This publication is a exhibition catalog which is one of 6 catalogs in the set. It is titled Patterning by Heat: Responsive Textile Structures and describes two research phases that develop textiles for architectural application. The first phase is discussed in the essay 'Digital Translations Workshop: Form Active Textile Structures'. A second phase is discussed in the essay ' Transforming Material: Responsive Knitted Tension Structures'.

Digital fabrication technology presents an unfamiliar territory for textile design,thus requiring exploration and analysis of the emergent forms of textile crafting andmateriality. Through practice-based research methodology, this research examines the intersection of two fabrication methods: industrial knitting and 3D filament printing, with the aim of outlining a hybrid material territory for 3D textile composites. Accordingly, the research addresses the notion of textile as a multi-material system. The physical results are presented as a material library of samples which have been produced through two methods: i) the exploration of geometric tessellations to generate self-folding surfaces by direct printing on non-elastic knitted structures; ii) the exploration of pattern arrays to generate self-forming surfaces by direct printing on pre-stressed knitted structures. Using this hybrid approach to textile crafting the research discusses the aesthetic possibilities of the fusion of these two technologies, and the potential for development within the Industry 4.0 model.

Integrating computational technology to architectural surfaces challenges the traditional design process offering novel possibilities to design materials and spaces. Starting with a conceptual design exercise, the present paper discusses the relation between form, textile expression and human interaction in architectural design by joining together different design practices such as architecture, textile and interaction design. The aim of the paper is to challenge design views and to integrate textiles and computerized technology as part of the expression in space design that means to relate the aesthetic of the space to the user’s actions. It is a reflection on the role of interactive textiles textures that exceed the expressional and technological limits of the traditional textile materials having dual nature between function and ornamentation in architectural design. The present paper is an example of practice based research and follows a design project that had as objective to design a collection of interactive textile structures meant to be used in an architectural context. The aim of the project was to explore the soft face of computerized technology and to integrate it into the space design to generate new typologies that relate the space to the human presence; to explore situations how people’s relation to the space materializes and progresses in time by the mean of interactive soft surfaces.

Extending the role of the surface from just an embellishment of the tectonics to communicative devices challenges the traditional design process in architecture. Through a series of design examples, the paper presents a research program that introduces and discusses a new grammar of ornamentation generated by the relation between surface expression and the act of use in the build space. Projects such as Knitted light, Touching loops, Designing with heat and Tactile glow are examples meant to analyze the relation between material, space, time and interaction expression through the design of three dimensional knitted interactive textile structures. The design process joins together different design fields such as architectural, textile and interaction design in order to re-define the relation between human being and space. The design process starts with the microstructure of the textile element and ends with the space design using the interaction design as a tool to relate the human presence to space. The paper aims to propose new interactive spatial expressions created by the integration of computational technology into soft interactive textile surfaces that enable the user to perceive the complexity of the architectural space through a synesthetic perception, that exceeds the limits of visuality.

Knitted Light ‐ Space and Emotion ‐ design of textile expressions that integrate light as functional and aesthetic asset in order to enlarge our space experience. Starting from the relation between light, textiles and space the present project proposes a vision of textiles as an interface between interior and exterior as part of building facades. The purpose of the project is to reintroduce textiles as an alternative to the functional and aesthetic layer of glass by being applied to the interior part of the façade. This is to create a textile interface that interacts with light between the indoor and outdoor environment; to offer architects an advanced textile complement to the conventional materials in building design. The design process follows two general paths one oriented towards function having as aim to enhance the functional potential of the material such as energy saver and the other towards expression by using the emotional potential of the combination of textiles and light to raise the user’s interaction with the built environment. Each of the resulting prototypes develops an individual idea based on the effect created by light and its surface in order to create an interactive environment. Alongside with the aesthetical values given by the exploration of the relation between textiles and light, the project has a strong technical approach by exploring different possibilities to integrate artificial light into the textile structures and to create three‐dimensional surfaces using knitting as a technique.

