Friday Evening, 6.24pm, FOUR WEEKS TO GO

It has been a while since our last blog. Over the last few weeks we have been busy sourcing materials, framing, magnets and hinges. Thank you very much to our amazing sponsors so far: CamelSpace scaffolding for our scaffolding, Magnets NZ for all our magnets and Mr Humber at ACG Strathallan College for being generous and patient enough to provide us with free laser cutting.

The project is coming along nicely. We have been working to develop the entire form of the tower through hand sketches and Rhino in conjunction with Grasshopper. The tower consists of a more solid plated flexible skin on the lower section, gradually dispersing into the inverse, a series of bar-like patterns forming a chaotic nest like structure on the top section. Following Fibonacci proportioning, the plated skin will extend to approximately 5 metres up the structure and the top 3m will be made from the more batten-like "nest." To the right is a sketch done by Michael demondtrating the concept.

We have been producing 1:1 prototypes of this interactive skin. We are using a 1mm baseboard, cut into the generated pattern and attached using a hinging system. On a larger scale the beautiful intricacies and crossovers of the pattern are revealed.

We have chosen to use a system of magnetised gloves through which inhabitatnts on the evening will experience the "field" of the tower. The flexible skin is repelled and attracted by these magnets through magnets attached to its rear side - these motions reacting and rippling through the structure.

As we are exploring the field of sustainability it is key that we consider the cradle-to-cradle aspect of our project. As our framing is scaffolding this is definitely re-usable and takes car of itself. It has been proposed that the stronger magnets for the gloves are returned to Magnets NZ after use and the smaller, cheaper magnets pulled off and reused. The hinges will be attached by ties to the plates so can be seperated when the project is completed and re-used. Our chosen material , card, is also recyclable.