Sensing Structure
Sense
: one of the ve natural powers (touch, taste, smell, sight, and
hearing) through which you receive information about the world
around you
: a physical feeling
: something that your body experiences
Structure
: the way that something is built, arranged, or organized
: the way that a group of people are organized
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
The sensing structure constitutes the physical environment in which human activities take place. It provides a constant ow of information about changing internal and external conditions which is processed by the computer subsystem. Internal and external sensors are part of the structure, operating in analogy to nerve cell receptors. Some of these sense modalities are vision, hearing, taste, smell, sensibility for balance, warmth and cold, compression and tension, etc., all of which give information of all parts of Cybertecture in space. The materials constituting the sensing environment have to have di erent characteristics than present day building materials because the performance of such "linear" materials is limited. The main concept is to create a material that is exible, containing minimal structure with optimal performance.
"CT can serve this, its main purpose: It will create a habitat which, being the result and generator of human activities, is highly responsive to changing needs of the individual as well as society" (Hilbertz, 103).1
The sensing structure within the ocean becomes the home organisms make of the plastic and debris. However, once again, the gyre in its present state cannot be inhabited by humans. Like with the biorock that Wolf Hilbertz develops and discusses in his essay "Electrodeposition of Minerals in Sea Water: Experiments and Applications," in the gyre, organisms attach themselves to the plastic, forming their own microenvironments.2 By adding the missing "computer system," the gyre could become more responsive to changes in the aquatic environment by optimizing the sensing structure. The theory of Cybertecture is based heavily on the trial and error method and this computer system would allow for that feedback loop.