Jenny Sabin is fascinated by the intersection of architecture and science. The head of her own experimental design studio and a faculty member of Cornell University’s architecture department, Sabin is dedicated to applying insights from biology, physics, engineering and mathematics to architecture and material systems. Her interdisciplinary approach has produced mesmerizing projects including Branching Morphogenesis, My Thread Pavilion for Nike NYC and Polymorph.
Last week, Sabin took the stage at New York’s Cooper Hewitt to discuss her latest project, a Polythread knitted textile pavilion now on view as part of “On Beauty,” the design museum’s aptly named triennial. Specially commissioned for the exhibition, the lightweight structure uses solar-active threads, three-dimensional shapes and a curvilinear frame inspired by cellular biology. Its high-tech, high-performance surface produces a beautiful photoluminescent light making the entire structure feel like a living, breathing organism inside the gallery space. The pavilion’s delicate, undulating surface reveals the microscopic, digitally made knit work that holds the overall structure together. Knitting, as she pointed out to the audience, was in many ways the original 3D-printing technology.
For Sabin, biology and material science are useful conceptual models for design-thinking. As an architect, she asks herself, “How might architecture respond to issues of ecology and sustainability whereby buildings behave more like organisms in their built environments? What role do humans play in response to changing conditions within the built environment?”
Like any biological systems, well-conceived architecture responds to — and adapts to — its environment. As museum-visitors observe and react to the work, the work responds to the visitor’s presence — and to sunlight by changing color. As we adapt to our environment, our environment adapts to us.
While the PolyThread project is about aesthetic beauty, levity and play, it’s also a thoughtful investigation into how science can help architects solve issues of sustainability, construction and digital fabrication.