Polymoss
Polymoss is a networked sculptural object that senses and publishes air quality data. This iteration is a prototype for deployment in public space. The project is accompanied by a series of collaborative drawings that critically imagine the future of New York’s urban landscape. Polymoss grew out of my interest in public art and the politics of invisible environmental conditions.
From Start to Finish
Making a concerted effort to use sustainable materials for every aspect of this project, I decided to build the dodecahedron out of Eastern White Pine. These trees are native to Eastern North America and their lumber is easy to find at hardware stores or lumber yards.
Aesthetically, I was interested in the combination of geometric form with an organic, green substance like moss. The polyhedron brings to mind not only the strong angles of urban planning but something more fundamental—referenced in experimental architecture of the 1960s by Buckminster Fuller and Archigram, among others. So, on a Sunday afternoon, I gathered my measurements and began cutting the twelve surfaces that would comprise the form.
A water-based, nontoxic wood glue was used to adhere the edges of each section together. These were set overnight to insure proper adhesion.
The surface angle of each face is 108° while the dihedral angle (at which the faces meet) is 116.565°. With the mitre saw I used, this translated to an 18° cutting angle with a 32° bevel.
After considering a few different types of data representation, I decided to go with a basic text display using an LCD screen. This excellent tutorial from ladyada.net helped me along the way.
Polymoss senses air quality with an MQ-135 gas sensor that detects the concentration of various pollutants in the air. Output from the sensor is displayed on the LCD and also uploaded in real time to Pachube, a platform for sharing and accessing sensor data. This is accomplished with an Ethernet shield combined with the Arduino that sits inside the sculpture. See Tom Igoe’s Pachube Client Tutorial for more on this. When connected, the data from Polymoss can be viewed here.
Once the faces of the dodecahedron were set, I sanded the edges and used a beeswax wood treatment on the exterior. Then, with the help of classmate Marko Manriquez, I applied a blended moss layer to the surface of Polymoss, comprised of Moss Milkshake, beer, and dormant moss fragments.
Finally, I laser cut a symmetrical polygon with four small holes out of clear plexiglass for the display face of the sculpture. Screws hold the LCD screen flush with the plexi. This transparency makes the technology more accessible and less opaque to the viewer.
Polymoss is intended to be a functional and formally contextualized sculpture that is civically engaged and open to scrutiny.