Invisibility cloak could hide buildings from quakes – New Scientist – The physics behind optical invisibility cloaks that have been gaining so much attention have other possibilities. Scientists at the Fresnel Institute have worked out a potential technology for cloaking buildings from surface waves caused by Earthquakes and Tsunami. The technology uses tuned rings that might end up being installed in the foundations of a building to propagate a wave around the building, leaving the wave virtually untouched. Such a technique might also work for vibration isolators for equipment. The physics can be applied to all sorts of wave phenomenon and are filled with possibilities.

Yet what might this hold for the design of Architecture. Surely the practical implications are big enough but the conceptual ones are interesting too. Too often Architecture is thought to be an expression of some conceptual intent, but what might a building that cloaks intentions, expressions and movement be like. What can the idea of an architecture of the invisible teach us.