As you might have noticed, s-m-i-t.com has received a few updates.  There will be some more changes in the next few weeks, so do not be alarmed if things look a bit different when you return.   Also, please visit the new solarivy.com to see some new images and download our latest Solar Ivy product sheet.

SMIT would like to thank Alex Birdsall, Claire D’Aoust and Lucia Pivaral for all of the great work that has gone into these updates.   Stay tuned for more changes in the coming weeks!

Hello, friends!

We are very excited to announce that as of 02/05/10, GROW is on display as part of the new show ‘Action! Design over Time’ at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. If you are in town, drop by to see it! It is an ongoing show, so it will be up for quite a while.

Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street  New York, NY 10019
(212) 708-9400

We will be posting photos very soon of GROW in this new installation at MoMA!

Cheers,
-Sita.

Hey all,

We have been in the running for a $50k grant through the Pepsi Refresh Everything competition since 02/01/10, and have until 02/28/10 to be chosen to receive one. The way it works is sort of like a popularity contest…we have to get tons of votes from the general public. We have been doing everything we can to spread the word about us and what the money would allow us to do. When the competition began we were at 202nd place, and in one week have made it down to 37th place…so voting really does work!

Can you help us get into the Top 10? Here’s how to do it:

- Go to: http://www.refresheverything.com/SolarIvy
- Sign-up to vote (you will have to enter your name, valid email address and birthdate) – must be 13+ years old.
-Go back to the Solar Ivy page and click on ‘vote for this idea’.
- Vote daily until 02/28/10!

Please tell all your friends! We need all the votes we can get to push us into the Top 10. (Only the Top 10 ideas receive grants!)

If you are on Facebook or Twitter, look for us and repost/retweet our postings!

Thanks and don’t forget to Vote for Solar Ivy everyday until 02/28/10!
-Sita.

In December I completed my first semester in the Product Architecture and Engineering (PAE) Lab at the Stevens Institute of Technology.  PAE is a graduate level program “integrating the the study of Architecture, Engineering, Product Design, and Interaction”, all of which are central to SMIT’s work.  More from the PAE website:

“The program overcomes longstanding deficiencies in design education by creating a distinctive fusion of design culture and technology through the disciplines of computation, analysis, and advanced production methodologies.

The curriculum focuses upon immersion in the tools that inform this design convergence, and creates opportunities for students to undertake applied research on real projects and collaborate with designers, engineers, scientists and manufacturers at the most progressive design firms in the metropolitan New York area.”

The program is headed by John Nastasi, and I have found it to be a perfect fit for my academic and professional aspirations.  SMIT hopes to both further it’s design work based on the knowledge and experience gained in the PAE lab, and hopefully to work directly with PAE on the continuing technological development of Solar Ivy and GROW.  The first effort in this vein is a Solar Ivy Shading Study, which will be described in a forthcoming post.

I encourage any designer considering graduate studies to look into the PAE lab at Stevens, and I look forward to updating SMITblog readers on my progress in this exciting program.

-Ben

GROW is featured on the cover of Emily Pilloton’s new book “Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People” (foreward by Allan Chochinov).

See the write up on Inhabitat’s Blog.

Book can be purchased here.

SMIT has been chosen to proceed to the next round in a competition called  ”Situated Technologies: Toward the Sentient City,” curated by Mark Shepard and organized by the Architectural League.  The competition website is here.  We are honored and exited to be on the short list, and anxious to get going on our proposal.  SMIT worked with Carrie Mcknelly on the winning submission, and is one of 26 teams that have been chosen to move on to the next round.  The deadline is September 3rd, and the commissioned winners will be announced in mid September.  Stay tuned for more news about sit tech!