Home Article

A new definition of books

2018-08-03

On exhibition is a collection of 20 or so transformable books designed by 53 exchange students from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). Every book has its own story: a book like a peacock fanning its tail, a book like falling water, a book from an ancient garden, a book with emotions, a book about Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night, etc.

Patterns in books will vary with temperature. You may immerse yourself in an enigmatic garden 100 million years ago in one second, but in the next second, you may disport yourself roaming in the starry night. You may interact with a hydrogel robot with your left hand or play with a cute dog in the book with your right hand. You may feel overjoyed at the hatching of a bright-colored bird or shudder at the transformation of a hideous beast.

“This course is specially designed for SUTD exchanges students by the International Design Institute at ZJU. We invite Dr. WANG Guanyun and Dr. TAO Ye, both of whom work at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), to act as instructors and Morphing Matter Lab at CMU to provide technical support (Printed Paper Actuator). This course is offered in the form of a workshop which aims at enabling students to apply design thinking to expanding technical values,” says Prof. SUN Lingyun, who is in charge of the course.

 

 

What if this is a book? This is a big challenge for learners in the workshop. After learning a series of knowledge and techniques, such as design thinking, shape changing material and programming, exchange students are able to make the most of their imagination and creativity to make nearly 20 different books.