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Rippling computerized shades control buildings' lighting, heating and amazing looks
Industrial designers Christopher Bauder and Christian Perstl have designed a kinetic façade called FLARE that dynamically controls how much light a building lets in — and how much heat. Architects frequently design their buildings around these principles, but suffer from the fact that buildings are static, and good planning only goes so far. With FLARE, all of the pneumatic-powered, computer-controlled metal flakes covering the building can adapt to seasonal climate changes, and make the building look unique to boot. The best part: the nature of the flakes allow for FLARE to be a made-to-order system, depending on the size and shape of a structure.
Click Continue for an impressive building of the FLARE shifting façade in action.
FLARE, via Yanko Design
By calvin at 10:19 PM ON 10/09/08
Cool from the outside, but inside it would get old *real* quick if you worked there.
By Dylan at 4:24 AM ON 10/10/08
Saw this on coolhunter months ago.
By Me at 8:27 AM ON 10/10/08
Its most likely use is for advertisement. It would be some cool looking adds scrolling across the surface of the building.
By CoolProducts at 5:33 PM ON 10/10/08
This seems like not only a good idea aesthetically but also has practical purposes. I'm interested in seeing if this goes anywhere.
By Kes at 12:04 PM ON 10/13/08
Very beautiful. The flares are rather thick, aren't they? Would take up room inside and be distracting to workers. And the temperature and light levels would fluctuate too much for human comfort when the flares were being manipulated quickly. I wish I could play with them though.
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Kes:
Very beautiful. The flares are rather thick, aren't they? Would take up room inside and be distracting to workers....More »