was fabricated in-house at SAIC and assembled by the GFRY team.

Special Thanks to:
Tuan Nguyen, digital collaborator
The GFRY team
Johnson Marine

DEEP SPACE LIGHTING

by Jungwhan Chei

Many large 20th century urban buildings have deep plans that preclude the easy interior distribution of natural lighting from the perimeter. This new ceiling system is made of a continuous flexible and reflective membrane, and it can be stretched and reconfigured to precisely reflect both natural light and low power LED lighting in ambient and task lighting configurations.

WOOD WASTE BRISE SOLEIL

by Matthew Stewart

Lumber processing, building construction, and building deconstruction leave behind cut off and trimmed pieces that are normally discarded because of their unusable shapes and dimensions. This new design system takes those cast off pieces and uses them to make precisely oriented sun shades – brise-soleils – for every possible facade orientation. This new sustainable business model reduces the costs associated with building air conditioning by more than 20% and preserves the embodied energy of the wood. As part of the new business model, Matthew Stewart has written a new computer program that can analyze the shape and orientation of today’s most organic and fluidly-shaped buildings and quickly calculate the optimal brise-soleil angles for every facade and roof orientation.

PRAYER WHEEL ENERGY GENERATOR

by Taikkun Li

Tourists traditionally spin a multitude of prayer wheels in Tibet. Now that positive energy can be harvested along Tibetan streets, turned into electricity, and used to provide evening lighting along those streets and inside the adjacent homes. The prayer wheel generator is built on a base of used bicycle parts and a discarded surplus fan motor, making it ideal for use in the developing world. This invention supplements an inadequate and unreliable electrical grid with the power of electricity generated by tourism. By combining the low-cost efficiency and long life of 21st century LED lighting, with the simple 20th century efficiency of a bicycle, the Prayer Wheel Generator uses the best of high and low technologies.

URBAN SUN

by Tuan Nguyen

Densely packed tall buildings in today’s cities cast shadows over approximately two thirds of their own built surface, on average over different seasons and times of day. This pattern of darkness, inherited from the America’s 19th century gridded land and free-for-all zoning laws, does not allow for the efficient capture of the sun’s energy efficiently. The Urban Sun project investigates adjusting a city’s zoning envelope to maximize the area exposed to the sun, which can be used to generate local energy for the city. A simple computer program was developed for the Urban Sun project to scan any city form at any location on the earth and carve away the parts that send out or receive excessive shadows, revealing the most energy efficient form for that city to have when gathering energy from the sun falling on it.

WATT WATCH

by Daniel Sommer

Watt Watch is for iPhone users who strive to consume less electricity in their everyday lives. By enabling users to learn about the electricity consumption of the devices they already own, they become empowered to start making energy trade offs. Unlike other power monitoring systems, which require significant investment and installation, Watt Watch allows users to immediately start comparing devices in their home using their iPhones. Leveraging up to date Energy Star databases, users can compare the power consumption of different lighting fixtures, or see what running the washing machine actually costs. Rather than buying new appliances, Watt Watch allows users to consume less power and save money using what they already own.

HALF BAG

by Daniel Sommer

Half Bag is for cyclists, travelers, and commuters who are dissatisfied with their current options for carrying business attire, whether in messenger bags, briefcases or suitcases. Unlike current garment bags that are large, hard to carry, and nearly impossible to fit into another bag, the Half Bag allows users to continue using any bag or pannier they might already own while slipping the Half Bag inside. Clothing is placed on the Half Bag Hangers (patent pending), which then fold in half to fit into the Half Bag. The bag can then be folded up to be smaller than ever before, while minimizing wrinkles during the commute.

THE WINDY CITY

by Thomas Meeker

Today’s tall, dense cities create extreme and unpredictable wind conditions, which limit the productive use of urban wind for localized power generation. Thomas Meeker’s project examines how we might modify the shape of future cities to provide more predictable seasonable breezes, the ability to scour out polluted urban air, and ways of harnessing these winds to power smaller distributed urban wind turbines. From Chicago, “the windy city,” comes a proposal to use that wind more productively while reducing dependence on oil and gas deliveries.

BIOMASS ENERGY APPLIANCES

by John Kinstler

This suite of Biomass Energy appliances, a Fuel Briquette Press Station and The Pyrodyne (shown), recovers the residual energy in common, urban household waste. The fuel for the Pyrodyne can be made from junk mail, newspaper, cardboard, and coffee grounds. These materials are soaked, pressed into briquettes with the Briquette Press Station, and dried in the integral drying rack system of the Pyrodyne. Once dry, they are thermo-chemically converted in a reduction burning environment, using the Pyrodyne, into a high-energy, combustible gas that can drive an automobile engine or an electrical generator; or they can simply be used to cook for family and friends in any grill.