Hoberman Associates - News

Leaf Review, Climate control: intelligent fa�ades

September 2011
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Nobel Prize Winner Adam G. Riess holding a Hoberman Sphere

October 2011
Physicist Adam G. Riess of the Space Telescope Science Institute and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore won a Nobel Prize for the discovery that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate.
The Hoberman Sphere is commonly used by educators as a physical demonstration of the expanding universe.
Read more at motherboard.tv

In the wake of U2 360�, Live Design interviews show director Willie Williams

Live Design Q+A: Willie Williams: Around the World in Two Years
October 6, 2011
David Johnson
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U2 360� tour, featuring the Expanding Video Screen, comes to a close after over two years

Because of the tour�s immense success � receiving critical acclaim and continually selling out shows � U2 360� was extended to become a two-year globe-trotting jaunt that included 110 concerts and demanded a travelling crew of 150 to implement. As U2�s band-members took the stage each night, the behind-the-scenes team would be already at work setting up one of three 29,000 sq ft �Claw� superstructures at the next venue. Then, only hours before the show, rapid assembly of the Expanding Video Screen would commence. During the ever-evolving show, the 3,800 square foot elliptical display would grow into a seven story cone. The tour ended on July 30th with a final show in Moncton, Canada.
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Living Form Exhibition Travels to UK

March 23, 2011
Gian Luca Amadei
UK architectural magazine Blueprint published an article on Hoberman in their March 2011 issue - coinciding with the exhibition 'Living Form: The Transformable Work of Chuck Hoberman' being hosted by London's the Building Centre. The article discusses the wide range of Hoberman's career, focusing on his move into the realm of adaptive architecture, and to which the ideas and ideals he is applying.
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Blueprint Magazine, From Toys to Adaptable Structures

March 4th � April 30th, 2011
The Building Centre in London hosted the traveling Hoberman retrospective, �Living Form: The Transformable Work of Chuck Hoberman.� Having debuted in Japan at the POLA Museum Annex in early 2010, the exhibition included a collection of commissioned sculptures, prototypes, and inventions that reflect the transformation of Hoberman�s thinking as a designer and inventor from 1990 to Present. New to this showing...
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Architect Magazine, A Clockwork Shade

February 2011
Mimi Zeiger
Architect Magazine's February 2011 issue included a detailed look at Tessellate�, the animated architectural surface from Hoberman's Adaptive Building Initiative. The article includes interviews with Hoberman's Craig Holland and Matthew Davis, Buro Happold's Matthew Herman, and Bill Zahner (president and CEO of A Zahner Co, the exclusive fabricator of Tessellate). Their varied perspectives provide an in-depth look into Tessellate�s design rational, mechanics and control, fabrication, shading efficacy, and environmental performance.
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Hoberman, ABI and Buro Happold sponsor Adaptive Architecture Conference

March 3-5, 2011
The Building Centre, London, UK
Hoberman's Adaptive Building Initiative and Buro Happold sponsored a three-day day international conference that brought together leading practitioners, researchers and experts in the field of adaptive architecture. The conference was organized into four modules: dynamic facades, transformable structures, bio-inspired aterials and building intelligence.
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Over twenty years of transformable design

January 2011
Terri Peters
Entering the New Year, Hoberman Associates is well into its third decade of operation. For more than twenty years, Hoberman has pioneered and innovated in the field of transformable design...
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HelioTrace receives 2010 R+D Awards citation

The HelioTrace Fa�ade System was honored with a citation in the 2010 R+D Awards. Utilizing Adaptive Building Initiative's Strata� system, the HelioTrace concept was conceived in partnership with Skidmore, Owings & Merril and the Permasteelisa Group, and originally received a citation from the AIA NY's Center for Architecture.
Learn more about the citation
Learn more about HelioTrace

Mark Magazine, Chuck Hoberman Designs Transformations

December 2010
Terri Peters
Mark Magazine's Terri Peters interviewed Chuck Hoberman about his work, his practices and the future � �Embedding a building or fa�ade with physical intelligence.'
Download the article as a PDF
Preview the article on mark-magazine.com

Hoberman venture Adaptive Building Initiative profiled in Architectural Products Magazine's green issue

October 2010
Architectural Products Magazine interviewed Hoberman's Craig Holland about the Hoberman and Buro Happold joint venture Adaptive Building Initiative, its business operations, current projects and design goals.
Download the article as a PDF
Read the article on arch-products.com