Starting with Allen’s definition on architectural design as a material practice, this paper develops further the discussion on practice-based research methods and on the role of the artifact in development of foundational theory of architectural design. Relational Textile Expressions for Space Design is an example of practice-based research in architectural design, where research by material design aims to develop theoretical knowledge based on designed experiments.

The relationship between technology and the expression of form have always been interconnected in the architectural design process; associating the art of envisioning spaces with the craft of materializing them. Recently in terms of surface fabrication, computational tools of representation and material fabrication opened for architectural design new possibilities to explore novel spatial expressions. Surface design processes in architecture start to borrow from the logic of representation of different non-hierarchical structures, e.g., biological systems or textile construction techniques. Relating to that, the present fascination of textiles in architectural design relies on this specific way of building surface design as non-hierarchical form, and by that, allowing the designer to play with the depth of the surface design at micro and macro levels. Exploring different relations between digital and physical through textiles expressions, this research reassess static principles of form–marking the turn from static to relational principles. Thus, the intention is to describe how the character of the textiles and computation as design material redefines the notion of space trough surface aesthetics merging the digital to the physical, and how spatiality can be questioned through textile and interaction aesthetics. Using practice-based research methodology, this research opens and explores this design space by relating theory and practice; it questions and reframes fundamental concepts of expression and scale in architecture by proposing methods for surface design, and a specific language to describe textile architectural aesthetics.

The emergence of the Smart Textiles field opens possibilities for designers to combine traditional surface fabrication techniques with advanced technology in the design process. When it comes to the field of Smart Textiles as interactive materials for space design, it is essential to understand the identity of the material through design and also to understand the novel expressions being mediated for space. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to develop knowledge by design on Smart Textiles as materials for architecture and to do so through design. The thesis formulates a research program to frame the design explorations. Thus, Relational Textiles for Space Design is defined as a research program in architecture where the focus lies on developing methods to design interactive textile surfaces using knitted constructions. The program is illustrated by the design projects e.g., Knitted Light, Touching Loops, Designing with Heat and Tactile Glow. As a result of the research, a new methodological framework for interactive textile design is proposed. The framework defines the notions of field and frame of reference for the design. These notions form a method to discuss design variables of relational textile expressions. Based on the design examples, the emerging expressions are described according to the field relations that the interactive textile introduces in space. Thus, expressions of spatialization e.g., reduction, amplification, addition and disassociation are introduced.

The emergence of the Smart Textiles field opens possibilities for designers to combine traditional surface fabrication techniques with advanced technology in the design process. The purpose of this work is to develop knowledge on interactive knitted textiles as materials for architecture and to do so through practice-based design research. The thesis formulates a research program in order to frame the design explorations, in which scale and material expression are major placeholders. Consequently, Relational Textiles for Space Design is defined as a research program with focus on surface aesthetics and the program is illustrated by design experiments exploring the expressiveness of light, heat and movement as design materials. As a result of the research presented in this thesis, a new methodological framework for interactive textile design is proposed. The framework defines field of reference and frame of reference as basic notions in surface design. These notions form a basic frame used to revise and present the methods behind the design examples Knitted Light, Touching Loops, Designing with Heat, Tactile Glow, Repetition and Textile Forms in Movement. Relating the space of Relational Textiles for Space Design to existing surface methodology in architecture gives rise to new issues that need to be addressed. For which levels of the design process will these textiles be integrated? The last chapter reflects on the role of Relational Textiles for Space Design as possible methods or expressions in the existing space of surface prototyping.

