NEXT NATURE Adaptive & Informative Skin

Student: Vivian van der BurgtCoach: R. van Tienhoven

Year: B2.2 - 2010-2011s081013

CONTENT PAGE

Introducti on p. 3Research p. 4Idea generati on 1 p. 6Vision p. 8Idea generati on 2 p. 9 Midterm Exhibiti on p. 11Concept selecti on p. 14Final concept p. 15Technology p. 16Adverti sement p. 18Scenario p. 20References p. 21

INTRODUCTIONIn old nature the appearance of product is oft en highly informati ve on its functi oning. Take for instance of a banana: you can buy a banana when it is sti ll green, and it is already possible to eat it. But when you wait for the banana to turn yellow, before eati ng it, its taste will be completely diff erent. You can choose the proper moment of eati ng yourself, when you like the taste of the banana best. The visual appearance of the banana is more than just a skin. It is actually meaningful and provides you with informati on on how the banana will taste. In this project the aim is to transfer this principle to product design.

There are more examples of products that have adapti ve and informati ve skins. For example a hard disk cover that evolves with your data, a dynamic agenda wall paper that shows an overview of how busy you are during the week. The data is being presented in an abstract way, other people will only perceive it as decorati on, a heat–sensiti ve wallpaper of which the printed fl owers will be blooming when the radiator is on and many more ideas. The aim is to transfer principles from old nature or nature as we know it now with our new technology, our new culture, into a new product.

This report will describe the focus of the project. The main focus lies on implementi ng aspects from old nature into a product. The main directi on is about the adapti ve skins of repti les, especially the molti ng process of lizards and snakes. These aspects are imple-mented in the fi nal concept. The main goal is to achieve a concept of prove about the totally new experience of the concept.

RESEARCHIn the beginning we were provided with the ‘Next Nature’ website. On that site there are a lot of examples of products that have an adapti ve skin in a certain way. To get more background informati on about the project I looked at diff erent concepts on the site that had to deal with adapti ve skins. Further an essay about informati on decorati on was read and founded very interesti ng. It is said that we live in an age of informati on. When you look around you, everywhere are traffi c signs, adverti sements; all kinds of screens with informati on. The purpose of informati on decorati on is to integrate this informati on into our environment, that it communicates informati on in a subtle way and where there is a balance between aestheti c and informati onal quality. You can do that by looking at old nature: how does nature communicate and exchange informati on. Or you could learn from our decorati ve world. An example of a concept where informati on decorati on is used is the concept of dynamic wallpaper that unobtrusively conveys the agenda of its user on the wall. It provides you with an impression of your upcoming plans. For other people it only may decorati on. I found this way of thinking very interesti ng. Another viewpoint I looked at is Biomimicry. This means that you can learn a lot from nature. Look at for example photosynthesis, the system of how bees work together and communicate, and how ants built their hills with holes for excellent venti lati on, and much more.

RESEARCHNow a day we designed our own nature with new technology. This technology can help us to make things that have the same as-pects from old nature. I like the fact that you put aspects from nature, aspects of animal behavior into a product to make a whole new experience. So how animals communicate and interact, a product should also interact like that; integrati ng systems from na-ture into products.

With these diff erent approaches I started diff erent brainstorm with more people from the project. First a brainstorm about natural intelligent systems or phenomenal was done. Here we got aware of the nature, the diff erent systems, how animals communicate and interact. Then we did a brainstorm about intelligent skins from animals especially. We came up with diff erent adapti ve skins of animals, like the chameleon, the lizard, the snake etc. .With all this informati on about nature and diff erent concepts, I sti ll couldn’t fi nd a beginning or a directi on. So we did another brainstorm about daily problems. I was looking at problems or products in daily life where I could implement an adapti ve or in-formati ve skin to solve the problem. But designing is not only looking at problems and solving them, it is also about looking at op-portuniti es and discovering new things. Aft er this we did a fi nal brainstorm about diff erent senses you can use for your product to make it adapti ve and informati ve.