Hoberman designs dynamic installation for Geometry and Physics building at SUNY Stony Brook

Hoberman Associates designed a dynamic installation for the Stony Brook Foundation�s new Center for Geometry and Physics. At once functional shading and art, the installation adorns the south-facing primary facade; its kinetic patterns create dynamic, ever-changing views, lighting and shadow-play while providing additional shading for the LEED Gold-status building's lobby.
Learn more about this project
Read about the building opening

Hoberman designs dynamic new entrance to the Wyss Institute at Harvard University

The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering commissioned Hoberman and its joint venture Adaptive Building Initiative (ABI) to create an installation for the main entrance to its new home at Harvard University. An installation in two parts, it encompasses the main sliding glass doorway and an adjacent moving glass partition-wall, both incorporating new variations on ABI's Adaptive Fritting� technology.
Learn more about this project

WWF report identifies Hoberman joint venture as a 'green game-changer'

The World Wildlife Fund is compiling a database of innovative companies with cuttting-edge sustainable business models � 'to inspire new green ways of doing business.' Included in their first round of 'green game-changers' is Adaptive Building Initiative - Hoberman's joint venture with Buro Happold focused on environmentally responsive, building integrated kinetic shading systems.
Learn more about the report from the WWF

Adaptive Fritting receives an award in the I.D. Annual Design Review

Hoberman's Adaptive Fritting installation was chosen as an Honorable Mention Winner in the Environments category of I.D. Magazine's 2010 Annual Design Review.
The I.D. Annual Design Review has recognized the best in design since 1954, seeking each year to focus the submissions into a clear survey of the state of design.
View Adaptive Fritting in the Annual Design Review gallery

Hoberman wins two Silver IDEA 2010 awards

Hoberman's adaptive shading technologies have been recognized with two prestigious International Design Excellence Awards from IDSA and Business Week. Adaptive Fritting, Hoberman's living glass shading technology, received a Silver IDEA in the Commercial & Industrial Products category. Emergent Surface received a Silver IDEA in the Environments category. Demonstrating another one of Hoberman's adaptive shading technologies, Emergent Surface was comissioned for MoMA's Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition.
View the IDEA 2010 award gallery

U2 360� Tour earns a place in Live Design's Top 10 Concert Tour Designs of All Time

Live Design, the premier publication of the live entertainment design industry, compiled a list of notable concert tour designs, reaching all the way back to 1978. Included despite being still ongoing was U2's 360� Tour, with the Expanding Video Screen as its centerpiece.
Read the article on LiveDesignOnline.com

RDS deployed in conflict zones

The Rapidly Deployable Shelter (RDS), developed by Hoberman Associates for Johnson Outdoors' Eureka! Military Tents brand, is being used by the United States military and is currently deployed both in Afghanistan and Israel.
Learn more about the RDS

MoMA adds Hoberman Sphere to its Permanent Collection

The Hoberman Sphere, created in 1991, and in production as a toy since 1995, is considered by many to be an icon of contemporary product design. The �design classic� title is now official; The Museum of Modern Art has added the Hoberman Sphere to its collection. For insight into MoMA's criteria for new acquisitions, click here to read about the selection process as described by MoMA curator, Paola Antonelli.
The Hoberman Sphere is currently on view in the MoMA exhibition �Action! Design Over Time.�
The exhibition investigates the dimension of time in human-made objects, products and interfaces, with the aim of providing a deeper understanding of contemporary design. Action! is curated by Paola Antonelli, also curator of the 2009 exhibition 'Design and the Elastic Mind,' for which Hoberman�s Emergent Surface sculpture was commissioned.
For more info about Action! visit http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1039

Adaptive curtain wall design by Hoberman and partners wins CFA award

In response to the Center for Architecture�s competition 'Open Call: Innovative Curtain Wall Design,' Hoberman�s joint-venture with Buro Happold, Adaptive Building Initiative (ABI), teamed up with Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, and The Permasteelisa Group to create the HelioTrace fa�ade system.
The goal of this collaborative team was to develop an advanced building enclosure prototype that could leverage contextual, environmental inputs to inform a responsive kinetic curtain wall system. Architects and enclosure experts at SOM envisioned a system which improves the wall�s performance relative to daylighting and glare; and reduces solar heat gain by as much as 81%. The kinetic shading system was developed and integrated into the overall fa�ade by the Adaptive Building Initiative, utilizing its patented Strata� system (Previously Linear System). SOM�s Sustainable Engineering Studio prepared ecological analyses that leveraged empirical data to inform the position and operation of the kinetic shading system. Curtain wall fabricator, The Permasteelisa Group, worked with the team to engineer the system and work through issues of constructability and performance. The final design utilizes an adaptive kinetic solution to respond to ecology, form and function.
The HelioTrace system received a citation of merit by The Center for Architecture and will be featured in its upcoming exhibition 'Integrate : Innovate � building better together,' opening Fall, 2010.
Learn more about the award