Presently, digitalisation has moved beyond a desktop paradigm to one of ubiquitous computing; by introducing new possibilities and dynamic materials to various design fields, e.g. product design and architecture, it allows future spaces to be envisioned. Prior to being incorporated in the housing of the future, however, the hybrid character of computational materials raises questions with regard to the development of the appropriate design methods to allow them to be used in the production of space. Thus, merging physical and digital attributes in the material design process and expression not only enables a better understanding of materials through design, but also requires a cross-disciplinary methodology to be articulated in order to allow different perspectives on e.g. material, interaction, and architecture to interweave in the design process. Based on a practice-based research methodology, this paper proposes a cross-disciplinary framework where the notion of temporal scalability – enabled by the character of computation as a design material – is discussed in relation to form and material in architecture. The framework is illustrated by two different design examples, Repetition and Tactile Glow, and the methods behind their creation – merging time, material, and surface aesthetics – are discussed.

Patterning by Heat: The Responsive Textile Structures presents 4 different computational textile structures that change the appearance of space through 2 different transformations that happen in the surface expression. The first typology of material is pixilated, designed with yarn that melts at high temperature; accordingly, the fabric opens or breaks when it receives current. The opening allows designers flexibility to experiment with see through effects on the fabric, or to ‘write’ upon the fabric making apertures, collecting foreground and background together in one shape. The second material has been designed with yarn that shrinks or draws solid lines in the fabric when it receives current. The shrinking reveals a more opaque patterning in the textile closing parts of that textile off, transforming the nature of that space. Both breaking and shrinking yarns have been knitted into four different architectural tension structures that are designed using computation and textiles to track people’s presence in space by the changes that appear in the surface design.

The authors of this article argue for 'making time appear' in computational materials and objects so that it can be used to help people become aware of their relation to their environments. [Hallnäs & Redström 2001] As more computational and responsive materials come into play when designing architectural spaces designers might consider opening up the dimension of time to 'make time appear' rather than disappear. [Hallnäs & Redström 2001] Computational materials are materials which transform expression and respond to inputs read by computer programs. Making time appear can have many uses particularly in applications where people can be helped by the awareness of unfolding of time, where the temporality is linked to transformative body experience rather than project efficiency or collapsing distance. If architects, designers, engineers and others could begin to consider and use time as a way to promote reflection then it would be possible to design materials which could expand human thinking through the material itself.

This workshop will explore the design processes and tools related to textile architecture formed by wind. On one hand, we will focus on how the internal structure of textiles can affect their behaviour and geometric expression when in movement. On the other, we will experiment with diverse tools useful for designing such textile architecture in movement, ranging from digital simulations of aesthetic expressions and behaviours, through structural property assessment, up to physical models set in motion by moving air.

Textiles as design materials in architecture are considered formless. In tensile architecture, textiles are designed to follow a predesigned shape, with coated woven fabrics stretched until the resulting shape is virtually stiff; this to avoid deformation by wind. But what happens if we allow movement in the textile? What if wind becomes a design variable to decide upon the expression of textile architectural form? As a building material textile is starting to gain more interest in architecture. The possibility of creating seemingly endless variations of textiles with different behaviour and functionalities is very appealing from a design perspective. It is an easily transported and lightweight material and can be made from a range of different yarns, including reused textile fibres and wood, which gives it a great potential to be a sustainable choice for architecture.

The workshop will use a combination of computational tools using C++ code, Processing code and Grasshopper to investigate fabric geometry and behaviour at scales from the knitting and weaving of individual yarns to clothes and large-scale fabric structures. At the small scale we are focusing on topology and graph theory and at the large scale the interaction of fabric and wind is of prime interest. The emphasis is on geometry, physics and artistic expression of textile in motion. Participants will be given a simple source code which can be modified, even by those with little experience of programming. Throughout the workshop participants will get a basic introduction in different textile morphologies, and the possibility to explore different textile material behaviours, from the structure and geometries of the treads in the woven and knitted textile to the shapes and application in a building scale. The relationship between these scales will be explored both physically and digitally. How does the geometry of the threads affect the overall shape? Participants will work with both computer models as well as physical models, and gain an understanding for the geometry of the textile material, learn about different ways and means of simulating textile behaviour in movement and get a comparison of the challenges brought in by each type of simulation. A large-scale model will be produced during the workshop and exhibited during the conference.

