The UrbanNaturist

8/8/2019 The UrbanNaturist

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LOGIC PRODUCT

Glass Block for the Urban Naturist

theUrbanNa

turist

PROJECT SUBJECT OBJECT(IVE)

CONCEPT


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LOGIC PRODUCT

The Glass Block

Goals of Augmen

Taking the standard glass block (non-

in this exercise) as a starting point, the

objectives were established in order to acc

the varying needs of the Urban Naturist:

Optimize daylight

Meteorological adjustment for solar ga

Nightly conversion to privacy screen

Additional aims of the augmentation

the glass block be maintained as an autonomo

that need only be plugged in. A wall config

these blocks is in the service of the inhabitant but does not neglect its neighborhood prese

finally, the smart block should produce its ow

if at all possible.

Based upon these goals, it appeare

two-sided, multi-modal system would be nec

enable the block to adapt to these changing cOn the one hand, the block should respo

environment during the day. But it must k

when night falls, it should cater to the move

the inhabitant.

Albrecht Durer, Adam & Eve, 1504

Peter Cook, Instant City, 1968

theUrbanNa

turist

The Urban Naturist

Problems of Place

The Urban Naturist reluctantly dwells in the

city as his job, school or family requires, but he truly

longs to exist in harmony with nature. This includes

the desire to dispense with clothing in order to return

to a more natural state. The American writer Walt

Whitman describes it this way:

Sweet, sane, still Nakedness in Nature! - ah if

poor, sick, prurient humanity in cities might really know

you once more! Is not nakedness indecent? No, not

inherently. It is your thought, your sophistication, your

fear, your respectability, that is indecent. There come

moods when these clothes of ours are not only tooirksome to wear, but are themselves indecent.

Such a sentiment poses certain architectural

challenges for the Urban Naturist. By day, he seeks

access to sunlight and connection with the outdoors.

By night, he chooses to be free of the constraints of

city life while in the privacy of his own home. However,due to the density in which many city dwellers find

themselves, the Urban Naturist risks alienation, even

victimization, should he not draw his curtains tight

after dusk.

The plight of the Urban Naturist poses

opportunities to rethink transparency in the city

dwellers home.


CONCEPT

PROJECT SUBJECT OBJECT(IVE) CONCEPT L OGIC


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PRODUCT

Scenario Flow

Conditional Com

Summer sun sensing, Nighttime

inhabitant sensing

Winter sun sensing, no inhabitant

theUrbanNa

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Mulit-modal System

Sensing and Actuating

When the sun is shining on a given block in

summer, the photocell will trigger the fan to turn on,

thus creating a flutter of leaves in order to filter the

direct sunlight and cast a dappled condition on the

interior. When out of direct sunlight, the fan will not be

triggered and an LED instead will illuminate the block.

On a sunny day, on a south facing wall, a wave of

fluttering leaves will track the suns path. In the winter,

the sun will not trigger the fans so as to allow as much

direct sunlight as possible to penetrate to the interior.

Nightmode tracks the movements of the

inhabitant rather than the sun. When a presence isdetected by a given block, the fans will be triggered

and the leaves will flutter. Where no presence is

detected, the LED will illuminate the block. From the

exterior, one would observe the movements of the

inhabitants as a fluttering of leaves tracking across the

surface of the wall.


CONCEPT L OGIC

determine whic

exterior is br

check is it winter or sum

it is summer

it is wint

engage photocell

sunlight is detec

no sunlight is detected

fans turn on

led turn

PRODUCT


CONCEPT L OGIC


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PRODUCT

Arduino Code

Ann

float damper=0.01;//factor by which t

photocell reading to allow for spring-like

response time

float dampedValue;//the adjusted va

photocell reading

float average; //calibrated avera

photocell

int threshold=100; //to give a c

readings from the photocell

void setup(){

Serial.begin(9600); //Begin

Connection

pinMode(5,OUTPUT);//fan 1 pinMode(6,OUTPUT);//fan 2

pinMode(7,OUTPUT);//fan 3

pinMode(13,OUTPUT);//LED light

Serial.println(System Ready);

for (int i=0; i


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Working Prototype

Process of Elim

The greatest challenge in develo

working prototype proved to be the

specifically fluid dynamics, rather than iss

the sensor communicating with the actuat

sealed container it appeared a fan without

outlet achieved a kind of stalemate equilib

it proved difficult to achieve motion. Vent

top and bottom of the block was essential in

sufficient air flow. Even so, the minimal res

the grate caused problems and many mate

tested, including tissues, trace paper, Styrof

the bubbles from plastic packaging.

The addition of a screen covering the adding unwanted wind resistance, proved n

for smaller items that would get lodged in an

the fans. Plastic bags cut into small piec

having the additional issue of static, were

easiest to move with the given air flow.

Solution I, shown at right, involved

strips of plastic bags to the plastic meshthe fans. This had the unexpected effect o

a kind of parachute in which the plastic m

lifted up by the force of air on the attached s

result was ironic as what had proved most dif

succeeding in lifting the lightest of materials

fans. The final solution for this phase of th

was to cut the plastic bags into the initially de

shapes, and provided there were not too ma

objects in the block, they would indeed flutte

as documented in the Proof of Concept Vide

Arduino talking to Prototype

theUrbanNaturist

PROJECT SUBJECT OBJECT(IVE) CONCEPT L OGIC PRODUCT

The UrbanNaturist

Documents

Transcript of The UrbanNaturist