flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Giant interactive pinwheel adds fun to museum exterior

Giant interactive pinwheel adds fun to museum exterior

Designer George Zisiadis hopes to transform the way people see public space


By BD+C Staff | February 14, 2014
The pinwheel is driven by hidden microphones and connected motors.
The pinwheel is driven by hidden microphones and connected motors.

Interaction with the outside of a building isn't something that happens often, unless the passerby takes a picture or points out the design to someone else. George Zisiadis wants to change that with his new design for the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History

His proposed design intends to place a 10-foot pinwheel on the side of the building that is connected to tubes in the plaza below. If a person blows in the tube, the pinwheel will start spinning. Zisiadis says that he wants the exterior to have some of the interactive elements that are featured inside the museum. 

"They want people to engage with their art in a very hands-on way, which I find very empowering and inspiring," Zisiadis told Fast Company. "I wanted to extend this idea to the physical structure of the building itself.”

He wants to keep the mechanism driving the pinwheel mysterious in order to make the experience more fun for visitors, but it's pretty simple. When someone blows into the tube, hidden microphones pick up the sound and connected motors then make the pinwheel spin.

Zisiadis hopes that his design will encourage people to interact with the whole building and transform the way they perceive public space.

 

Related Stories

Giants 400 | Dec 12, 2023

Top 35 Veterans Affairs Facility Architecture Firms for 2023

LEO A DALY, Page Southerland Page, Guidon, and HDR top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest Veterans Affairs facility architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.  

Giants 400 | Dec 12, 2023

Top 40 Military Facility Architecture Firms for 2023

Michael Baker International, HDR, Whitman, Requardt & Associates, and Stantec top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest military facility architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.  

Office Buildings | Dec 12, 2023

Transforming workplaces for employee mental health

Lauren Elliott, Director of Interior Design, Design Collaborative, shares practical tips and strategies for workplace renovation that prioritizes employee mental health.

Giants 400 | Dec 11, 2023

Top 150 Local Government Building Architecture Firms for 2023

Gensler, HOK, Stantec, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest local government building architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.

Giants 400 | Dec 11, 2023

Top 90 State Government Building Architecture Firms for 2023

Page Southerland Page, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Stantec, and NORR top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest state government building architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report. 

Codes and Standards | Dec 11, 2023

Washington state tries new approach to phase out fossil fuels in new construction

After pausing a heat pump mandate earlier this year after a federal court overturned Berkeley, Calif.’s ban on gas appliances in new buildings, Washington state enacted a new code provision that seems poised to achieve the same goal.

Green | Dec 11, 2023

U.S. has tools to meet commercial building sector decarbonization goals early

The U.S. has the tools to reduce commercial building-related emissions to reach target goals in 2029, earlier than what it committed to when it signed the Paris Agreement, according to a report by the U.S. Green Building Council.

MFPRO+ News | Dec 11, 2023

U.S. poorly prepared to house growing number of older adults

The U.S. is ill-prepared to provide adequate housing for the growing ranks of older people, according to a report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Over the next decade, the U.S. population older than 75 will increase by 45%, growing from 17 million to nearly 25 million, with many expected to struggle financially.

Office Buildings | Dec 11, 2023

Believe it or not, there could be a shortage of office space in the years ahead

With work-from-home firmly established, many real estate analysts predict a dramatic reduction in office space leasing and plummeting property values. But the high-end of the office segment might actually be headed for a shortage, according to real estate intelligence company CoStar Group. 

University Buildings | Dec 8, 2023

Yale University breaks ground on nation's largest Living Building student housing complex

A groundbreaking on Oct. 11 kicked off a project aiming to construct the largest Living Building Challenge-certified residence on a university campus. The Living Village, a 45,000 sf home for Yale University Divinity School graduate students, “will make an ecological statement about the need to build in harmony with the natural world while training students to become ‘apostles of the environment’,” according to Bruner/Cott, which is leading the design team that includes Höweler + Yoon Architecture and Andropogon Associates.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021