"Reef"

In "Reef," Rob Ley and Joshua Stein create a familiar organic form out of a carefully calibrated system that collides both architecture and technology.

"Reef" behaves as an active member in a complex social environment.

The technology which is embedded into "Reef" has an inscribed personality. Its behavior blurs the line between plant and animal, animate and inanimate object.

The wall is covered in thin plastic surfaces modeled after fins. Controlling the fins, a thin wire made of shape-memory alloy acts as a muscle to release and contract the surface like the petals of a flower. Shape-memory alloy, a mixture of titanium and nickel, is temperature responsive.

Individual parts operate in clusters yet appear as one unified system.

The motion of the "Reef" is meant to appear as “ambient.” The system creates a texture rather than an opaque wall in the space of the gallery.

Ley and Stein consider "Reef" a piece of architecture that conjures a different set of emotions or feelings than typically experienced in the built environment.

The motion of gears and hydraulics has a tendency to immediately reveal the mechanical nature of an object. In the case of "Reef," shape-memory alloy allows for fluid motion of the fins.

Ley and Stein's collaboration is an investigation of emerging material technologies and the role of architecture in the creation of public space.