CERAMIC PERSPIRATION Smart Geometries 2012 workshop Ceramic building material is a useful passive modulator of the environment. The primary consideration is to control material density and porosity in a tile component, in response to specific environmental conditions. This depends on a number of key physical principles: the ability of the material to absorb thermal energy, the ability to absorb and then ‘wick’ moisture within the pore structure, and the decrement factor or ‘time lag’ of the effect. The interplay between these effects points to the importance of directionality in the cell structure. Material characteristics have been investigated in the laboratory at a micron scale and in the ceramics workshop at full scale, with some interplay between the two. The cluster aim was to investigate the relationship between geometry, ambient conditions, and ceramic composite material in the production of an adaptable, environmentally reactive formation. The formation was com-
prised of a number of installations in the existing space. This work formed the basis for individual design and installation.Two main ideas embodied in the Moisture-shed wall are surface geometries related to moisture paths, and differential densities of ceramic material that allow for moisture migration (absorption and release) on one side and a heat energy gradient on the other. Materials considered are both green clay (simple) and ceramic polymer composites (more complex). The concept of source/sink topology, where representation takes the form of a flow-net, informed the surface geometry patterns. The digital feedback loop was concerned with the data and conditions in the whole room, relating individual installations to the formation. Physical feedback will be much more direct- one’s haptic response to the surface qualities. Active representation was developed toward understanding the ambient interactions in the ceramic material.
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