ABOUT US

 

Airflow Kinetics was founded by Gordon Sharp in 2018 in order to pursue a long held dream of making large scale airflow based kinetic sculptures.  He created his first Kinetic Airflow Sculpture, when he was a MIT student taking a visual art and technology course. 

 

Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, Gordon patented & licensed this early unit to a Colorado company who marketed a 20" tall unit for home use. The Cascade Light as it was named was popular but too expensive for the home market at that time and was discontinued by the manufacturer.

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Gordon went on to found 2 successful companies that control building airflow to save energy & improve air quality, Phoenix Controls that was sold to Honeywell and then Aircuity, Inc.  These two company's products are now saving over $2.5 Billion annually in building energy use and also helping to improve indoor air quality and reduce carbon emissions. Aircuity’s solutions in particular have benefited many hundreds of organizations around the world such as Google, Amazon, the University of Pennsylvania, Cambridge University, the Bank of America, and the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

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Gordon's interest in creating Kinetic Airflow Sculptures was rekindled when the MIT Museum “rediscovered” one of these early home units in 2013 & put it on display for several years. Finally in early 2018 Gordon, with help and encouragement from the MIT Museum and other members of the MIT community and friends, started Airflow Kinetics. The first large scale unit, a 16 feet tall version, was completed in December of 2018 at the Artisan's Asylum, then in Somerville, MA. 

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In early 2019, a MezMirage sculpture was also exhibited at the Cambridge Science Festival. Later in October, 2019, and then in 2021, MezMirages were exhibited at the Boston Children's Museum during their CreatedBy Festival. In October of 2022, an interactive 11' tall MezMirage kinetic sculpture was installed at the Boston Children's Museum and is now a permanent, purchased exhibit that was later increased to a height of 14 feet.  It is located prominently in the Museum's atrium lobby where children and adults can change the MezMirage's colors and be inspired and educated on the intersection of art and the science of airflow. 

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Airflow Kinetics has a studio at the new Artisan's Asylum location at 96 Holton St. in Allston, MA where a 14' tall MezMirage sculpture is also on public display in the facility's common area. This MezMirage also includes interactive color changing features.

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Why Kinetic Airflow Sculptures?

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MezMirage kinetic airflow sculptures, driven by fluid dynamics principles and millions of small polystyrene spheres, capture the often-overlooked beauty of airflow. This science-based art serves as an educational tool, highlighting the significance of airflow in our built environment, with a focus on its vital role in human health and the fight against climate change.

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A quarter of global energy consumption results from heating, cooling, and managing airflow within buildings significantly impacting carbon emissions.  Plus, recent events like the pandemic and wildfires have underscored the impact of indoor air quality on health. Unfortunately, the invisible nature of air often leads to its critical importance being overlooked.

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However, the MezMirage sculpture illuminates the beauty and importance of airflow, both literally and figuratively. Like a commercial building, it draws air into its base, guides it through its vertical, building like column, and exhausts it from the "rooftop." The colored lights, focused on the fluidized beads within the column, unveil the mesmerizing organic patterns in flowing air.

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By vividly revealing the hidden world of air around us, these MezMirage sculptures aim to inspire collective efforts toward  better control of building airflows to create healthier indoor environments and a more environmentally conscious future.

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