As an architect, you may think of every project or surface you work with as a kind of canvas. Similar to a painter, the choices you make on that canvas can convey a feeling or send a message with colors and patterns and shapes. But what if you could take that artist concept even further? What if you could literally turn a metal panel into a picture?
A new technology—Ombrae Imaging Technology from Holland, Mich.-based Dri-Design in conjunction with Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based artist and film set designer, Roderick Quin—allows you to do just that. Here’s how it works:
From the Latin word meaning “many shadows,” the Ombrae technology breaks down an image into individual pixels. Each pixel’s optimal reflective position is then calculated and punched into the Dri-Design wallpanels. Engineered to stay attached to the base panel, the 3-D pixels act as reflectors to catch light or cast a shadow. This creates an almost holographic image that presents slightly differing appearances depending upon the lighting and viewing angle.
In one case, a parking garage at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Ombrae panels were used by Bing Thom Architects, Vancouver, to create the image of clouds that appear to be moving across the sky because of the way they reflect light.
The Ombrae concept originated with the artist Quin. Bing Thom introduced Quin to Ken Smith of Calgary-based Flynn Canada Ltd. (the SAIT project installer), who in turn introduced Quin to Dri-Design.Dri-Design President Brad Zeeff realized making these reflective images could be done with machinery.
Thom was interested in the idea of experimenting with 3-D surfaces and wanted to naturally ventilate the SAIT parking garage with perforated metal. Rather than just painting on an image, the Ombrae allowed him to create an image that was alive, changing colors depending on the angle at which you approach it, the color of the sky and even the season, as green leaves can reflect off the exterior façade.
“Rather than just a billboard, this has more life to it,” Thom said.
“I just thought it was a great technology and I could see it on parking structures, roof top mechanical screen walls, artwork for interiors—I thought this would be a great natural way of doing it without putting on any paint,” Zeeff said. “We’re dreaming and experimenting and testing,but we see Dri-Design with Ombrae in theaters because we believe the sound transmission will be awesome.I see it in lobbies, it could go into a curtainwall or glass window system. I see it as corporate logos …anywhere you want to design a theme or project a feeling.”
At Butch’s restaurant in Holland, Mich., Ombrae panels were used in a special banquet room on the wall to show the image of a vineyard and on the ceiling to show clouds, giving the room an open, airy feel. The architect on the project was Reckley Associates, Holland.
Owner Butch TerHaar said as guests come into the restaurant, they tend to be both stunned and delighted.
“Nobody’s ever seen anything like this,” Ter-Haar said. “It’s just so totally unique.”
Although it has already been used on several projects, the Dri-Design with Ombrae is still very new, having just been launched at the beginning of April. Many of the possibilities for how it can be used have yet to be discovered.
“It could be any photographic image or a series of photographic images blurred to become one,” Thom said.
The panels can also be made with a variety of different kinds of metal including stainless steel, aluminum, copper and zinc.
Zeeff pointed to the Ombrae’s ability to interact with light as something that may soon be explored. If for instance, you have three different colored LED lights pointed at an Ombrae panel, it would display three different colors.
“It takes on a whole new feel,” Zeeff said.
You may wonder if a photographic panel, such as this, would require special installation or maintenance requirements, but according to Dri-Design, it installs with ease and maintains the same kind of low-to-zero-maintenance quality you would expect from metal panels.
For more information on Ombrae Imaging Technology, visit www.dri-design.com.
