Fueled by Advil Cold & Sinus, I went to Riverfront Regional Park for this session. The air smelled sweet with decay from the wooded area. As per usual, the sound of traffic whirred by in the background, but it faded into white noise soon enough. With my eyes closed, I could hear the wind blowing through the leaves with the sound of lapping water of the Mississippi River following shortly thereafter. The breeze moved the leaves and as some fell it sounded like raindrops. It had rained earlier in the week, but today was relatively clear. When I opened my eyes, I was surprised to notice many more thorns surrounding me than anticipated, but thankfully we’re well into the season of pants.

With the chilly air, it was easy to think of the design I’ve been working on; winter is fast approaching and the heat will be turned on much sooner than later. With the growing season all but over, the woods around the river are beginning to look much too similar as the colors are rich but not as varied. From where I was sitting, the sun reflected off the river. It fell upon one side of my face and I felt warmth. With a shiver, it spread throughout my body.

Both the shivering and the reflection made me think of heat distribution and absorption. My design doesn’t go too much into how heat will be distributed, but the natural response of a shiver could serve as inspiration. In this case, my body responded to the sun’s stimulus; the muscles in the colder parts of my body tightened and relaxed to spread the warmth throughout my body.

The reflection called to mind the polar bear I explored in my first round of the design spiral and the transparent top layer of my tiles that deflect light back to the lower layers. There could be opportunity to utilize reflection to spread light to areas not typically flooded in sunight.

Nature provide countless examples for absorbing and retaining heat because it’s critical to functioning as a mammal. That said, my design pulls more from the cold-blooded (and insect equivalent). It feel like there is additional opportunity to consider more mammalian strategies since my challenge deals explicitly with keeping human beings (and their pets!) warm. Our own bodies have rather effective and efficient ways of doing the same thing and, and our dwellings are built to support those functions. The next step might be to wonder if they can be more integrated.

Location: Riverfront Regional Park

When: Mid-afternoon

Conditions: Absolutely lovely, partly cloudy and breezy, slight chill but not much