Morphing Crystals - December 2017 - Now Rijksmuseum Boerhaave in Leiden, NL

Studio Overvelde is showcasing "Morphing Crystals" at Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, in an exposition running ever since the grand reopening of the museum on 15 December 2017. The exposition revolves around two geometries that are at the core of cutting-edge scientific research performed by Bas Overvelde. Visitors of the museum are invited to engage with materials that are based on the moving geometries hanging from the ceiling and explore the mind-boggling reactions of the materials to external stimulation.

The geometries are so-called metamaterials - materials with properties that do not occur in nature - and they play an important role in the advancement of the performance of materials. Metamaterials have special properties, they are for instance strong but also very light. For that reason, one can make unusual constructions with them, on every length-scale. Metamaterials are used for roofing of open spaces, but also for minuscule antennas, foils and solar cells. The structures are then not thicker than a human hair.  Thorough mathematical analyses precede the development of metamaterials and inspiration is drawn from nature (e.g. bamboo) but in Overvelde's research also from traditional origami folding techniques.