pneumatic news

Latest WIRED news from friend Brian (who could have done something similar himself (and may still do ;)): Elon Musk's hyperloop will start construction next year - stay tuned!

Image from Twitter.

new tubes for old hospitals

Hospital architecture has to constantly evolve with medical technology. It has been said that a hospital is already outdated by the time it is built. New imaging techniques mean new radiological suites, laproscopic surgery calls for different operating room spaces, and green star ratings requires modifications in temperature control, water management and waste disposal. Existing pneumatic tube systems are updated, and installed, adapting to the needs of the hospital.

New wards in hospitals are being installed with pneumatic tubes, such as at Vista Health System, in Waukegan, Illinois (USA), where a new pneumatic tube system in the Progressive Care Unit delivers "supplies and medical documents directly to the nurses station". In Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital, in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu (India), a new pneumatic tube system not only "helped reduce medication errors, mix-up of laboratory samples, sample misplacement" but also supposedly "improved the working relationship amongst staff in the clinical support areas". Since the tubes have also led to a "silent" pharmacy and laboratory, with minimal interaction between staff and patient assistants (moving in and out in the street shoes), one can't help but wonder what other effects the technology may be having on working relationships in the hospital.

This photo, from Flikr, shows a steamfitter and foreman for SwissLog checking pneumatic tube piping for dents. It is part of a series of photos taken by Marc Barnes documenting the installation of pneumatic pipes and other construction work at the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital Oaks Pavilion, in Fort Belvoir, Virginia (USA).

Pneumatics at the Palais

Very recently, I missed the installation by Serge Spitzer at Palais de Tokyo entitled

Re/Search, Bread and Butter with the ever present Question of How to define the difference between a Baguette and a Croissant. But maybe you saw it in Paris, or somewhere else? Perhaps in Bern, where it was called Re/Search (Alchemy and/or Question Marks with Swiss Air)?

Here are some flikr images from those who did see the installation at the Palais de Tokyo and have shared their pictures.

I love these two images. Except for the little bit of string at the bottom, the first image looks like it could have been taken in a hospital engineering room, whilst there is little doubt that the second image is from a contemporary art gallery, the particular perspective emphasising the dizzying curves and twists of the installed pneumatic system. A description of this work in ArtSlant tells us that:

"Serge Spitzer aims to reveal hidden elements, structures and systems, the effects of which we perceive without trying to question their nature. Since the 1970s, he has been formulating mechanisms of communication, perception, and consciousness. These “reality models” are extraordinarily lucid sculptures in which everyday life confronts while merging with the imaginary. The artist borrows a complex vocabulary from our surroundings to generate the constant conflict and equilibrium of his works ... Re/Search, Bread and Butter with the ever present Question of How to define the difference between a Baguette and a Croissant, a monumental installation first made in 1997 for the Lyon Biennial, coincides with the democratization of the Internet. Presented today in the context of information technology hegemony, this work attests to the pre-existence of a quasi-organic communication network. Serge Spitzer unveils a chaotic pneumatic transport system where capsules, propelled by air, whizz through a maze of tubes. Installed in 1866 under the streets of Paris, this kind of device originally served to transmit commercial orders between the Central Telegraph Office and trading rooms. By bringing a technology back into the public space that ordinarily lurks under our towns, like a beast in a cave, Serge Spitzer ironically interrogates its function and renders it perfectly obsolete. The installation brings together two systems that work against each other, but are forced to coexist together; the networks neutralize each other. Messages shoot through these vessels without sender, without recipient, and on a quest without beginning or end. Here, order faces off with chaos and stringency brushes against weakness: everything is intertwined, but all of it is accidental"

A rather poetic interpretation of the installation, this description nonetheless resonates with some of my own interests in the pneumatic tube as an invisible maze behind our institutional walls, that is imbued with both function and imagination. The link made by Art Slant to the internet, is deeply reminiscent of descriptions of the web as a "series of tubes", and perhaps too much of an obvious connection. In an interview in Dazed Digital, Serge Spitzer searches for something more nuanced and interesting:

"The chaos of this seemingly stable structure, and the free will of controlled units is at the core of this piece: "The idea is to create the sketch of a chaotic structure that you follow and discover the 'clear' reality around it. The message of the work is to create something which is a question to itself. You build structures which seem to be very clear in their functions. But as you realise the work, you discover the irrationalities in the system. The narrative is about reality. You think the piece is about itself but it’s actually about the world around it, about the people, architecture, about the structure, you also look differently at the colours outside, or details and their relative monumentality. A big wild crazy transparent structure seen trough a large glass wall and next door you see the Eiffel tower, the most rational functional construction.”

It is the so-called 'irrationalities' of pneumatic tube systems which fascinate me too. The free will and the structure, always in tension, visible in the adjustments that engineers make to networks, in the sketches architects draw during renovations, in the breakdowns and in the repair work that takes place in hospitals, banks, pharmacies and other places everyday.

Images from workflo's flikr photostream and Happy Famous Artists' photostream. See Dazed Digital for more images.

christmas post

On December 15th, nearly two hundered construction workers building a new children's hospital in Portland, Oregon, gathered on the new rooftop garden to celebrate christmas with the sick kids. The background for this celebration was a spectacular christmas display created from materials of each construction worker's trade. The display included a sleigh made from steel frames, a snowman from plumbing fixtures, a reindeer from ductwork, christmas trees from electrical boxes and sprinkler fittings, and last but not least, a 16-foot high candy cane made from pneumatic tubes.

This sounds like a remarkable way in which to involve the children in the building of the new hospital. I wish I could find a picture of this event - I have looked without success, so if you do come across one, please send it my way. In lieu of these christmas graphics, here is a picture from a great WIRED article about the evolution of christmas lights, which tickled both my STS interests and love of christmas tree decorations.

Merry Christmas!