Adaptive Building Initiative
Projects
Adaptive Fritting™
(Estonia)
Adaptive Fritting™
(Harvard GSD)
Adaptive Shading Esplanade
Aldar Central Market
City of Justice
Competition Entry for
Abu Dhabi International Airport
Emergent Surface
HelioTrace
POLA Ginza Building Façade
Simons Center
Wyss Institute

Emergent Surface

Museum of Modern Art | New York, NY | 2008 | Strata™
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About This System
Strata™, US Patent 7,559,174
International Patents Pending
Based on new technologies for adaptive building skins, Emergent Surface is a wall that continuously reconfigures itself—portions selectively disappearing and reappearing. In one condition, the piece appears as a solid surface with three-dimensional curvature. In another, it resolves itself into seven slender poles running floor to ceiling. And between these extremes lie an infinite variety of configurations.

The sculpture, designed by Hoberman Associates, utilizes the Adaptive Building Initiative's Strata™ surface as a means to transform. This commission represented a significant advance in research and development of Strata™ and was the first structure to physically demonstrate its capabilities.

  • Dimensions: 5.5 m by 4 m
  • Number of operable units: 24
  • Materials: Aluminum, Steel
  • Control System: 24 servo motors and custom control system