Presently, digital sketching environments have come to be used as a complement to the traditional manufacturing techniques for textiles; the research presented here looks into the area of time-based patterns and their relation to digital tools and textile structural techniques. Thus, the aim of this work is to expand on the existing methods used by designers, and to explore ways for capturing and expressing the complexity and temporality of pattern changes in textiles. Furthermore, our result sketches a method for using dynamic colors to design complex surface patterns for textiles by utilizing methods that facilitate the hiding and/or revealing of multiple colors and shapes on the printed surface of the textile; this method is discussed in connection to the different expressions that can be achieved by using knitting as media for print.

When used within textile printing, smart colours have expanded the design possibilities for textile patterns as relates to both motifs and, more importantly, uses. Smart colours suggest new functionalities and provide specific perceptions, reactions, and activities in terms of usage. At the same time, the need for peripheral information sources that are less intrusive than many of the everyday devices of the present has continuously been addressed to improve wellbeing, e.g. by making life more manageable and meaningful through the use of technology in everyday life. We aim to increase knowledge of the design qualities of smart colours, which is of use in relation to creating non- or less intrusive ways of displaying peripheral information. This paper focuses on the character of colour transition and discusses different colour-changing possibilities with regard to surface patterns; that is, from the perspectives of different levels of change and complexity and in relation to levels of intrusiveness and information comprehensibility. 

Artistic research in design is relatively new compared to experimental research in the natural sciences but it has matured a great deal over the last decade. Its extensive development has brought new challenges to professional practice, and also raised questions regarding how knowledge should be imparted in academia. By examining the field of textile design, which has traditionally been taught in close synergy with professional practice, we can discern the emergence of doctoral theses that have brought not only new perspectives to textile practice but also a new role to the design educator as a researcher within the academia. One of the challenges that design education program are facing, however, relates to creating a better connection between research and education in order to continually enrich curricula with new developments in the field, so that basic knowledge and novelty can interact. By looking closely at the development of the research environment at The Swedish School of Textiles and the interaction with undergraduate and postgraduate education, this chapter describes how research has informed the development of textile design education.

This article presents three scenarios in which we explore different possibilities for interactive textile hangings, textile hangings that are knitted and attached to servomotors. We have identified a series of variables that address the relationship between the expressions of the changeable pattern, created by rotating motors, and the unchangeable textile pattern. We use these variables, combined with contextual dichotomies, to discuss the relationships between the textile expression, the temporal expression, the place and the interactions for these scenarios.

As a way of opening a space where methods from the fields of fashion design, textile design and interaction design overlap, the project Repetition intersects different methodologies through practice-based research in design. Experiments were conducted to explore ways of creating relationships between body and space by means of translating information as pattern design between garments and interactive knitted walls. By arranging a startup performance, we reflected on the expressional variables that influence the expression of the pattern translations; variables concerning the garments, the walls, the print and the movements were illustrated by the expressions found. The result formulates specific descriptions regarding accuracy and distribution of pattern translation, illustrating basic concepts of pattern formations identified in visual changes appearing in the garment. By communicating our understanding of basic expressions, Repetition aims to formulate a new framework for collaborative work as a method for further design.

Presence in a space has own rhythm of change; it is organic,but it can be expressed structurally by the textile forms. The textile acts as a mirror between spaces that have been separated; the textile collects and spreads information through changes in structure. Motion sensors embedded in the textile are tracking the movement in one space, after a short time the textile starts to rotate the knitted modules in a slow pace repositioning its patterns.

