Third Eye

Our lives are divided into two parts: physical and digital. The goal of this final project is to represent and combine these two parts. Create a small interactive prototype of a façade. The façade can react to its surroundings and adapt its shape to the external input conditions via sensors. It could simply be a façade that changes design as a living façade. Actuators such as motors, LEDs, fans, and so on can be used as an output to act on a mechanism, liquids, fabrics, lights, and so on. This project’s goal is to get you to experiment with hardware and code. To look into the connection between the digital and physical worlds.

Inspired by the eye’s pupil dilation, that regulates the amount of light that enters by controlling the size of the pupil. The third eye is a kinetic Façade prototype that functions as an hyperboloidal eye to control the amount of light entering the building also increasing the surface area by expanding thus reducing direct sunlight. The mechanism diffuses light to create interior spaces. To rotate and achieve the opening and closing of the facade, geared stepper motors were used as output devices. The motors’ operation was controlled by values ob tained from an LDR, which were remapped and fed to the motor.

Stepper Motor Stepper Motor Support

Support Rods

Back Support

Stepper Motor Gear

Stepper Motor Gear

Twisting Gear

Twisting Gear Supports

Tensile Thread

Tensile Thread Supports

Tensile Fabric

Tensile Fabric Supports

Front Facade

Programing

The interactive facade consists of a grid of tensile cloth connected to strings that are attached to gears and stepper motors. These motors are connected to an Arduino Uno microcontroller, which is programmed to control the movement of the gears and motors. Users can interact with the facade through a series of sensors, such as pressure sensors, motion sensors, or temperature sensors, which send signals to the microcontroller. These signals trigger a series of pre-programmed movements that cause the fabric to open or close in response to the user’s actions.

The facade is designed to be modular, allowing architects and designers to create unique configurations and adapt the facade to different environments and use cases. The tensile fabric is also customizable, with a range of colors and patterns available to suit different design aesthetics. The facade can be installed on any building, creating an exciting new way to transform the appearance of existing structures or to create unique new designs.