MSC’s 'Memory Cloud' garners coverage from design websites

Design websites continue to spread the word about " [Memory Cloud] (http://one.arch.tamu.edu/news/2013/2/22/memory-cloud/) ," a permanent, hanging sculpture at Texas A&M’s Memorial Student Center containing 4,000 LED nodes designed in part by Andrew Vrana ’93 that displays moving, 3-D silhouettes in real time and from days past.

"Memory Cloud" creates a unique scene, displaying monumental and ephemeral figures and blurring the distinction between past and present, said a [post] (http://www.bustler.net/index.php/article/memory_cloud_by_resite_metalab_completed/) in bustler, a site that caters to the design community.

The piece, the post continued, creates an open-ended story of Texas A&M, displaying the narrative potential of programmable LEDs, remote sensing, parametric design and digital fabrication.

Archinect, which aims to make architecture more open-minded by bringing progressive architects, educators and students together through its website, also devoted a [page] (http://archinect.com/news/article/69075087/memory-cloud-by-re-site-metalab-completed) to the piece, which was dedicated on Feb. 22, 2013.

“Memory Cloud” was chosen as the winner among three finalists in the MSC’s Sculpture Commission Competition, sponsored by the [University Art Galleries Department] (http://uart.tamu.edu/) ; the $350,000 commission was awarded in February 2012.

“A lot of students just blow right by civic art,” said Vrana, who helped design the piece. “I’ve thought to myself that if I ever got an opportunity, I would create something that engages and reflects the community. That was a driving rationale in the piece’s design.”