Sensory City | Xiaofeng Mei

My project is located on a coastal area of Japan which is a site susceptible to environmental influences. My thesis is about the “dynamic morphologies” of a building’s envelope, and how architecture can move away from being fix to one that is in contrast shape. That shape is a response to the immediate environment.

Courtesy of © Xiaofeng Mei

By applying flexible material and intelligent surfaces to new volumes affecting form and color of buildings, I intend to activate the building’s envelope. The rock morphology building bodies metaphor precipitated history; intelligent biological spheres metaphor the new life, which can transform after absorbing the energy of nature, such as wind, tides, barometric pressure, humidify and crustal movement, etc. Trigger system behinds the soft skins will heighten indicators of measurements to accept the natural energy. The movement will be stretch in tempo and small in scale, and to the viewer/user, appear random. It will, definitely, be indexed via external forces with uncertainty energy trigger point and inaccuracy trigger time, creating an unpredictable dream like a catalyst to speed up the Symbiotic.