Kas Oosterhuis runs the Hyperbody Research Group at Delft. Here’s the MuscleBody Project.

The MuscleBody project consists of a fully kinetic and interactive architecture that is a full-scale prototype of an interior space. The project is an architectural body that consists of a continuous skin that incorporates all its architectural properties and makes no categorical distinctions such as floor, wall, ceiling, door. The interaction between the MuscleBody and its players (the people that have entered the interior space) causes the MuscleBody to change its shape, its degrees of transparency and the sound that it generates.

The structure of the MuscleBody is based on a single, spiralling tube that is bended in three dimensions. The material properties of the tube, that is normally used as water piping allow for both the needed flexibility and stiffness of the structure. A total of 26 industrial Festo muscles are intergraded into the spiralling structure to control the physical movement of the MuscleBody. The skin is further composed of Lycra, a stretchable fabric normally used for sports clothing. The translucency of the fabric varies according to the degree of stretching. The fabric is fitted in segments that are slightly offset to the tubular structure. The thin strips of light that occur between the tubing and the skin in combination with the altering translucency of the fabric itself results in a play of light when the MuscleBody is activated. There are also a number of speakers integrated into the skin that generate sound consisting of several (sound)samples that are combined and transformed according to the behaviour of the players.

from wmmna Cheers Regine