The transition to digital design tools challenges the crafts-manship of textile and fashion designers as part of the product value chain, opening for reflection on how textile craftsmanship should be taught in education due to the current trend of digitalisation. By looking at new forms of craftsmanship, this research expands on the idea of teaching students transdisciplinary methods which connect analogue and digital tools within textile and fashion design education. Based on analysis of a number of case studies, we propose a framework of different strategies for teaching textile crafts-manship in the digital design age, with the aim of integrating textile-specific digital environments—which have been designed primarily to maximise the efficiency of industrial processes, rather than to enhance design development with regard to artistic expression—and non-textile digital tools on the basis that these are exploratory in nature and open to more creative design practices

Materials fabricate the designed artefact, but they can also play an important role in the design process; as a medium or method used to develop the design. Textiles can, with their soft and flexible properties, be easily transformed and altered in numerous ways; for example, by cutting, folding orprinting on the material. This transformative character makes textiles interesting sketching media for surface explorations when designing artefacts. The development of transformable materials; for example, fusible yarns and colour changing pigments, have expanded these inherent transformative qualities of textiles and have opened up the design field of smart textiles. Accordingly, this new material context has created a new area for textile designers to explore, where it is possible to enhance and play with the alterable character of their textiles, and control their transformation through physical manipulation and programming. However, these expanded transformative properties also open up a new task for textile designers; to design "smart textiles as raw materials for design". By this term we mean, textiles that are not finished in their design but that can be developed and enhanced when they take part in a product or space design process. In this article, we explore and start to define what smart textiles as raw materials for design can be, and look at how these materials can come into and add something to another design process. The foundation for this exploration is a number of textile examples from the “Smart Textiles sample collection” and our experiences when developing and designing with them. (The Smart Textiles sample collection is a range of textiles that is designed and produced by the Smart Textile Design Lab, to give students, designers and researchers direct access to different types of smart textiles). The possibilities and limitations of smart textiles as raw materials for design are explored by looking at the textile examples from two perspectives: firstly, by looking at the considerations that come with designing this type of textile design, and secondly by looking at what these transformative textiles can bring to another design process. Each example is analyzed and classified according to what transformable design variables for structure and surface change can be embedded in the textile design, and what design variables this subsequently creates for a design process that uses these materials i.e., describing what type of transformation different examples of smart textiles introduce to the design process/design space; whether the change is reversible or irreversible, and whether the change occurs through physical or through digital manipulation of the material. This article ends with a discussion of how smart textiles in the form of raw materials for design could influence how we design textiles and how we design with textiles. Can transformative materials enrich material explorations in a design process? Can further development and alteration of the material design be introduced or defined by the textile designer? Could smart textiles as raw materials for design open up a stronger connection between the design of textiles and the design of the product or spaces where they will be used?

This paper describes a practice-based research project in which design experiments were conducted to explore how knitted structures can be designed with particular emphasis on various interactive heat expressions. Several heat transformable structures, able to both sense and react to human touch, were developed in the textile collection Knitted Heat. The designed textiles serve as references to reflect further on the role of interactive textiles as materials for potential designs. Specific scenarios defined by shrinking, breaking, stiffening, texturizing and warming expressed by the textile transformations exemplify and discuss their potential as complementary for other design processes.

Touching Loops is a collection of three knitted textiles with structure-changing interactive properties. The textiles are able to sense and react to touch by shrinking, breaking or becoming stiff. The textiles are thought of as interactive architectural material. When they are touched, a specific area in the textile becomes hot. A microcontroller that is connected to the textile is programmed to sense and react to touch. The materials in the samples react to heat in different ways by shrinking, becoming stiff or by breaking into pieces. The developing process consisted in programming the patterns for industrial machines in such a way that the conductive silver yarns are of important matter for the material aesthetics besides their function to generate heat. The three knitted pieces react in different ways when current passes trough the conductive yarns. The first piece combines a silver coated copper yarn and Pemotex yarn in a ridge pattern. In the second sample a Jaquard pattern combines shrinking polyester monofilament, a Grilon yarn and a silver coated copper yarn. This piece reacts to heat by breaking and shrinking. The third piece is constructed with partial knitting and ridge patterns and the yarns used are Pemotex, a Grilon yarn and the silver coated copper yarn. When the conductive yarn gets hot, the ridges shrink and harden. The aim of the project is to explore possibilities for expressive interactive tactile knitted materials and structures. The textiles are seen as a possible material to use in the context of architecture.

