Futuresonic

Haque Design + Research have designed an electricity socket which people can purchase and install in their homes. The electricity socket comes equipped with a plant.

A preview of a design project by celebrated artist-designer Usman Haque commissioned by the Architectural League New York. The growth of the plant is artificially stimulated in direct proportion to the amount of electricity consumed, creating a "carbon sink," but if too much energy is used the network starts to kill plants, terminating the energy supply. The sockets and plants are networked to create a city-wide network of electronically-assisted plants that act both as energy providers and as shared carbon sink "circuit breakers." The plants acts as a natural circuit breaker because if people cooperate on their energy expenditure then the plants thrive (and they can all use more energy), but if they don't then the network kills plants, thus diminishing the network's energy capacity. Natural Fuse harnesses the carbon-sinking capabilities of plants but the aim is not just to temporarily offset energy usage, but to decrease collective energy use. Network-enabled by Pachube.com and commissioned by the Architectural League New York & the exhibition "Situated Technologies: Toward the Sentient City", Natural Fuse will be open to the public in Autumn 2009. At Futuresonic, Haque will show a preview of the project.

Usman Haque represented the Environment 2.0 programme at a launch event for the Futuresonic 2009 programme in January 2009 at Transmediale in Berlin, which also featured Andrea Polli and Drew Hemment.

Biography

Haque Design + Research specialises in the design and research of interactive architecture systems. Architecture is no longer considered something static and immutable; instead it is seen as dynamic, responsive and conversant. Our projects explore some of this territory.

www.naturalfuse.com
www.haque.co.uk