Thursday Salute to Originals: Living Architecture

Last week, we showed you graffiti street art brought to life by animatronics. This week, we’re going to introduce you to living architecture! Now, there’s no animatronics involved, but we promise there’s plenty chemistry and science to bring you this seriously cool installation.

Visual artist and architect Philip Beesley created his latest piece, Astrocyte, for your interactive viewing pleasure. Astrocyte is an experimental installation, where architecture meets science and technology. The sculpture is currently housed in Toronto’s Expo for Design, Innovation & Technology, and is as stunning as it is thought provoking.

What makes this sculputre “living?” It’s interactive. Astrocyte physically responds to its viewers – each uniquely – when they’re present. The structure is composed of “lightweight meshworks of thermally formed acrylic, laser-cut into geometrical patterns” which incorporate 3D lighting and an all-over soundscape, further enhancing the “life” of the work.

This Thursday, we’re saluting Philip Beesley for his lifelike sculpture. Can architecture really become ‘alive’? Could structures really begin to think for themselves? These are the questions Beesley provokes with Astrocyte, and we for one, can wait to see what the future of design holds!

Sources: Philip Beesley, This is Colossal