A computer mouse is a generic interaction tool designed for navigating graphical elements on a two dimensional plane. It is developed in a context of technology and formed to serve the ergonomics of the desktop work situation. A textile mouse, on the other hand, engages a different context. The textile alone evokes the traditions of clothes and home décor that will inevitably influence how it is perceived and consequently used.

In textile design, the characteristics of a textured surface are the result of the properties of the materials, the textile techniques used, and the colour mixtures associated with each technique. The perception of colour on textured textiles is dependent on the angles of viewing and incidence of light on the surface. Accordingly, when analyzing the perception of the colour of pile textiles such as velvet, we observe that the orientation of the piles on the surface affects the perception of colour. The perception of colour and its transformation depends on whether the light is reflected off the side or the end of the yarn. By bringing do it yourself (DIY) materials into the textile design field, this research questions how biomaterials such as bioplastic can be further developed using textile surface design methods, and how the relationship between texture and colours can be advanced in the design of complex textured surfaces. The method develops a hybrid strategy for designing a new material category combining DIY and digital tools, which offers a more sustainable alternative to conventional textile materials. Moreover, the method proposed builds on two major aspects: explorations of bioplastic materials and their impacts on colour design and selection, and an analysis of changes in the visual perception of coloured surfaces with regard to differences in texture, the positioning of a light source, and angle of viewing. The results are methods of creating complex colour combinations and textural surfaces using near-adjacent and complementary colours and the intrinsic transparency property of bioplastics.

Printable smart materials offer textile designers a range of changeable colours, with the potential to redefine the expressive properties of static textiles. However, this comes with the challenge of understanding how the printing process may need to be adapted for these novel materials. This research explores and exemplifies the properties and potential of electroluminescent inks as printable smart colours for textiles, in order to facilitate an understanding of designing complex surface patterns with electroluminescent inks. Three conventional textile print methods – colour mixing, halftone rasterization, and overlapping – have been investigated through experimental design research to expand the design potential of electroluminescent inks. The result presents a set of methods to create various color mixtures and design complex patterns. It offers recipes for print formulation and documents the outcomes, offering a new design resource for textile surface pattern designers to promote creativity in design, and provides fundamental knowledge for the creation of patterns on textiles using electroluminescent inks.

Digitalization is one of the main grounds for discussion in the textile manufacturing industry. As in other creative fields, digitalization in textile design has brought craftsmanship together with work using digital tools and mechanical processes to creatively embed advanced knowledge in structural design and this dualism is even stronger in the field of knitwear design. For years, knitting technologies have been considered far from creativity and entirely delegated to the expertise of technicians, and design education has often focused on fostering artistic expression by teaching highly creative manual/mechanical processes. In the ongoing shift towards digitalization and the challenges of Industry 4.0, research and education in knitting design must redefine the programming of industrial machines as a tool for designers to push their experimental creativity together with their technical knowledge. This article reports an investigation made by the authors in the two different contexts of the School of Design of Politecnico di Milano and of the Swedish School of Textile in Borås. Using the method of constructive alignment (Biggs, J. B. & Tang, C. S., 2011), the investigation set up a comparison of two practice-based methods for training designers in programming industrial knitting machines. The authors mapped the teaching, learning activities and expected learning outcomes specific for each course and analysed quintessential aspects that occur in the learning process in the transition from manual to digital tools. The research had the aim of understanding what kind of knowledge should be transferred, in which way and with which purpose, to make programming an integral and effective part of the learning process for knit designers. The data collected have been used to highlight similarities and differences between the two programmes, identify impactful items and open future research that could foster improvements with shared solutions.

“Repetition” is a Fashion Design and E-textile design project, which explore the use of thermo-chromic ink fabric and its interaction when designing a garment for performance art centering the body and movement as its design element.