POLA hosts Hoberman retrospective: Living Form

The POLA Museum Annex is hosting an exhibition of Hoberman work. Titled 'Living Form. The Transformable Work of Chuck Hoberman', the show is a retrospective of some of the designs created by Hoberman in the past 20 years.
Images and video of the exhibition can be viewed here.

POLA hosts Hoberman retrospective: Living Form

Fast Company Magazine profiles Hoberman's co-venture

April 1, 2010
Tim McKeough
Fast Company Magazine's Issue 144 includes a profile of the Hoberman and Buro-Happold co-venture, Adaptive Building Initiative, highlighting three architectural projects incorporating ABI technologies.
Read the article on fastcompany.com
Learn more about Adaptive Building Initiative

Architecture and Urbanism: Chuck Hoberman

Issue 2010: 02
Japanese architecture magazine A+U profiles Hoberman's Expanding Video Screen for U2 360, as well as some of our adaptive shading technologies.
Download the printed article as a pdf
Learn more about the magazine

Architectural Record, Hoberman�s "Transformable Design" Gaining Momentum

January 4, 2010
Joann Gonchar, AIA
Read the article at archrecord.com

Hoberman technologies included in Transmaterial 3: A Catalog of Materials that Redefine our Physical Environment

Blaine Brownell�s Transmaterial book series and companion website is a designer�s resource for new materials and innovative applications of materials and technologies. Transmaterial 3, published in February 2010, includes several Hoberman technologies and projects, including:
Hoberman Arch
Adaptive Fritting�
Iris Dome
Strata� (Exhibited in Emergent Surface)
Permea� (Exhibited in Aldar Central Market)
Angulated Scissor Linkage (Exhibited in Helicoid and other expanding structures)
Hoberman�s Adaptive Fritting� is featured on the companion site, transmaterial.net, and mentioned on Brownell's blog for Architect Magazine.

Chuck Hoberman talks about POLA Ginza and U2360 in an interview for Boards Magazine

As part of his presentation at the Boards Summit on experiential design, Chuck Hoberman spoke with Kevin Ritchie of Boards Magazine about the opening of the POLA building and the Expanding Screen for U2360.
Read the interview in its entirety at Boards Mag online.

Epanding Video Screen for U2 360 wins LDI 2009 Award

Chuck Hoberman and Frederic Oposmer won the Live Design International 2009 Award for Excellence in Video Design and Technology for the Expanding Video Screen, created for the U2 360 Tour. The winners were selected on site at the 2009 Live Design International tradeshow and conference by a panel of industry experts, working in conjunction with the editors of Live Design, with an eye toward the latest in technology.
View the award listings at ldishow.com

Innovative Hoberman facade transforms POLA's new Tokyo headquarters

October 2009 marked the opening of Japanese cosmetics manufacturer POLA's new headquarters in the Ginza district. Hoberman Associates collaborated with architects Yasuda Atelier and Nikken Sekkei to develop an adaptive shading system for the building's fa�ade.
Learn more and view images of the project in Hoberman's portfolio.

Hoberman's Rapidly Deployable Shelter (RDS) is included in a compendium of product design that improves life.

Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People, was authored by Project H Design founder Emily Pilloton and includes a foreword by Core77's Allan Chochinov. The book challenges designers to be activists over aestheticians, and highlights over 100 products in 8 categories that show product design's ability to enable individuals, communities, and economies in the developing world and in our own back yards alike.
Learn more about the book and Project H.

ID Magazine: Spheres of Influence

September 14, 2009
Lisa Delgado
For it's September/October 2009 issue focusing on design and play, ID Magazine included a profile on Hoberman Associates. In it, Chuck discusses the arc of Hoberman transformable designs: from toys, to the Expanding Video Screen for U2, to upcoming architectural projects.
Read the article and view the slideshow.

