Building materials are always changing. Predicting and compensating for change can be challenging and rewarding. Wood is one of the most common building materials in the industry and to changes over time. Currently in the Centre Pompidou there is a project that understand and tries to take our understanding of wood to a new level.
HygroScope designed a project called Meteorosensitive Morphology that explores responsive architecture based on the inherent behavior of wood and moisture. This project is held in a humidity controlled glass case that allows the wood flaps to change depending on the humidity level.
The beauty of this project is that the project shows that energy is not needed to create an architectural responsive system. The project reminds us that many biological systems have the responsive capacity literally ingrained in the material itself. Here they prove that the changing surface embodies the capacity to sense, actuate and react, all within the material itself.
Taking this application and enlarging it to a building scale would have positive implications. Again if this application were taken to a façade we would have a building envelope that could sense rain or sun and respond with either an open or closed face.
Wood has the potential to be a responsive material with out the extra energy. This project is a step in the right direction incorporating surface and responsive architecture without tapping into the energy grid.
Material Strategies 