IDEA GENERATION 11. A product that reacts on emoti ons and that behaves like nature. For example a product that closes when you’re angry, and when you’re happy it opens towards you. It is like a natural interacti on like fl owers open and close. This is integrati ng natural behavior into a product. But it is very hard to detect emoti ons. You only can measure primary emoti ons, like being scared - heartbeat or stress - measure sweat and tension of the body.

2. A 3D wall (paper) with diff erent 3D objects which reacts on the acti vity in the room. So when there are people screaming in the room, or running the objects on the wall start to move very fast. When someone else enters the room aft er some ti me and nobody is there anymore, the wall is sti ll moving. So the person knows that there were some people in the room a couple of minutes ago. So the wall gives you informati on about what’s going on in your house. Further it can be nice decorati on wallpaper. So this idea is inspired by informati on decorati on.

IDEA GENERATION 13. On food packages there is always an expirati on date. But when you open a package of certain food the expirati on is limited and the date is useless. To give people informati on about the expirati on of the food, the label starts to peel off when the food gets spoiled. This is about solving a problem.

4. Someti mes you see a bott le of coke on a table in your house, or at your working place and you don’t know if it is sti ll drinkable. You don’t know how long it already stands there. To give people informati on about that you can provide the bott le with visuals that show if it is sti ll drinkable. This is about solving a problem.

5. A scarf that shows what kind of weather it will be. It will start interacti ng with you when you have to put it on, because it is cold outside. It could invite you, or starti ng to move. This also can be done with other clothes.

6. A shoe which you buy as a blank shoe, but the longer you wear your shoes, and the more places you go, the more visuals will appear on the shoe. They will get a unique print every ti me

VISIONFirst I had to develop my own vision or directi on to come up with diff erent ideas. I spend too long behind the informati on screens; it was ti me to go outside and be inspired by real nature. Going to the zoo was very inspiring. In nature there are a lot of animals with the possibiliti es of adapti ng their skins and give informati on. Like a peacock that puts his feathers up to inti midate the other, a lizard that is molti ng because he is growing, a snake that imitates a ratt le snake to look dangerous and scare of enemies, a chame-leon that changes color for camoufl age, skin that is self healing and growing. I was really fascinated about these aspects and I start to develop a directi on. I wanted to implement those kind of aspects into a product. The aspect of the molti ng process of diff erent repti les was a nice opportunity to implement it in a product in some way.

IDEA GENERATION 2With the fi rst idea generati on I was more looking at problems we face in our society or daily lifes and coming up with soluti ons. This is one approach, but the ideas that came out of that were not that strong. This project didn’t state a problem, it was more about opportuniti es.So aft er developed my directi on I started to think of more ideas that had to deal with these adapti ve skins and found more opportuni-ti es instead of solving problems. I really liked the shoe concept so I thought of diff erent variati ons on that.

1. A shoe that the longer you wear them, and the more places you go, how faster it will peel of its skin. Every ti me, a new print is underneath the layer that is peeling off . Sneaker fans will love this and will walk more distance with its shoes, because they seek for the newest, cool-est prints.

2. A third variati on is that the skin of the shoe is infl uenced by the en-vironment and the weather. For example, when it rains and the drops will fall on the shoe, it will leave a print behind. Or when the shoe is infl uenced by heat, the shoe will turn red.

IDEA GENERATION 23. A second variati on on the shoe is a shoe that peels of its skin throughout the year. You buy it as a boot in the winter, and when it becomes spring, the shoe will start to peel of its skin. A new shoe that fi ts the spring is underneath. This will go on unti l you only have left fl ip fl ops in the summer. a shoe that adapts itself for the seasons.

4. Another idea is a credit wallet. In the future, I think we will have no real money anymore. We will only pay virtually with a card. People will easily spend more money and not be aware of the amount they sti ll have. That’s why a wallet with an adapti ve skin would be helpful. When you have less money your wallet hides for you, changes color. When you earn money, your wallet will fl ash up. Or it will peel of when you have no money and aft er some ti me there will be no wallet left .

