XO is a research project that is positioned as a way to investigate softness in architecture, not only in a programmatic sense, but also working through the problems of softness materially. We therefore have proposed a self regulated system that exploits the gradients of pliability and softness. We use these qualities as a means to explore the goals of mobility, formation, structuring and organization within a system.

At the lowest level of organization within our system there are two distinct taxonomies: the gripper (X) and the sphere (O). These separate taxonomies use division of labor specified by their characteristics in a collaborative model to achieve complex goals. The sphere is a passive unit whose motivation is to regulate the system while the gripper’s primary goal is to organize and interface the system. The simple goals of these taxonomies cause seemingly anonymous behaviors when deployed in a small population, but once deployed in the thousands discernible emergent formational qualities begin to manifest themselves within the ecology. Over time the system slowly, yet continuously reconfigures.