conductive handrail
Professional Work with Kiel Moe
Cambridge, MA
Fall 2016
This custom handrail, designed for Kiel Moe, explores the sensory and environmental potentials of material conductivity, transforming a simple architectural element into an experiment in thermal perception. Rather than treating the handrail as a neutral object, the design intentionally choreographs how heat moves between the user and the rail, creating a subtle but noticeable gradient of thermal sensations as the hand travels along its surface.
The rail is constructed as a composite assembly of walnut, copper, and balsa—three materials chosen specifically for their dramatically different thermal conductivities. Copper, the most conductive of the trio, rapidly draws heat from the user’s hand, producing an immediate cooling effect. Walnut, a dense hardwood, conducts heat at a moderate rate, offering a more tempered thermal exchange. Balsa, by contrast, is extremely insulative; it resists heat transfer and therefore feels comparatively warm, retaining the user’s body heat rather than dispersing it.
By laminating and shaping these materials into a continuous tactile surface, the handrail becomes a gradient of thermal behaviors. As the user moves along it, their hand encounters shifting zones of conductivity—cool, neutral, warm—each corresponding to the underlying material. This variation is not merely a sensory novelty; it foregrounds the often-overlooked thermodynamic relationships embedded in everyday architectural components. The rail becomes a teaching tool, a microclimate in miniature, and a reminder that buildings are energetic systems as much as they are spatial ones.