Exploring a Textile-based Shadow Lamp Display Incorporating Shape Memory Alloys

Abstract

This paper explores a novel concept of textile-based shadow displays that incorporates shape memory alloys (SMA) on fabrics to cast dynamic shadows as an ambient information display. To explore this, we implemented a lamp prototype, capable of presenting a set of dynamic shadows. These shadows exemplified iconic vs. abstract shadow figures, as well as demonstrating changes in shadow sharpness, size and/or position on the lamp’s shade. We conducted a user study (n =8) to investigate the perception toward our concept. Our findings report that the concept does not only provide the potential for a variety of use cases, dynamic alterations of the shadows feel like a decorative addition to the living spaces, as well as creating relaxing channels of information display.