Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Idea Number The Second... and Concept Development


This is my second concept. It originated after researching different types of plant motion. There are two types of movements found in plants; Nastic and Tropic. A nastic movement is a non-directional response to a stimuli while a tropic movement is a directional response to a stimuli. There are many types of stimuli some of which are light, dark/night, chemicals, nutrients, water, gravity and touch.


The Snap Dragon or Antirrhinum Majus reacts to stimuli in a non-autonomous reversible elastic deformation by opening and closing.



This led me to consider designing a bridge which would carry the same tropic movement characteristics. I decided that the stimuli which would induce motion would be water (Hydrotropism).

Originally I considered a bridge which would respond to tides, opening and closing to allow for boats to pass on either side of it. The scale of this concept proved to be too large and a severe downsizing was in order.

The next iteration was to be used in the desert, intalled within dry river beds called Wadi. These beds are prone to flash floods which produce incredibly dangerous conditions. The intention was for the structure to remain closed when the river was dry and to open at any increase in water levels to provide safe passage. I have scaled this concept down further and adapted it for use in similair Canadian water conditions.
Stay tuned.

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