'Shade', an installation by Simon Heijdens commissioned by the Art Institute of Chicago launched as part of the Hyperlinks exhibition in 2011, has been nominated in the product category of the Design Museum's annual Designs of the Year awards.
Heijdens has created a new material that, like a film, is applied to glass windows and creates constantly-changing shadows in response to weather conditions outside. Each triangle in the grid is linked to sensors that monitor wind currents past the outside of the glass, causing the panels to change their level of opacity. Like his earlier 'Tree', 'Lightweeds' and 'Branches', 'Shade' reconnects the interior of a building with an evolving, unplanned natural time line.
The Designs of the Year Exhibition will be held at the Design Museum in London from 8 February until 7 July 2012.
February 6, 2012