SEAMLab’s inaugural Scholarship Competition encouraged students to thoughtfully consider contemporary challenges and opportunities that exist in material design, architecture, engineering, science, and the built and natural environments. This Scholarship Competition invited students of architecture, art, design, engineering, planning and science to submit research, speculations, or design projects that operate as FOG ANALOGIES.
Created by the evaporation of liquid water or the sublimation of ice, fog produces diffuse and lightweight particles of suspended mist. The combination of density and proximity generates conditions ranging from complete opacity to relative transparency. Furthermore, at a macro-scale, fog captures warmth as it blankets its surroundings. At once a boundary and also a space, fog defines and transforms landscapes as it responds to thermal shifts.
The physical manifestation of fog is characteristic of numerous ephemeral and sensory qualities linking it to the phenomenology of experience. Fog exists in a liminal state hovering between solid and liquid, the sky and the ground, a dematerialization of water.
New material possibilities can be derived from in-depth studies of the environmental condition of fog. The efficiency and complexity of the atmosphere creates a dynamic environment that sustainably negotiates the exchange of energy, light, pressure, and temperature.
Submissions were due 15 April 2010 and included proposals of responsive materials, structures, and environments. Winners will be announced 15 June 2010.
