The term homeostasis is referred to by Flood and Carson (1993)

as a process by which a system preserves its existence through

the maintenance of its dynamic equilibrium.

dermal papillae
illustrations from THE PEOPLES COMMON SENSE MEDICAL
ADVISER IN PLAIN ENGLISH, FIFTY-FOURTH EDITION. R.V. Pierce,
MD, 1895 <www.gutenberg.org/files/18467/18467-h/advise.
html>

Skin Architecture:
Michele Han

The Skin
The first line of defense, skin protects against infection, abrasion, and water loss. It contains nerve
endings vital for sensation, such as touch, pain, heat,
and cold. It produces vitamin D on exposure to UV
rays in sunlight, monitors the bodys salt balance,
and regulates body temperature.
Skin is the bodys largest organ.
It is a boundary, separating man from environment.
Adapting and responding, it maintains a constant
equilibrium; it creates homeostasis.
Skin Architecture

Thermoregulation

RISE IN CORE BODY TEMP

Blood is shunted around the body to create

a different heat distribution depending on
the external climate, internal heat generation and heat loss mechanisms.

Receptors in hypothalamus detect increase in core

temp/temp of blood
VASODILATION of arterioles
SHUNT VESSELS CONSTRICT increased blood flow to
skin surface; heat loss by RADIATION
Heat loss by EVAPORATION of sweat; sweating leads
to a lower skin temp
VOLUNTARY ACTION - remove clothing; seek cooler
area; or cold drink

Despite the extreme variance of environmental temperatures, the body restricts its
core to a very narrow thermal range, the
extremes of either of which is death.
The skin provides the interface by which
the body controls this internal thermal
environment. Embedded with sensors and
equipped with an array of mechanistic responses, the skin acts as a surface through
which to radiate or absorb heat.

DROP IN CORE BODY TEMP

Receptors in hypothalamus detect increase in core
temp/temp of blood.

February, South PoleFebruary,

Station South-40
Pole Station

January, New York City

January, New York
32City

Environmental
Temperatures
F

Environmental Cool bath

Temperatures
F

Cool bath

68

July, Yuma Arizona July, Yuma Arizona

86

Michele Han

Hot bath

Hot bath

104

July , Death Valley

Hot beverage
Hot desert sand
Very hot sauna

July , Death Valley

122
Hot beverage 140
Hot desert sand176
Very hot sauna 212

-40

VASOCONSTRICTION of capillaries in the skin narrow

SHUNT VESSELS DILATE Less blood flows to skin
surface = less heat is lost by RADIATION
Hair raising - greater insulation
Shivering - rapid contraction and relaxation of
muscles produces heat by RESPIRATION
Adrenaline INCREASES METABOLIC RATE of cells
VOLUNTARY ACTION - put on clothes; seek warmer
areas or warm drink

32

68

86 86
93
96
98
100
104 107
111
122
140
176
212

Decreased
86 shivering,Decreased
erratic movements,
shivering, incoherent
erratic movements, incoherent
Violent
93
shivering; speech
Violent
and
shivering;
thoughtspeech
impaired
and thought impaired
96Intense shivering and
Intense
Impaired
shivering
coordination
and Impaired coordination
98
Normal Range
Normal Range
100
Extreme physical exercise
Extreme
andphysical
fever exercise and fever
107
Heat stroke, brain damage
Heat stroke, brain damage
Upper111
limit for survival,
Upper
impaired
limit for
thermal
survival,
regulation
impaired thermal regulation

F
Human Core
Temperatures

F
Human Core
Temperatures

Thermal Ranges, adapted from The Skins Role in Human Thermoregulation and Comfort (Edward A. Arens_ H. Zhang).

Skin Architecture

The problem

The proposal

Unfortunately, the NYC subway is not as efficient in its

thermoregulation.

This project looks at an alternate means of ventilation, using the regulatory properties of human skin
as precedent to create a homeostatic environment
within the new subway extension.

In the summer, when an underground tunnel would

seem a refuge, temperatures commonly register 110
degrees on popular platforms the human body,
subjected to prolonged exposure to such heat risks
heatstroke and brain damage.

