Another workshop session of the Soft Technology series at the National Academy of the Arts in Bergen / Norway, the write about it at the Future Textile Homepage:
- a working session drawing on the experience and knowledge of the participants. We will experiment with muscle wire/shape memory alloys (SMA) in textiles. Soft Technology is initiated by Hillevi Munthe and is a collaboration between Atelier Nord and ”Future Textiles” at Bergen National Academy of the Arts. The project is funded by The Arts Council of Norway, Nordic Culture Fund and Norwegian Association for Arts and Crafts.

Shape memory alloys are metalthreads/wires that can “remember” a given shape. When cold, the wire is relaxes and flexible. When heated to a certain temperature by water, air or electricity, it contracts to the formed shape. Reference: you tube .

The picture above shows a work by Philip Beesley, who is an architect working with the idea of an architecture of geotextiles.
I can really recommend checking out his work, that is certainly contributing to the theme of architextiles. He produces installations using leading-edge technology like the newest materials and materialtechnology, interactive textiles and reflexive and responsive membranes, combined with canvases of interactive systems.
The work Hylozoic Soil / picture above, composed of many repeated units of laser cut plexiglass, with arduino’s powering reactive muscle wire limbs covered inethereal mylar feathers, with some hyper-dermic needles throne in to add that menacing feeling. // text taken from blog n-e-r-v-o-u-s.