Memory Cloud is the winning commission awarded to RE:site (Norman Lee and Shane Allbritton) and METALAB by Texas A&M University for the new Memorial Student Center 12th Man Hall. Through a competition, the team demonstrated the ability to harness the potential of programmable LEDs, remote sensing, parametric design and digital fabrication to create an open ended narrative of the story of the University through animated silhouette imagery of past and real-time present student life on the campus. Texas A&M, a place of deep traditions that are played out on the football field at every game and in the everyday lives of students will create the imagery that will be played within the layers of the LED matrix at different speeds and durations. Parametric design created a unique cloud form that creates a landscape within the student center where monumental and ephemeral figures will pass through the space, blurring the distinction between past and present.
Cloud Code & Memory Cloud are both featured in the peer-reviewed 2013 TxA Interactive Conference Proceedings. Held during the Texas Society of Architects 74th Annual Convention and Design Expo, the conference chose to focus on discussions of all things digital in the field of architecture. View full article here.
Coverage of the wide recognition received by Metalab and RE:Site for Memory Cloud appeared on ArchOne, the e-news publication for the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University.
Memory Cloud was published in the July/August 2013 issue of Texas Architect. The issue focuses on light and features work by James Turrell and Morphosis. Texas Architect reserves its "Backpage" for new and notable projects happening in Texas, which is where contributing editor Jack Murphey elaborates on Memory Cloud. Link to online issue.
We used Rhino + Grasshopper to develop the geometry of the Memory Cloud. Beyond qualitative spatial and aesthetic criteria the tools were used for developing quantitative data sets for the lighting purchase orders and assembly inventories. The waffle structure of the diagrid canopy was developed using FEA software at Insight Structures and feedback from that analysis drove the varying depth of the profiles. The notches were calibrated based on a full scale prototype that tested the material welding. We especially benefited from the use of the Lunchbox plugin for Grasshopper developed by Nathan Miller of CASE, Inc. The diagonal structure tools created clean data structures that retained their organization as the geometry was projected into the cloud.
Arch Daily publishes daily architectural news from around the world. In March 2013 Alison Furuto authored a post on the installation of Memory Cloud, the winning commission for Texas A&M’s Memorial Student Center 12th Man Hall awarded to Metalab and RE:site.
Bustler is an online forum that publishes architecture and design competition and event listings. Memory Cloud has been profiled twice by the site, both before and after installation of this creation from Metalab and RE:Site.
Each tube assembly is made up of a different quantity of modules determined by the algorithm that originally shaped the cloud. Disk luminaires starting to go in.
We developed a custom interlocking raceway system aligned to allow the LED tubes to canilever off the rib canopy to suspend through the voids into the space below. The raceways manage high voltage, low voltage and data cables through a network of power and data distribution arranged in "universes". These arrangements are then used to program the pixels in the cloud into DMX data lists that the 3D animation get mapped into. All layers of the cloud can be used with a singular animation sequence or each can be programmed separately as distinct layers.
Memory Cloud installation is well underway at TAMU MSC. We offloaded Monday morning, assembled and test lifted by noon and had the raceway system installed by the end of the day. TyART did the heavy lifting with us.
Bridgette Meinhold describes the Memory Cloud as "ethereal" in her April 2012 article for Inhabitat. The weblog is devoted to forward-thinking design and the principles of innovation and sustainability.
Bustler reports on the winning commission awarded to Metalab and RE:Site for Memory Cloud to be installed in the new student center at Texas A&M. Bustler is an online forum that publishes architecture and design competition and event listings.
Memory Cloud is the winning commission awarded to RE:Site (Norman Lee and Shane Allbritton) and METALAB (Andrew Vrana, Joe Meppelink, Michael Gonzales and Thomas Behrman) by Texas A&M University for the new Memorial Student Center 12th Man Hall. Through a competition and short-list interview process the team demonstrated the ability to harness the potential of programmable LEDs, remote sensing, parametric design and digital fabrication to create an open ended narrative of the story of the University through animated silhouette imagery of past and real-time present student life on the campus. Texas A&M a place of deep traditions that are played out on the football field at every game and in the everyday lives of students will create the imagery that will be active within the layers of the LED matrix at different speeds and durations. Parametric design generated a unique cloud form that creates a landscape within the student center where monumental and ephemeral figures will pass through the space, blurring the distinction between the past and present. Presentation Board
