Interactive shading

The Swarm Garden lies at the intersection between mechanics, swarm robotics, architecture, and art. Units of confined, thin sheets, which buckle into controllable patterns according to geometry (see Mechanics Confinement Page and doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.108.035002), act as “flowering” agents. These modules respond collectively to one another to human interaction. We demonstrate that the multifunctional, modular system can be used as a façade to customize sunlight in interior spaces. We also held an interactive art exhibit (April 2024) in Princeton, NJ to demonstrate the mechanism.

See more about the making of the Swarm Garden on Princeton’s CreativeX website

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  • M. Alhafnawi, J. Bendarkawi, Y. Tafesse, L. Stein-Montalvo, A. Jones, V. Chow, S. Adriaenssens, and R. Nagpal. Architectural swarms for responsive facades and creative expressions. Science Robotics 11, eady7233 (2026) doi: 10.1126/scirobotics.ady7233

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