Elytra Filament Pavilion is not just a pavilion, it is a responsive shelter.
A network of sensors embedded in the canopy fibres monitors the pavilion daily. There are two types of sensors at work. A group of thermal imaging cameras capture anonymous data on the presence and movement of people under the canopy. While thin optical fibres, seamlessly woven into the glass fibres, monitor structural forces and collect data about changing temperatures and the micro-climate under the canopy.
The canopy will grow and change its configuration over the course of the V&A Engineering Season in response to the data being collected. How visitors inhabit the pavilion will ultimately inform how the canopy grows and the shape of new components. Made of glass and carbon fibre, each component is fabricated using a unique robotic winding technique developed by the designers.
These two short videos show maps of visitor movement and thermal comfort recorded by the sensors on the pavilion.