MIDTERM EXHIBITIONFor the exhibiti on it was required to present three main concepts. We had to make three posters that were like adverti sements that explained our concept. The three main concepts I chose were:

The seasonal shoe

It is a shoe that transforms throughout the year. You can buy it as a boot in the winter. When it be-comes spring, and the weather is getti ng warmer, your shoe suddenly starts to peel off its skin. It is a shoe that has four transformati ons, a shoe with 4 layers underneath each other. It could be a new fashion trend. The exact transformati ons have to be explored. Further the whole experience of wearing such a shoe and story behind the concept is very important to be developed.

MIDTERM EXHIBITIONThe 3D-wall

This is a wall that shows the acti vity within a room. When people are very busy and shouti ng in a liv-ing room the wall will starts to move, to breathe faster. This breathing will hold on. So when the next person enters the living room and he sees the wall breathing and no one is there, he knows that a couple of minutes ago people were here. This will raise questi ons like: why where they here, and who were they? The wall will give you infor-mati on about what’s going on in your house. It has also an aestheti c value: it can be a nice decorati on wallpaper. So this idea is inspired by informati on decorati on.I made a litt le wall of how I see this wall with its breathing and aestheti c value. I decorated the wall with aluminum foil. This has a nice refl ecti on of light when it moves. The aestheti cs of the wall have to be explored much further. I can explore diff erent 3d objects on the wall or diff erent ma-terials.

MIDTERM EXHIBITIONComing home

This idea is derived from the emoti on object. Be-cause emoti ons are very hard to detect, another object with its own emoti ons has developed. It is a coat stand that shows how many people there are at home. In a student house you don’t always know if there is anyone home. The coat stand will be sad and bend down when no one is home, just like a fl ower that is withered. When more people come home, the coat stand will lift up and the people can put their coat on the stand. The coat stand will become a reference point for how many people are at home. Usually you don’t look at how many jackets there are on the coat stand.

CONCEPT SELECTIONAft er the exhibiti on a lot of feedback was received. The coming home concept is a nice concept, a kind of variati on on the emoti on object concept from the beginning. The concept is about an object that has a behavior; this is not really having an adapti ve skin. The concept was diff erent from the other two and fi tt ed least with the project. This was the fi rst concept that was dropped out.

One concept had to be selected to work out. A SWOT-analysis was made for the other two ideas.

3D-wall:S The wall is a whole experience.W The wall will be noisy and too much, too present.O explore the form/material. A working prototype is possible.T You can hang anything on the wall or put something in front of the wall, it will become an object itself.

Seasonal ShoeS The story behind the concept is strong. The shoe is a totally new experience and a new vision. W Concept of prove will show the concept.This has to be strong, else the whole experience is gone.O Make the story behind the concept very clear, and capture the experience in adverti sements and other strong visuals.T Is it realisti c?

The 3D-wall is a new experience and the form and material can be explored widely. The technology can be an obstacle because it is very complicated to make all the objects move separately from each other. Another point is that you can’t put anything in front of the wall and maybe the room or environment would be too busy and noisy. A working prototype is possible, but to really aim for the whole experience, you need to make a whole room, which is too hard to make.

The seasonal shoe concept is very strong. The story behind the seasonal shoe is very strong, but it is hard to realize. It is important that the whole story needs to be correct. The experience of this new shoe is totally diff erent from shoes now and it is a new way of thinking. Also the commercial aspect of the shoe, the marketi ng, has to be convincing and opti mal. Further the technology of the shoe, how it is going to work, or could be, is something which you have to think of and have in mind. The prototype will be a wizard of oss: Through visuals and a prototype that shows the principal will be the opti mal experience. The seasonal shoe is the concept where I fully can throw myself into and which I believe is the best concept to work out. I found that connecti on with a concept very important. Overall, the seasonal shoe is the concept to conti nu with.

