1/4 Scale Prototype Test Flight in Monteverde, Costa Rica
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: Rashida Ng + Andrew John Wit
PROJECT STATUS: 1/4-scale prototyping, flight testing + data analysis
PUBLICATIONS:
1. CAADRIA 2018 Conference Proceedings. "cloudMAGNET, a CFRP Framework for Flexible Architecture."
2. ARCC/EAAE 2018 Proceedings. "Cloud Magnet. Towards the ethical imperative for environmental health."
3. Material Interactions Symposium 2017. "Cloud Magnet: Environmental imagination and the ethical imperative."
4. ACADIA 2016. "Composite Systems for Lightweight Architectures. Case studies in large-scale CFRP winding:"
EXHIBITIONS:
1. Design Week Ft. Wayne, Ft. Wayne IN., 2016.
2. Philadelphia Design Week, 2017.
DESCRIPTION: cloudMAGNET researches the co-dependencies between material, form, energy, and environment, through the design and fabrication of a series of environmentally performative kites within the cloud forest in Monteverde, CostaRica. Cloud forests have been rapidly disappearing due to climate change and deforestation. Rising global temperatures cause a cloud-lifting effect raising the cloud cover above the tree canopy and forest ecosystem that depend on constant moisture and humidity to support its life. The impetus for this project is to explore the ways by which design can contribute to the stabilization of the atmosphere and the restoration of the forest.
Initial Formal Studies. Image by Rashida Ng
Final Forms for Testing in Costa Rica
Selection of Early Prototypes
CFRP Structure in Compressed Form for Shipping
CFRP Structure in Uncompressed Form in Costa Rica
Application of Phase Change Material (PCM) to the kites lightweight skin
CFRP/Skin Detail
Assembly of Electronics System On-Site
Internal Processor/Sensor Setup
Three Kite Prototypes in the Cloud Forest for Testing