Hoberman and Buro Happold Join Forces to Create the Adaptive Building Initiative

Hoberman Associates and international engineering firm Buro Happold have joined forces to found a new venture, the Adaptive Building Initiative LLC. The company draws together a team of mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, environmental analysts, architects, software engineers, building information modelers and industrial designers: a team dedicated to designing a new generation of buildings that respond in real time to environmental changes.
Explore ABI�s offering of adaptive systems and services, and experiment with their adaptive interactives at www.adaptivebuildings.com.

Gizmodo: Inside U2's Behemoth 74-Ton 360� LED Concert Screen

July 26, 2009
Gizmodo's post of the Expanding Video Screen on its gadget blog.
Read the blog on Gizmodo.com

LiveDesign: The U2 360 Video Screen, Part 1: The Concept and Design

July 20, 2009
Chuck Hoberman and Matthew Davis interviewed by Live Design magazine about the concept, design, and technical execution of the U2 Expanding Video Screen.
Click here to read the article on livedesignonline.com.

LiveDesign, The U2 360� Video Screen, Part 2: How Does It Work?

July 22, 2009
Chuck Hoberman and Matthew Davis interviewed by Live Design magazine about the concept, design, and technical execution of the U2 Expanding Video Screen.
Click here to read the article on livedesignonline.com.

Core77: Hoberman's Transformable Screen for the U2 360 Tour

July1, 2009
Core 77's post of the Expanding Video Screen on its Technology blog.
Click here to read the article Core77.com.

In U2s Grasp: Irish Rock band tours the world using revolutionary stage.

Chuck Hoberman, Frederic Opsomer, Willie Williams, and Mark Fisher talk about the development of the U2 Screen.
Read the article on atU2

U2 360 tour debuts in Barcelona, Spain.

U2 360 tour debuts in Barcelona, Spain, June 30, 2009.
Watch a sneak preview of the tour on Wired.com

Hoberman and Partners Create Ground-Breaking Expanding Video Screen for the U2 360 Tour

Hoberman, in partnership with Innovative Designs and its parent company Barco, has created the centerpiece for the U2 360 tour � the Expanding Video Screen.
Click here to download the press release.
Watch Barco's video, "The Making of a Transformable LED Screen"

MATTER, Shrink Wrap: On the endless appeal of transformable design

Jill Singer chronicles transformable design with both classic and recent products, framed around the ongoing work of Chuck Hoberman, in this article for Material Connexion's quarterly, MATTER.
Read the article on MaterialConnexion.com

Hoberman unveils new technology at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard. On display: March 30 � May 15, 2009

Hoberman�s Adaptive Fritting installation demonstrates a new technology for variable transparency surfaces, allowing dynamic control over shading, thermal gain and privacy. The installation is part of Harvard�s Ecological Urbanism exhibition in Gund Hall Gallery.
A parallel conference, Ecological Urbanism: Alternative and Sustainable Cities of the Future ran from April 3 - 5, and included Chuck Hoberman as a guest speaker.
Read Harvard's synopsis of the exhibition
Read the Harvard Gazette's article on the conference

Axis Magazine: From Transformable Design to Adaptive Design

For the April 2009 issue of Axis Magazine, Kazutoshi Otani interviewed Chuck Hoberman.
Download the article as a pdf
View this issue on Axis Magazine's website

Hoberman Lecturing at Harvard Graduate School of Design: Wednesday, March 4, 2009 6:30pm - 8:00pm

Chuck Hoberman visited Harvard's Graduate School of Design to speak about "Transformable Strategies for Adaptive Building Performance".
Click here to find out more about Harvard GSD events

Hoberman Exhibiting at The Center for Architecture: January 22 - April 25, 2009

Hoberman's adaptive shading technology will be on display at the AIA, New York's Center for Architecture exhibition, MAKE IT WORK. Engineering Possibilities.
Click here for more information about the Center for Architecture

Naval Research Laboratory to send Hoberman Sphere into Earth's orbit

The Naval Research Laboratory has contracted Hoberman Associates to design an expanding sphere suitable for space. The Precision Expanding Calibration Satellite (PERCS) will serve as a callibration device for radar sytems and satelllites, and will be launched into orbit around the Earth for a period of a few years.
Visit the Naval Research Laboratory's website

Surface Magazine: A Changed Man

Surface magazine interviewed Chuck Hoberman following our receipt of two IDEA awards and participation in MoMA's Design for the Elastic Mind Exhibition.
Visit Surface Magazine's website

Hoberman honored by IDSA + Business Week with two IDEA awards.