FINAL CONCEPTSeasonal Shoe – Story behind the concept

The shoe is inspired by the adapti ve skins of diff erent repti les. There are repti les who adapt the color of their skin to the environ-ment for camoufl age, adapt their skin for imitati ng a dangerous animal to scare of enemies and a skin that molts ti me aft er ti me because the skin becomes too small. Molti ng is such a nice phenomenal and fascinated thing that it is a nice opportunity to use it in a concept.The Seasonal Shoe peels of its skin throughout the year adaptable on the seasons. The shoe has four layers, so four transforma-ti ons. The fabric of the shoe looks like it has scales just like lizards and snakes.It starts with a boot which you buy in the autumn. Then it will become winter and nothing will happen yet. Once it becomes spring, and the temperature is rising, the shoe will suddenly start to molt its fi rst skin. Underneath there is a loafer, a shoe that is appropri-ate for the spring. This molti ng will take a day (24 hours): fi rst the fabric will get loose and will start to fray and scale off and the fi rst pieces will fall off , just like a lizard. This will be a higher surprising factor then when the shoe sheds its skin at once like a snake does (*). As the leaves will lie on the ground in the autumn, the pieces of the seasonal shoe will lie on the ground in the spring. The user will be that surprised that he can’t wait unti l the next transformati on will start. As the spring will release you from the cold winter, the spring will release you from the boot. Between the spring and the summer the shoe will molt unti l a kind of sandal. When it is in the middle of the summer, the shoe will molt unti l its last phase, the fl ip fl ops. This is the end of the cycle, the seasonal shoe. The autumn is the ti me to look back at the transformati ons and ti me to buy your new seasonal shoe to start a new cycle.

Your shoe will come to life and will fi t your needs.

(*) Snakes and lizardsJust like a lizard, the snake crawls on its belly, whereby the scales wear. Because the scales are fi xed and can’t grow, the snake has to renew them, which called molting. In the case of snakes, the complete outer layer of skin is shed in one layer. They are not shed separately but as a complete outer layer during each molt, just like a sock being turned inside out. Then the snake has renewed itself. A lizard does the same but unlike the snake, the lizard sheds its skin in parts. The skin will tear down until it is completely lost. This will also happens with the seasonal shoe.

TECHNOLOGYWith what kind of technology is it possible to realize the molti ng of the fabric? The skin of a lizard consists out of scales. In the germ layer (stratum germinati vum) these scales are made by mitoses. Above this layer there lies the interlayer, where the scales are developing further. On the top layer of the skin there is the stratum corneum where the full grown scales lie. When a lizard starts to molt, the cells in the germ layer will move to the interlayer where they develop further. Because of this growing new skin in the interlayer, the outer, old skin will release. We can learn from this molti ng. Translati ng these nature genius is called biomimicry. But this would be impossible to do.

First the conditi ons of the shoe are menti oned. The seasonal shoe is made out of four layers of fabric which have to be att ached to one sole. The best way to do that is by gluing them, sti tching would be too hard. Shoes now a day already exist of several layers. First you make the nose, then the heel. Then a second layer above and the third layer is the lining of the fabric. The four layers can be thin and fl exible, as they are only a layer of fabric on the shoe and have no other functi on like supporti ng the feet. The shoe starts to molt in relati on with the seasons. The temperature will infl uence the molti ng process. When the outside temperature starts to rise, the fi rst transformati on will start. So this whole process is automati cally and should reacts on temperature outside.

But the temperature outside throughout the year is a range between -10 degrees in the winter and 30 degrees in the summer. This is a small range and diffi cult to measure with sensors in the shoe plus, when you’re inside, the temperature changes quickly and will have infl uences on the process. That’s why it is bett er to put a ti mer in the shoe, a microcontroller with ti mer. When you buy the shoe, you can set the ti mer from that moment and calculate the months before it becomes spring. When it is ti me to molt for the fi rst ti me, the ti mer (microcontroller) can send a signal and can start a reacti on with the fabric. But which reacti on can start the fabric to fray, solve, or fall apart?

TECHNOLOGYThere are diff erent ways to infl uence the fabric. Cott on for example, consists out of cellulose, a lot of polymers. The cellulose molecule structure will fall apart under infl uence of UV-light and temperature. the sulfur bridges between the polymers will break and the cott on thread will get britt le and starts to fray. But how could the UV-light be implemented in the shoe? This could be dangerous because you need a strong intensity of UV-light.Another possibility could be heati ng or solving glue or gel. Glue or gel consist out of polymers with a lot of water. When you heat the glue or gel, you will infl uence the structure of the polymers so it will get liquid. In this way it will loose the surface that it was holding on to. With this you need to put a heati ng element into the shoe, or wave steel wire through the fabric, which conducts the heat through the shoe and infl uence the glue between the layers. But for this you need a very high temperature which is not pleasant for your feet and skin. Another possibility with glue is solving it in water, but for this you need to make your shoe wet, which is not ideal.

