Currently installed at the Centre Pompidou is HygroScope, a project by Steffen Reicher which explores climate-responsive architectural morphology. The large-scale installation is made from maple veneer and synthetic composites, and is suspended within humidity-controlled glass so that passersby can watch it physically respond to changes in its atmosphere.
The humidity that is absorbed in the wooden cells makes them expand, triggering an silent shape change. When the humidity level falls the sturucture closes; when it rises the structure opens. These climate changes influence the system's behaviour and appearance. The metabolsim of the HygroScope is independent, so that it doesn’t require any kind of external energy, mechanical or electronic control.
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HygroScope "breathing"
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