SUMMER

WINTER

Sometimes its so hot on the platform that I cant

breathe. I would think the MTA would want to do
something about the temperature on the platforms
so they dont have people passin out all over the
place. Victoria Jeter, Second Ave Sagas Blogger < http://
secondavenuesagas.com/2007/07/11/key-temperaturequestion-conspicuously-absent-from-summer-subway-reportscards/#comment-905>

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has tried

to calculate the sources of this seasonal discomfort.
It found that brakes produced 60 percent of the heat,
air-conditioning provided 20 percent and acceleration 13 percent -- a total of 93 percent of the heat
from the trains. Humans and electrical equipment
(they are lumped into one category by the M.T.A. for
the purposes of assessing heat, it seems) added
only 7 percent to the mix. The City Life; Summers Infernal
Subway, ELEANOR RANDOLPH. August 9, 1998. NEW YORK TIMES
<http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E4D6103
BF93AA3575BC0A96E958260>.

Air-conditioning - meant to temper the environment

- only adds to the discomfort, producing 20% of
platform heat gain.
The thermal mass of the ground acts as an insulator, preventing the dissipation of accumulated heat.
Ventilation draws air in from the street, and vents
it back; hot air produced within the subway tunnels
is vented out onto the streets and sidewalks. During the winter this might seem like a good thing, but
during the summers it makes the city heat even more
unbearable.

0 F
30

10 F
20 F

SUBWAY

30 F
40 F
50 F
60 F
70 F
80 F
90 F
100 F

1400

Michele Han

110 F

Skin Architecture

125 ST

116 ST
106 ST
96 ST
86 ST

The site:

72 ST
LEXINGTON-63 ST

NYC is currently building an extension to their subway

network. The extension will follow Second Avenue,
providing a new line of running N-S.

142

ST

AV
E

57 ST

IF

42 ST

34 ST

BRONX

110
ST
106
ST

23 ST

14 ST

96 S
T

increased pressure

HOUSTAN ST

86 S
T

GRAND ST

high pressure

atmospheric equilibrium

FIF

TH

AV
E

72 S
T

CHATHAM SQ
SEAPORT
HANOVER SQ
AV
E

decreased pressure
TE
NT
H

59 S
T

TE 9
A

AY
W
AD
RO
.B
W

direction of propogation

low pressure

AY
W

ROU

AV
E

TRAIN MOVEMENT

DELA
NCE

FULT
ON
S

AV
E

TH
IR
D

AV
E
AV
E

HT
H
D
OA
BR

TH

EIG

SE
V

EN
TH

AV
E

HUD
SON
ST

14 S
T

QUEENS

SIX

32 S
T

FIR
ST

PA
RK
S

ID

42 S
T
34 S
T

Y ST

compression
T

BROOKLYN
OFF-ISLAND TRANSFER STATIONS

tunnel entrance

ESTIMATED HEAT GAIN

Subway systems generate a tremendous amount of

energy in the form of pressure differentials caused by
the passing of subway trains.

2ND AVE TUNNEL EXTENSION

Michele Han

Skin Architecture

14TH ST SITE

The model

pressure chambers

DIRECTION

A performative model was designed to explore a

means of taping these pressure differentials.

deformable membrane

plunger
tubing

A 2 pvc pipe was used to simulate a subway tunnel,

with a 2 plastic plunger pump to simulate the passing train.

pvc pump

Check valves direct and control the inlet and outlet

of air. A check valve allows fluid (liquid or gas) to flow
through it in only one direction. When the pump is set
in motion, a high pressure compression wave pushes
air out of the outlet valves in front of the plunger,
while a low pressure wake behind the plunger draws
air in through inlet valves.

check valves

Michele Han

A series of clear chambers equipped with permeable

deformable membranes that animate the creation of
pressure differentials and the direction of air flow.
Skin Architecture

As the pump passes, depending on the direction of

the valve, air is pushed either in or out of the chambers. With each pass, the membrane separating the
chambers deflects towards the side of lower pressure. When the pump ceases, air is diffused through
the membranes. The result is a choreographed diffusion of air from high to low pressure, animated by the
slowly deforming shapes of the membranes.
10

Michele Han

Skin Architecture

11

The system
Applying this logic to the site, a network of check
valves embedded throughout the Second Avenue tunnel is used to channel air through a vascular system
that uses the thermal mass of the earth to create a
temperate subway environment.

2nd Ave

As the train passes, tunnel inlet valves draw surface

air in from the street level. The air is passed through
filters to sift out particulates, and long pipes that use
the constant temperature of the earth (approximately
50 degrees Fahrenheit) to temper the air.

NO2

heat

O2

O2
CO2

This cleaned and tempered air is drawn through the

stations into the tunnel, and expelled by outlet valves
onto the sidewalks.

