You're probably talking about the

Aegis Hyposurface

Mark Goulthorpe

I think this was done in coordination with SIAL (Aussies)

http://www.sial.rmit.edu.au/

that wasn't it, though has similar reactions to environment. the project I saw is much smaller in scale and there is no light aspect to its design.

imagine: multiple planks connected to two (static) ends of 'shelf' the 'planks' are inches apart from eachother and are the parts of this structure that can sense and react to movement.

could it be nARCHITECTS'
party wall?

could it be the "living glass" - carbon dioxide responsive silicone surface?

http://www.thelivingnewyork.com/index.htm

also check- interactive architecture dot org

????

YES! It was nARCHITECTS party wall! ...though it doesn't look as impressive as I remembered it to be...

thank you SEMI!

someone sets down their drink, thinking it's a bookcase....then it gets crushed.

Didn't Klein Dytham experiment with some similar idea?

glad to be able to help, isobol!

i was at the opening for that show and the wall was a bit underwhelming. when the gallery started filling up and people crowded around the thing it started reacting more randomly than the designers first intended. i can see it being a prototype for something much more exciting though.
are you doing precident research? i'd be interested to know what you're working on!

cloak and dagger -

thanks for the site, this will help with the materials research I'm conducting. if you have any more online linkers to pass along I would love it!