Electroluminescence (EL) is the property of a semiconductor material pertaining to emitting light in response to an electrical current or a strong electric field. The purpose of this paper is to develop a flexible and lightweight EL device. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) measurement was taken to observe the thermal degradation behavior of NinjaFlex. Poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly (styrene sulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS) with ethylene glycol (EG) was coated onto polyester fabric where NinjaFlex was placed onto the coated fabric using three-dimensional (3D) printing and phosphor paste and BendLay filament were coated 3D-printed subsequently. Adhesion strength and flexibility of the 3D-printed NinjaFlex on textile fabrics were investigated. The TGA results of the NinjaFlex depicts that no weight loss was observed up to 150°C. Highly conductive with a surface resistance value of 8.5 ohms/sq., and uniform surface appearance of coated fabric were obtained as measured and observed by using four-probe and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively at 60% PEDOT:PSS. The results of the adhesion test showed that peel strengths of 4160, 3840 N/m were recorded for polyester and cotton specimens, respectively. No weight loss was recorded following three washing cycles of NinjaFlex. The bending lengths were increased by only a factor of 0.082 and 0.577 for polyester and cotton samples at 0.1 mm thickness, respectively; which remains sufficiently flexible to be integrated into textiles. The prototype device emitted light with a 12 V alternating current (AC) power supply. 

Textile can be more than just patterns and washability. Today it can have other functions, visible or hidden and they can be interactive. Textile has simply become high-tech. What used to be considered science fiction is today reality. The exhibition TEXTILE POSSIBILITIES focuses on experiments that explores the possibilities that modern textile materials offers. There are no actual products on display in the exhibition, instead the latest research from textile is shown. For instance, visitors can experience how electricity, heat and movements alter colours and structures within the textiles. The exhibition shows the research process and lets the visitor interact with the different textile prototypes. The exhibition TEXTILE POSSIBILITIES aims to inspire, convey knowledge and to visualise a possible textile development. It shows a way for how experimental design research through collaboration with the commercial community can affect and build it’s own future here in Sweden.

The past decades of research on color and light yielded vast knowledge supporting their informed use in architectural design. While there currently exists a rich body of knowledge and methods geared to affect the perception of depth and form in tiled, opaque architectural surfaces, not many such methods have been developed for double-curved, transparent, in-mass colored surfaces. The perception of depth and form in these surfaces relies on a complex blend of parameters, such as color combinations, illumination source, angle of viewing, location of shadows and reflections, material thickness and grade of transparency. To determine the visual effects caused by some of these parameters, experiments based on visual observations were carried out involving handcrafted, in-mass colored, undulant architectural surfaces. The insights from the experiments then served to develop four color strategies for architectural surface design harnessing the discovered effects in diverse ways. Through this, the study has sought first to observe and understand the effects of color and light in perceiving undulant surfaces, and second to highlight the potentials of harnessing these effects in the design of expressive architectural elements. The main insight from the study is that informed and deliberate application of color and light yields a wide range of potentially interesting perceptual effects in double-curved architectural surfaces, such as spatial filtering, gradient screening, vibrant massing and animate reshaping. Such effects, applied in an architectural context, can help to fulfill the demand for physical environmental enrichment in the digital era.

In this architectural research exploration, we challenge the notion of an interactive architectural surface as single-layered, two-dimensional interaction interface. Instead, we propose the notion of Interactive Voluminous Substance, which moves the interaction experience into four dimensions, shifting it from far-field, proximity-based interaction to a near-field, tactile one. We present four features of architectural expression that could potentially sustain the embodiment of this Substance: spatial positioning, geometry, expression, hybrid material composition and interaction design. If the future architectural interiors and exteriors are made from Voluminous Architectural Substance, how will it be to dwell with them? We propose two physical prototypes and two interaction stories as speculative objects probing this question.