A way that would have potenti al, is electrolyse. Through voltage you can arouse the electron fl ow in the gel or glue. The potenti al diff erence will att ract the ions of the gel, whereas the structure of the molecules of the gel will fall apart. In this way the fi rst layer will fall off the shoe. With the ti mer of the microcontroller, you can send the voltage through the shoe. In this way the shoe will automati cally start to ‘molt’. The microcontroller with batt ery can be put in the sole of the shoe. In this way it will not burden.

ADVERTISEMENTThere is made a concept of prove with this project. The seasons and the transformati ons are showed in the fi rst adverti sement. In the second adverti se-ment the use and the experience of wearing such a shoe is captured, which is very fascinati ng.

The user only has to buy one pair of shoes for the whole year. This is totally new and interesti ng for the user. It will save money. Further it will be a to-tally new experience to wear molti ng shoes. Other people will also see people with molti ng shoes or noti cing pieces of fabric on the ground all around, and start wondering what it could be. With the adverti sement you can get people curious. These shoes can have a totally new impact on the fashion industry; the newest trend on shoes. A shoe with its own skin that can molt down would be the new-est fashion trend. The shoes are sti ll wearable and functi onal.

The producti on process of the shoe is possible with the technique that shoe makers work with. The four layers can be att ached to the sole of the shoe with glue (sti tching would be impossible or too hard). Shoes now a day already have more layers of fabric. On the nose and heel you have an extra layer underneath the main layer. Then most of the ti me the shoe gets a lining. The shoe will be more expensive at fi rst sight. But because you buy 4 shoes in 1, you will save money in the end.

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SCENARIOAnna heard about the ‘Seasonal Shoe’ on the television and saw an adverti sement on the street. She fi nds it really interesti ng and decides to buy a pair now, when it is sti ll in the autumn. She goes to the shop and picks his four transformati on phases of the shoe. She now has bought four shoes in one. It is winter and Anna wears her boots and she can’t wait unti l it is spring. She is really exciti ng about what is going to happen then.A couple of months later she is walking down the street and looks down at her shoes: The shoes are molti ng! The fi rst layer is getti ng loose! When she gets home she starts to tear of the fabric, but it is not possible to do that. She decides to leave it and goes to the supermarket. When walking on a path, she sees the pieces fall off and fall on the ground. When she looks around her another person also has a molti ng shoe! They feel connected to each other and start to talk about their shoes, their transformati ons. Other people start to noti ce more and more pieces of fabric on the ground. They are wondering where they come from. Everyone is surprised and excited about it. In the evening when Anna is coming home from a long day her seasonal shoe has lost its fi rst skin and became a loafer. The spring has begun and she is now free from the winter!

REFERENCEShtt p://www.nextnature.net/2007/12/iyv-the-evolving-harddisk-cover/

Nano technology

htt p://www.osgbk.nl/lijm/LinkedDocuments/nanotechnologie.pdfhtt p://www.nextnature.net/2010/05/self-healing-surfaces/htt p://www.nextnature.net/events/nano-supermarket/

Biomimicryhtt p://www.icse.nl/

Molti ng process repti leshtt p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbT8GI0oS7U&feature=relatedhtt p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btdHaksZoUg&feature=relatedhtt p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFcK-fj m6oI

Technologyhtt p://resources.metapress.com/pdf-preview.axd?code=nl113g047411w332&size=largest

htt p://www.dow.com/PublishedLiterature/dh_01ad/0901b803801ad376.pdf?fi lepath=dowexcipients/pdfs/noreg/198-02186.pdf&fromPage=GetDoc

htt p://www.chemischefeitelijkheden.nl/Uploads/Magazines/CF-197-zetmeel.pdf

htt p://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/nl/Electrolysis