Shade Pixel turns spandex into display

“Shade Pixel” is a physical display that uses deformable skin to represent live information. The project was developed at the Design Media Lab at Korea’s Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). From the description: “The prototype display is 11 x 7 pixels large and is made up of a skeleton of 77 solenoids with frame holes. A layer of Spandex forms the surface of the display and through the use of iron cores, each solenoid can be triggered to pull down each core to form a concave dip in the Spandex skin, causing “shades”. These shades are what forms the image. Similarly, the solenoids can release the iron cores, returning the skin to its “flat” surface.”

Design Media Lab, via Architectradure