THE CONCEPT

 Our design is inspired by the blooming of a flower, that reacts to sunlight and the Hoberman’s Spheres’ mechanism, an iso-kinetic structure.  A structure that is capable of folding down to a fraction of its size.Based on the chosen strategy to mimic the flowers  reaction  to the surroundings, the Hoberman‘s circular geometry  was optimal. A fabric  was chosen to experiment with  transparency and the structure, giving us possibilities to explore the modules potential, while emulating the delicate layers of petals. We used light to further emphasis the translucency and form. In addition to this, the light eliminates shadows generating a luminous glow. As a result, we used single aperture-modules with light dependent resistors and actuators. Following the underlying geometry of the Hoberman’s sphere, angular scissors linkage, we generated a 2-dimensional, kinetic tessellation.

WORKING MECHANISM

Stepper motor is reacting to a photo-resistor which is placed on the board near the center. The rotation caused by the motor can be clockwise or counter clockwise. The two types of components being used for the rotation are pushing legs and the scissor legs. The pushing legs rotate around one axis attached along the stepper motor. Then, the rotation continues through the scissor system, transforming the model into a structure that is capable of folding down to a fraction of its size.
PROTOTYPE

Sunflower is a project of IaaC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia developed in the Master in Advanced Architecture 2019/20 by Students: Xhilda Kulla, Alisa Iureva, Ines Cavar, Poojitha Tadshina Reddy and Faculty: Angel Munoz, Cristian Rizutti