Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Premieres Solos Exhibition Series To Showcase Contemporary Architecture and Design
Inaugural Exhibition Solos: SmartWrap Features Building Skin of the Future
The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum unveils a new series of exhibitions, titled Solos featuring international and contemporary works in the fields of architecture and design. The inaugural exhibition is Solos: SmartWrap—a 16-foot-square by 24-foot-high pavilion, designed by the Philadelphia architecture firm KieranTimberlake Associates LLP. The installation will be on view from August 5 through October 10 in the museum’s scenic Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden.
The inaugural exhibition is Solos: SmartWrap—a 16-foot-square by 24-foot-high pavilion, designed by the Philadelphia architecture firm KieranTimberlake Associates LLP. The installation will be on view from August 5 through October 10 in the museum’s scenic Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden.
The Solos Exhibition Series
Solos was conceived to showcase works that are new to design, new to the market, new to construction, or in the research and development stage. Each installation explores a singular work or theme and examines its development, creative process and innovative qualities. Installations are intended to present emerging developments in architecture and design, and can even be a means of furthering research in an area that an architect or designer has been investigating. Commenting on the series, Matilda McQuaid, exhibitions curator and head of the Textiles Department, said, “I hope that Solos creates another conduit for very contemporary architecture and design shows. These more modest exhibitions make it possible to represent cutting-edge designers and their work.”
Solos: SmartWrap
Imagine bricks and mortar being replaced by “smart” walls that are made of an ultra-thin polymer-based film - the same material used in a plastic soda bottle. And imagine that the technology used to make these walls “smart” is applied by a printing process. SmartWrap is a concept for a new building material that integrates the segregated functions of a conventional wall, like shelter and insulation, and compresses them into one composite film that can be erected in a fraction of ordinary building time.
SmartWrap incorporates several emerging technologies in heating and cooling, visual display and lighting, and energy collection. The combined technologies are printed on a single micrometer-thin layer, replacing the bulky and separate functions of traditional construction with a thin film that is wrapped around a structural frame.
The museum’s walk-in SmartWrap pavilion shows how SmartWrap can be customized with pattern or color using printing technology—a dramatic development with potential for transforming not only architecture but also all aspects of design in the next decade. Museumgoers will be able to input variables into a computer terminal to produce a customized design for the SmartWrap wall.
SmartWrap Facts
SmartWrap is made up of several layers - including a substrate, printed and laminated layers - all of which are roll-coated into a single composite film. Together, they have the capacity of providing shelter, climate control, lighting and information display, and power.
· Shelter: Polyester Film Substrate.
Protection from rain and wind is provided by a polyester-mixture (PET) film that also acts as the substrate for the various other SmartWrap layers.
· Climate Control: Phase Change Materials.
To moderate temperature, SmartWrap contains micro-capsules of phase change materials. The microcapsules are embedded into a polymer resin and then extruded into a film. The phase change materials provide latent heat storage for thermal moderation by absorbing, storing, or releasing heat as they change state.
· Lighting and Information Display: OLED Technology.
To provide lighting and information display, SmartWrap uses Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) technology that is thin, flexible, and self-emissive. OLED technology is based on organic molecules that emit light (photons) when an electric current is applied. OLEDs are either made in polymer form, or small molecules that can be deposited onto glass and plastic substrates. OLED technology is currently used in the market in the displays of mobile phones and personal handheld computer devices.
· Power: Thin Film Batteries, Thing Film Silicon Cells and Conductive Ink.
Since buildings have large surface areas that are exposed to the sun, they are ideal solar collectors. Thin film silicon solar cells in the SmartWrap are used to power the OLED technology. Thin film batteries store excess energy, and the conductive ink provides the conduit for the activation of these technologies.
Kieran and Timberlake Education Program - Solos: SmartWrap
Thursday, Sept 25, 2003
6:30 pm
Stephen Kieran, FAIA, FAAR; and James Timberlake, FAIA, FAAR
SmartWrap is a concept for an innovative material with the potential to reshape the design of building facades, developed by the award-winning architecture firm KieranTimberlake. This inaugural lecture will be presented by architects Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake.
Members $10, nonmembers $15
KieranTimberlake Associates LLP is an award-winning and internationally published architecture firm noted for its research and innovation. Their emphasis on cross discipline research has been a key force in their progressive research. The genesis for this SmartWrap project was in research laboratory studios conducted by Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake with graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania. This research has been extended through the inaugural award of the American Institute of Architect’s national design research prize, the Benjamin Henry Latrobe Fellowship.
Solos: SmartWrap is made possible by DuPont. In-kind support and consultation have been generously provided by DuPont, Skanska USA Building Inc., ILC Dover, Inc., ERCO Lighting, Inc., Christakis VanOcker Morrison Engineers, Bosch Rexroth Corporation, Sean O'Connor Associates, Buro Happold Engineers, Celestial Lighting, Gabor M. Szakal Consulting Engineers, P.C., and Lutron.
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is located at the corner of 91st Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City. Hours: Tuesday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. The museum is closed Mondays and federal holidays. Public transit routes include the Lexington Avenue 4, 5 and 6 subways (86th or 96th street stations), and Fifth and Madison Avenue buses. General admission, $8; senior citizens and students over age 12, $5. Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum members and children under age 12 are admitted free. For further information, please call (212) 849-8400 or visit http://www.si.edu/ndm. Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum is fully accessible.
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