The aim of this study is to explore the relationships between a responsive system and its inhabitants.  Using wood for its embedded responsive potential and combining that with active-bending structural logic, I am seeking to design a system able to respond and adapt to changing conditions, and to engage in active conversations and mutual exchanges with its occupants.  The system will have the following characteristics:

• The system will be composed of sensitive aggregates that exist in a constant state of precariousness, lending an almost “lively” nature to subtle movements.

• This system will create a tactile, immersive environment in which localized changes effect the system’s homeostatic performance.

• This complex weaving of delicate aggregates will be a distributed system that can facilitate the circulation and gathering of people, an environment that is responsive to forces acting within and around it, but also eliciting response from its inhabitants.

The characteristics will be explored through extensive model making and material experimentation.  These experiments will then be used to inform digital simulations and these simulations will be used to inform aggregate structures and explore material capabilities.  Wood is being chosen for several reasons: It is a fibrous material that inherently holds tensile performance, it has the embedded ability to react to humidity, it holds a rich variety of tactile characteristics, wood is a sustainable building material, and it has a strong olfactory presence.