CO

SO2

14th Street

Tunnel

O2

Station
heat

Underground
Environment

12

Michele Han

Skin Architecture

13

L
H
wind

pressure gradient

Station Skin Sensors

Air Pressure, bladder

Inlet Valves

HOT

ON

COLD

OFF

HOT

ON

air bladder
heat sensitive inlet valve
supply pipe

intake
out-take

Heat sensitive check valves

subway station
control
air inlet. If the
temperature drops too far, the
check valve closes. As more
and more
valves turn off, a
flexible bladder behind the
tunnel skin begins to inflate,
constricting
the
space
and
reducing the volume of space
to be heated. Valves re-open
when the temperature rises.
tunnel pressure

train direction

14

Michele Han

The thermal environment within each station is regulated by a double skin. The outer skin is embedded
with heat sensitive check valves that control air inlet.
Each valve contains an individual thermal sensor
with a set-point range that determines whether the
dispersion
to too
station
valve is on or off. It the local temperature
drops
far below the set-point, the check valve closes and
air cannot pass.
If more and more valves turn off, the inner skin of the
station (comprised of a series of flexible bladders)
begins to inflate. This inflation causes the outer skin
(made up of sliding scales that expand or contract) to
constrict. The result is a reduction of volume within
the stations to be heated. As passing riders and
trains re-heat that volume of space, valves re-open
and the station walls expand.

Skin Architecture

15

Because each valve is independent of the others,

localized environments of individualized shape,
temperature and pressure within the Second Avenue
Subway network will generate a dynamic equilibrium
within the system, balancing not only temperature,
but wind speed and flow as well.

L
H
wind

pressure gradient

intake
out-take

subway station

dispersion to station

tunnel pressure

train direction

16

Michele Han

!4th Street Station

Plan

N
Skin Architecture

17

!4th Street Station

Sections

A
18

Michele Han

B
Skin Architecture

19

References
Skin
illustrations from THE PEOPLES COMMON SENSE MEDICAL
ADVISER IN PLAIN ENGLISH, FIFTY-FOURTH EDITION. R.V. Pierce,
MD, 1895 <www.gutenberg.org/files/18467/18467-h/advise.
html>
Modelling and Simplification of a Human Thermoregulation Model
for thermal comfort regulation in a car interior Lakhdar Benasser,
Genevieve Dauphin-Tanguy, & Jean-Christophe kat. Proceedings of
the 1999 EEUASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics September 19-23, 1999 Atlanta, USA.
The Skins Role in Human Thermoregulation and Comfort (Edward A. Arens_ H. Zhang).
Skin Blood Flow in Adult Human Thermoregulation: How It Works,
When It Does Not, and Why Nisha Charkoudian, PHD. Mayo Clinic
Proceedings. 2003;78:603-612
Thermal sensation and Thermoregulation Professor Alan Hedge,
Cornell University, January 2007
Histologic Diagnosis of Inflammatory Skin Diseases, A. Bernard
Ackerman, Almut Ber, Bruce Bennin, and Geoffrey J. Gottlieb.
20022006 Ardor Scribendi, Ltd. <http://www.derm101.com/
public/freesamples/inflam001.html>
Subway
Design of a modern subway ventilation system. Tunnels & Tunneling International NOVEMBER 2004. (pg 48-50)
MTA Capital Construction - Second Avenue Subway Planning Study.
<http://www.mta.info/capconstr/sas/sas_documents.htm>
Fainting dieters a top cause of NYC subway delaysPosted
By Gina Pellrine, 9 January 2007. <http://www.thefinalsprint.
com/2007/01/fainting-dieters-a-top-cause-of-nyc-subway-delays/>
Arup Capability Statement, Consultancy Services for Ventilation, Aerodynamics, Fire Smoke Control and MEP Systems in
Tunnels.<www.arup.com/industrial>
Analysis of Flow and Transport in Subway Systems, W. E. Dunn,*
B. R. Green U.S. Army, DOE ANL 980072401
Manhattan East Side Transit Alternatives (MESA)/Second Avenue
Subway Summary Report, MTA New York City Transit, Vollmer
Associates, LLP SYSTRA Consulting, Inc. Allee King Rosen & Fleming, Inc. October 2001
The City Life; Summer's Infernal Subway, ELEANOR RANDOLPH.
August 9, 1998. NEW YORK TIMES <http://query.nytimes.com/
gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E4D6103BF93AA3575BC0A96
E958260>.

20

Michele Han

Skin Architecture

21