SOLAR SAILS

Solar Sails is a free-standing, semi-enclosed installation. It explores operability and biological precedents to serve as a basis for designing a structure responsive to sun paths. The structure consists of an elevated core as an occupational space, to be accessed by a gently sloping, linear passageway.  The entire structure is tilted by 15 degrees on an axis parallel to the major axis of symmetry. The enclosure surrounding the operational space is fully operational. It can be opened and closed in response to sunlight and temperature. The enclosure is designed to remain closed during the morning to retain heat while allowing Eastern light through tunnel apertures. It is designed to open during the afternoon and allow for ventilation to create shade from the harsh southwestern light. The form of the operational enclosure is inspired by the frilled-neck lizard, an animal that that unfurls its frills as a means of thermoregulation. As a result, the structure as a whole takes on an abstracted anthropomorphic form governed by symmetry.