Doris Sung's TBM Designs showcases innovation and introduces new art and green technology to CSULB campus.

TBM Designs sm[ART]box rendering, exterior by Yaloo, 2020. (background: Mike and Arline Walter Pyramid by Donald Gibbs). Courtesy of Doris Sung, Karen Sabath and Scott Horwitz.

[November 10, 2020, Long Beach, CA] Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum presents the newest sustainable design to be installed on Cal State Long Beach campus: sm[ART]box. The structure repurposes a 20-foot steel shipping container and sparks imagination with its smart material-based technology. TBM Designs’ collaborative project curated by Kristina Newhouse will be installed on Cal State Long Beach campus from December 2020–2022, where its multi-disciplinary approach and vanguard design application can prompt discussion of a sustainable future.

With the InVert™ Self-Shading Window System (InVert), Doris Sung re-invented how thermostatic bimetal (tbm), the building element of sm[ART]box and TBM Design’s namesake, is used. Similar metal components are commonly used in thermostats, but Sung artfully redesigned the material into precision-cut tbm pieces and brought them outside to respond to the solar heat. As the sun moves overhead, individual tbm pieces bend or flatten to reflect sunrays away from structures, creating the movement of InVert. In sm[ART]box, tbm are re-arranged within a delicate matrix to create an elegant low-maintenance system to cool interior spaces. Thusly, sm[ART]box responds to the changing outdoor temperature incredibly efficiently—all without computer automation or human intervention.

Besides its impressive passive technology, sm[ART]box extends thinking about the function of materials, our environmental experience and even our sense of time and space. The environmentally responsive movements of tbm pieces tap into our perceptions of time: personal or collective, biological, seasonal and geographic. The design of the tbm pieces, inspired by organic forms, also parallels the heliotropic activity of plants, like flowers or leaves that rotate to face the sun passing through the sky. This daily activity indexes ambient changes in atmospheric conditions, and the observation of the subtle movements of the tbm become marvelous, as they mirror and reflect their environment.

Once sm[ART]box is installed within the campus’ built environment, on a grassy quad next to a busy pedestrian thoroughfare, it becomes an art installation and architectural case study. Its inventions, instruments and design innovations will activate communal space and provoke us to see new perspectives. sm[ART]box also integrates other artful design elements into its display. The exterior walls will incorporate eye-catching visual design by Yaloo, a South Korean contemporary digital artist who often collaborates on site-based installations.

tbm pieces in research and development phase. Courtesy TBM Designs.

[November 10, 2020, Long Beach, CA] Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum presents the newest sustainable design to be installed on Cal State Long Beach campus: sm[ART]box. The structure repurposes a 20-foot steel shipping container and sparks imagination with its smart material-based technology. TBM Designs’ collaborative project curated by Kristina Newhouse will be installed on Cal State Long Beach campus from December 2020–2022, where its multi-disciplinary approach and vanguard design application can prompt discussion of a sustainable future.

With the InVert™ Self-Shading Window System (InVert), Doris Sung re-invented how thermostatic bimetal (tbm), the building element of sm[ART]box and TBM Design’s namesake, is used. Similar metal components are commonly used in thermostats, but Sung artfully redesigned the material into precision-cut tbm pieces and brought them outside to respond to the solar heat. As the sun moves overhead, individual tbm pieces bend or flatten to reflect sunrays away from structures, creating the movement of InVert. In sm[ART]box, tbm are re-arranged within a delicate matrix to create an elegant low-maintenance system to cool interior spaces. Thusly, sm[ART]box responds to the changing outdoor temperature incredibly efficiently—all without computer automation or human intervention.

sm[ART]box: InVert™ Self-Shading Window System demonstration. Courtesy TBM Designs

Besides its impressive passive technology, sm[ART]box extends thinking about the function of materials, our environmental experience and even our sense of time and space. The environmentally responsive movements of tbm pieces tap into our perceptions of time: personal or collective, biological, seasonal and geographic. The design of the tbm pieces, inspired by organic forms, also parallels the heliotropic activity of plants, like flowers or leaves that rotate to face the sun passing through the sky. This daily activity indexes ambient changes in atmospheric conditions, and the observation of the subtle movements of the tbm become marvelous, as they mirror and reflect their environment.

Once sm[ART]box is installed within the campus’ built environment, on a grassy quad next to a busy pedestrian thoroughfare, it becomes an art installation and architectural case study. Its inventions, instruments and design innovations will activate communal space and provoke us to see new perspectives. sm[ART]box also integrates other artful design elements into its display. The exterior walls will incorporate eye-catching visual design by Yaloo, a South Korean contemporary digital artist who often collaborates on site-based installations.

tbm pieces in research and development phase. Courtesy TBM Designs.

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The technology used in sm[ART]box epitomizes Doris Sung’s belief that cost-effective, responsive architectural systems will help us keep up with changing ecological dynamics in an ever-changing and ever-warming world. Sung asserts that “when buildings install InVert, emissions will decline, air quality will improve and occupants will be more comfortable and productive.” This interest in integration of design efficiency, human health and global wellness aligns with Cal State Long Beach’s environmental goals named in the President's Commission on Sustainability (PCS). These goals were established in 2018 with the mission of integrating sustainability into all aspects of university life. sm[ART]box offers parallel ways to engage Cal State Long Beach students, Long Beach residents and Southern California communities in dialogue about sustainability, urban planning and a more arts-integrated future.

Reflecting on sm[ART]box, Curator of Exhibitions Kristina Newhouse shares: “Sensing and absorbing the project’s potential impact may seed new insights about sustainable collective responses to climate change. We all must commit to significantly alter the trajectory of the Anthropocene. We cannot exist outside the environment, and it is our charge to think meaningfully and creativity about our position on the planet.”

TBM Designs sm[ART]box rendering, exterior by Yaloo, 2020. (background: CSULB College of Professional & International Education). Courtesy TBM Designs.

About Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum

Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum is a community of people who examine, critique and create contemporary art and culture. Our exhibitions and projects serve students, campus communities and the public. We build opportunities for participation and collaboration around art and art making and consider the museum to be a community, not simply a building that houses art. As the museum undergoes a significant site expansion and renovation from 2020–2022, we will create a series of digital initiatives and off-site projects while we work to improve and expand our home location.