Precision of materialized designs is the conventional goal of digital fabrication in architecture. Recently, however, an alternative concept has emerged which refashions the imprecisions of digital processes into creative opportunities. While the computational design community has embraced this idea, its novelty results in a yet incomplete understanding. Prompted by the challenge of the still missing knowledge, this study explored imprecision in four digital fabrication approaches to establish how it influences the aesthetic attributes of materialized designs. Imprecision occurrences for four different digitally aided materialization processes were characterized. The aesthetic features emerging from these imprecisions were also identified and the possibilities of tampering with them for design exploration purposes were discussed. By considering the aesthetic potentials of deliberate imprecision, the study has sought to challenge the canon of high fidelity in contemporary computational design and to argue for imprecision in computation that shapes a new generation of designs featuring the new aesthetic of computational imperfection.

Aiming to open a new design space that connects three areas of architectural, interaction and textile design, the knitted structures Furry lines and Groovy squares were designed. By combining conventional textile yarns together with conductive yarns, the result investigates the sensation of warmth through the design of knitted structures. The purpose is to offer a synesthetic experience that correlate the physical and visual perception of space and focuses on tactility as an asset to create interactive architectural environments. The structures were made using different knitting techniques, combining a silver-coated copper yarn and conventional textile yarns. The silver coated copper yarn is used both for heat generating and touch sensing properties. Connected to a microcontroller able to sense and react on small differences in electricity, the textile becomes a touch sensor itself. By offering feed-back to hand touch DESIGNING WITH HEAT DELIA DUMITRESCU ANNA PERSSON by becoming warmly pleasant to the skin, new types of patterns can be created using the combination between heat and human touch that exceed the visual dimension. Designing with heat exemplifies how visible and invisible expressions merge into one experience, expressed through the textile material. The textile structure is perceived both through the eyes of imagination and the skin as heated patterns. The prototypes show how heat could be part of the surface aesthetics alongside with colour and shape.

In the collection of artefacts presented in this exhibition, textiles are seen as active elements in their environments – being able to react to environmental stimuli by changing their shape, colour or other qualities, exhibiting behaviours similar to e-textiles but without using electricity. Drawing parallelism to biological materials, some of these changes are two-directional and thus can lead to reversible changes, whereas some are linear and irreversible, such as ageing. As examples of two-directional changes, textile designs based on UV reactive properties: colour changing, light emitting, and self-cleaning, as well as textile constructions based on newly developed yarns capable of reversible shape changes upon exposure to heat, are exhibited. On the other hand, the colour changes of natural dyes dictated by the ambient environment and the response of new PLA yarns bring about elements of irreversible change. When two-directional and linear changes coexist, the appearance (and thus aesthetics) of the artefacts is constantly altering. The timescales contained in these textile transformations vary significantly, creating an interesting interplay of diverse and sometimes intersecting qualities. These concepts are approached from different levels of study – from developing new advanced materials for making yarns to exploring different textile crafting methods for producing diverse textile structures, construction and aesthetics, as well as moving towards shape-morphing 3D textiles, where exposure and disappearance of different properties as a function of changing textile shape can occur.

The Pliant Flesh is a piece built up with a semi-firm body onto which two layers of thinner skins are attached with electronics in between. Pressing hands onto it, it will answer pliantly however with some resistance being experienced as firm but not completely stiff. When touched the piece reacts with small vibrations and lights. The vibrations and lights are then spreading out following their own pattern. 

In the Pliant Flesh the electronics are partially visible pointing out that architecture and the technology of a building could be merged and respond to peoples actions. The piece materializes questions on what it is to experience this hybridity. The black Pliant Flesh is a complementary work to the yellow greenish piece Soft Body.

The bowels of the piece are soft with encapsulated electronics that are enclosed by a silicon skin. When pressing hands onto it the hands sink into the body. From deep within there is a respond to the pressure of the hands, slow gentle vibrations of the inner building up interaction patterns that define the tangibility. 

In the Soft Body the electronics are hidden and not clearly located. This fact together with the sense of a highly responsive and fluid material brings the Soft Body far away from what we are used to encounter within architecture of today. The piece materializes questions on what it is to experience highly tactile architecture with material and interaction inner substance and corporal connotation.