Theory of Transformation

What is transformation? Since everything changes—including ourselves—it seems almost too large to define. But from an engineer’s perspective, the problem can be broken down. I see transformation as rearrangement: moving many small bits from one configuration to another. When natural organisms grow, they rearrange their cells and molecules. We use mechanics to achieve a similar effect.

Transformation represents a way of designing that goes beyond conventional design elements—shape, color, space—to shape behavior itself. Objects can expand, retract, fold, deploy, and change shape. Transformable design offers a strategy for adapting to a rapidly changing world.

— Chuck Hoberman

A man in a gray suit and glasses stands next to a large illuminated wire sculpture of a human head. The sculpture is made of interconnected geometric shapes and glowing lights, positioned against a dark background. The man is looking at the sculpture with his hands in his pockets.

1991 Metal Hoberman Sphere Prototype

1973 Kinetic ride-on sculpture

A man in a gray suit and glasses is sitting at a table in a room, shaking hands with a person outside the frame. On the table are multiple geometric, faceted sculptures of owls made from a white, textured material, some stacked. In the background, there are people sitting at tables, a yellow flower arrangement, and warm lighting.

1988 Pop-up origami studies

1998 With Hoberman Sphere Toys

Studio

Hoberman Associates is a multidisciplinary practice specializing in transformable design. We create products, structures, and environments that change their size and shape. Across a range of industries and applications, we focus on fostering a dynamic relationship between product and user.

Our design medium is behavior itself.

Elegance and economy remain preeminent values of good design. An elegant mechanism can translate a simple push or pull into rich and complex behavior. We are interested in how a few carefully considered mechanical elements can produce movement, adaptability, and entirely new ways of interacting with an object.

We believe that a world undergoing accelerating change needs an adaptive, interactive approach to design. Whether inventing a rapidly deployable shelter, redefining portability for children’s products, or collaborating with architects to develop next-generation adaptive buildings, our clients seek us out to shape change—and inspire it.

Looking up at a modern architectural structure with a geometric steel framework and a circular opening in the ceiling, showing blue sky and clouds through the opening.

1994 Iris Dome render at MoMA

2017 Mercedes-Benz Stadium Retractable Roof

2009 U2 Tour Transformable Video Screen

2002 Olympic Arch

Profile

When we are contacted by a potential client, we first seek to understand how physical transformation can help solve a problem or achieve a goal. We quickly assess the opportunity and identify potential directions by considering three fundamental questions:

  • What type of transformable behavior is needed?

  • What precedents are applicable? These may come from our intellectual property and past work, or from other technologies and fields.

  • Is the project feasible? Can the goal be achieved within the required timeline and budget?

Our process draws on a distinctive set of engineering and design methods developed through decades of work in transformable systems. We apply these methods across industries and markets, always in close collaboration with our clients. 

Hoberman often partners with Articulated Artworks, LLC, founded by Matthew Davis, who has been partnering with Hoberman for over 25 years. Working alongside an extensive network of fabricators and other specialists, they have successfully delivered many of Hoberman’s major projects.

IP development can be an integral aspect of commercial strategy. Functional differentiation can create new opportunities for a product, while strong intellectual property can help protect that differentiation.

We therefore approach invention not only as a means of solving a design problem, but as an opportunity to create new capabilities, new experiences, and new value.

Two stacked vegetable grater slicers, one small and one large, shown in black and white.

1991 Foldable Briefcase

Flowchart illustrating a process from client and application to end user. Stages include engineering, design, immerse, ideate, invent, implement, ending with the end user.

Design Work-Flow Diagram

A complex stage setup with a central orange and silver tower, multiple green canopy structures, and various supporting equipment and lighting fixtures. The stage includes labels indicating parts like steel frame, video rack, screen supporting truss, and LED video panel.

2008 U2 Transformable Screen Section Detail

Hand-drawn red outline diagram of a triangle truss structure with labeled components and notes about panels, trusses, and assembly instructions.

2013 Mercedes Benz Retractable Roof sketch

Clients

Architecture & Art

We collaborate with leading architecture and engineering firms to create transformable designs that address environmental challenges while redefining architectural space and experience.

Events & Entertainment

From rock concerts and theme parks to sporting events and global spectacles, Hoberman creates large-scale, dynamic structures and experiences for audiences worldwide. Clients include Disney, the NFL, U2, and the Winter Olympics.

Commissioned Art & Exhibits

We create commissioned artworks and installations for private and institutional collections, ranging from intimate pieces to major public works. Our work has been exhibited at MoMA, Cooper Hewitt, Centre Pompidou, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, and the Building Centre in London.

Science Museums

Hoberman’s interactive installations bring together art, mathematics, engineering, and technology. Exhibited in science museums around the world, these works explore subjects including growth, cellular structures, cosmology, and force and motion—and support STEM and STEAM education.

Products

Hoberman applies transformable design to toys and consumer products, combining art, engineering, and functionality. The iconic Hoberman Sphere has sold tens of millions of units. Clients have included Graco, Herman Miller, Johnson Outdoors, Spin Master, and TOMY.

Four men standing in front of an elaborate stage setup with lighting and structural elements.

2009 U2 and Hoberman (Barcelona)

Children assembling colorful geometric models in a classroom filled with display cases and artwork.

2002 Eldhom Children’s Museum (Netherlands)

Museum exhibit of a large metallic sculpture resembling a geometric crab with multiple legs, with several people observing it.

1994 Iris Dome at MoMA (NYC, USA)

Group of seven professionals gathered around a computer in an office, looking at the screen with serious expressions.

2010 Zahner Metals (Kansas City, USA)

A woman in a white lab coat and glasses talking to a young girl with long blond hair, wearing a pink sweater, in a science or technology exhibit. The background features an intricate metallic structure and large industrial pipes.

2006 Discovery World (Milwaukee, USA)

The Hoberman Sphere

The original invention for the Hoberman Sphere was patented in 1990, and has appeared continuously – whether as a toy, for large-scale installations or theatrical events - ever since.

The toy has been sold around the world in the tens of millions, and is known from countless television shows and movies, including The Office, Saturday Night Live, Grace & Frankie, and Big Bang Theory.  

Large versions have been installed on 4 continents for science museums, corporate spaces, and public art pieces. 

One of our best-known museum pieces, the original Hoberman Sphere, was installed in 1992 as the central exhibit in the Liberty Science Center’s atrium. Suspended by cables, the 700-pound aluminum sphere expands and contracts smoothly and continuously. Throughout its long history, the sphere has become the icon for the museum, logging millions of cycles. 

Patent and.drawing of a reclosable expandable double-curved truss structure with three 3D wireframe models of the structure, showing different perspectives.

1990 US Patent

Two geometric structures made of orange and yellow interconnected pieces, resembling 3D polygonal shapes.

1989 Sphere prototype

1990 Testing the Original Hoberman Sphere

2014 Barack Obama at White House science fair

Bill and Hillary Clinton with Hoberman Sphere, smiling and laughing together.

1998 Hillary and Bill Clinton with Hoberman Sphere Toy

2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics Lighting Ceremony

CONTACT

Hoberman Associates, Inc.
254 36th St. Building 2, 5th Floor, Space B537
Brooklyn, NY 11232-2401

General Information:
associates@hoberman.com