Smart Flexibility: Advanced Materials and Technologies

An international overview of I+D projects about flexible and active materials

By Materfad, Barcelona Spain

Can a system achieve intelligence by combining the con­trol of a flexible structure with the properties of an active material? The answer is Yes, and you will discover it at the Smart Flexibility: Advanced Materials and Technologies exhibition. Projects developed by universities and firms from 9 different countries (USA, Germany, Denmark, United Kingdom, Holland, Switzerland, Canada, China and Spain).

The Smart Flexibility: Advanced Materials and Technologies exhibition seeks to explore the current capabilities provided by certain structures and materials to raise awareness and adapt architecture to its environment.

From this perspective the exhibition is situated on the borderline between matter and structure, investigating the flexibility and intrinsic reactivity of specific materials and advanced technologies.
In order to do so, this event should not only bring together architects, designers and construction engineers but also creators from other sectors (sports, fashion, automotive, etc.), whose projects and products are focused on smart flexibility.

These contemporary works and projects involving materials, sensitive systems and articulated supports enable us to imagine the functionalities an intelligent and flexible architecture may provide.

The harvesting of wind and solar power, electrical and thermal energy generation, perception and adaptation to climatic conditions, to acoustics and lighting environment, user detection and modification of the space through their body, their movements or even their emotions, are the challenges of tomorrow’s spaces and are thus the guidelines of the exhibition.

Curators
Valérie Bergeron
Javier Peña
Materfad (Barcelona, Spain)

http://www.exhibitions.materfad.com/smart-flexibility/

http://es.materfad.com/servicios/9/materioteca

About the Design Research Institute:

The Design Research Institute (DRI) aims to build design research’s role as a ‘solution finder’ toward the challenges of the Urbanisation and the Cities of the Future.

DRI is a unique location for transdisciplinary research collaboration