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Shadow Pavilion shows off U-M building material innovation

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

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Ann Arbor

If you have toured the University of Michigan's Solar House (MiSo) at its new home in the Matthei Botanical Gardens, you have probably noticed a futuristic silver structure nearby. That's the Shadow Pavilion, the latest in U-M building material innovation.

Karl Daubmann, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Michigan, created the silver cone material as part of his research to create strong building materials out of lighter materials. A $20,000 Research Through Making Grant funded the project.

Daubmann and his team created the cones with laser-cut aluminum. The resulting product not only is stable but is an excellent conductor or sunlight and sun. Inside the pavilion supplies amply natural light and picks up sounds from great distances.

"They're almost like the big megaphone or the old-fashioned hearing aides," Daubmann says. "We can't wait to see it with snow on it."

The Shadow Pavilion is expected to stick around for at least the next year. Daubmann and his team plan to test out sustainable features on it, such as photovoltaic material.

Source: Karl Daubmann, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Michigan
Writer: Jon Zemke

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Shadow Pavilion shows off U-M building material innovation

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