Aleatory Architecture
A large arch assembled from randomly placed granular particles, each with the shape of a twisted Z. The arch is solid-like rigid and load-bearing, despite being structurally disordered and glassy. This is an image of Project Z-Form, an installation in collaboration with Chicago artitst Dan Peterman.
For more info see
[1] S. Keller and H. M. Jaeger, Aleatory Architectures, Granular Matter 18, 29 (2016). http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10035-016-0629-s
[2] K. A. Murphy, L. K. Roth, D. Peterman, and H. M. Jaeger, Aleatory Construction Based on Jamming: Stability Through Self-Confinement, Architectural Design (special issue on Autonomous Assembly: Designing for a New Era of Collective Construction; ed. S. Tibbits) 187, 74-81 (2017). http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ad.2198"
Acoustically Levitated Particles
A small group of particles (each ~200um in diam.) freely floating in the pressure nodal plane of a standing sound wave. Sound scattering between the particles generates a force field within that nodal plane, which attracts the particles into contact.