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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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"Scene Sensor," by Georgia Tech School of Architecture undergraduate students James Murray and Shota Vashakmadze, is a striking piezoelectric energy-generating art project designed to be installed above and below the surface of the Staten Island Park. With a proposed energy-generating capacity of 5,500 MWh, the installation is comprised of two planes that span the width between the site’s northern and eastern mounds, where a strong wind current exists. The screens are designed to map the wind currents, and the flexible panels are also free to shift with the wind. This means that instead of harnessing the wind’s energy like a turbine, the metallic mesh is fitted with piezoelectric wires that transform motion into electrical current.
Visitors to the site can also generate energy by walking on an intersecting platform that lies above the water line.
“On a spring day”, according to the students’ design brief, “the energy collected through these intersecting processes would be enough to power 1200 households.” At night, the screens are lit up so that visitors can see what the wind map looks like in living color.