Hoberman's Rapidly Deployable Shelter (RDS) for Johnson Outdoors and its Expanding Helicoid for Discovery World have both been recognized by the Industrial Design Society of America's IDEA awards.

After reviewing 1517 entries from around the globe a jury of 20 design experts awarded 205 IDEA awards. The Expanding Helicoid took home a Silver IDEA for Environments, while the RDS was awarded a Bronze IDEA for excellence in Commercial Products.
View the Rapidly Deployable Shelter on the IDEA website
View the Expanding Helicoid on the IDEA website

Symposium Spotlights Bucky�s Artistic Heirs

Cooper Union hosted the Buckminster Fuller Symposium, focused on Fuller's influence in archiecture, design and science.
Chuck Hoberman spoke of Fuller's influence on his own work and his work in adaptive architecture.

AIANY's eOculus journal reported on the event

Adaptive Structures: Building for Performance and Sustainability

In the context of their partnership, Adaptive Building Initiative, Chuck Hoberman and Buro Happold North America regional director Craig Schwitter discuss the potential for adaptive fa�ades to realize sustainable buildings as commonplace.
Design Intelligence published the essay.
Read it on di.net

The Museum of Modern Art speaks with Charlie Rose

Paola Antonelli, senior curator of Architecture and Design at The Museum of Modern Art speaks with Charlie Rose about her exhibit, "Design and the Elastic Mind.".
View the article on charlierose.com

Design and the Elastic Mind reviewed by Josie Glausiusz in Nature Magazine.

Paola Antonelli, senior curator of Architecture and Design at The Museum of Modern Art speaks with Charlie Rose about her exhibit, "Design and the Elastic Mind.".
Read the review at nature.com

Core 77 Broadcast's Live from the opening of Design and the Elastic Mind at MoMA.

Chuck Hoberman was interviewed about our piece, Emergent Surface
Listen to this interview at core77.com

Hoberman participates in the MoMA exhibition 'Design and the Elastic Mind' [February 24-May12, 2008] with its sculpture, Emergent Surface.

Organized by Paola Antonelli, Curator, and Patricia Juncosa Vecchierini, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design, the exhibition is a survey of the latest developments in the design field. It focuses on designers' ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and social mores, changes that will demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior, and convert them into objects and systems that people understand and use.
Learn more at moma.org

Architectural Record: Chuck Hoberman Wants Buildings to Change.

In her piece, Chuck Hoberman Wants Buildings to Change, Nina Rappaport profiles Hoberman Associates and its recent collaborations with Foster + Partners for Architectural Record.
Read this article at archrecord.com

Architectural Record: The ArchRecord Interview: Chuck Hoberman

Chuck Hoberman is interviewed by Jenna M. McKnight of Architectural Record in advance of his lecture at the 2007 Innovation Conference.
Read the interview at archrecord.com
View the conference agenda

NPR: Studio 360, August 2007

Listen to the show at Studio 360's website

Treehugger: Chuck Hoberman wows Japan, July 2007

Read this entry at treehugger.com

PingMag: Transformable Architecture, July 2007

While in Tokyo for an opening at the Kitakyusha Innovation Gallery, Chuck Hoberman was interviewed for the Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag.
Read this interview at pingmag.com

Seed Magazine: Chuck Hoberman + Lisa Randall: The inventor and the physicist meet up to talk about shape.

Chuck Hoberman + Lisa Randall (noted theoretical physicist) talk about shape in the July, 2007 issue of Seed Magazine.
Read this article at seedmagazine.com
Watch streaming video of their conversation on the Seed Salon

Hoberman Associates' Rapidly Deployable Shelter, designed for Johnson Outdoors' Eureka brand, is selected as part of the Cooper Hewitt's 2006 National Design Triennial.

Read this article at cooperhewitt.org
Listen to Chuck speaking about transformation

>DesignBoom: Chuck Hoberman: Interview with the designer and engineer of transformable objects, May 2007

Read the interview at designboom.com

>Columbia Magazine: The Future Tents, Spring 2006

Chuck Hoberman talks about the development of the Rapidly Deployable Shelter for Johnson Outdoors in Columbia Magazine. Read the interview at columbia.edu

>MCAD: Transformation Engineering, March 2006

Interview by Martyn Day