Archive for July, 2006
I encountered the work of Achim Wollscheid through the excellent We-Make-Money-Not-Art when Regine recently posted his recent Inlet/Outlet installation exhibited at Sonambiente in Berlin.
It is a simple project where the movement of inhabitants in a room on the 1st Floor of the Polish Embassy causes the opening and closing of the Windows. Below is a synopsis of Achim’s recent interactive work.
Wallfield
Wallfield is a house completely covered by a grid of uniform windows, which Achim says “redefines what usually creates an in- and out-side: the wall.” As a consequence he decided to open the wall to sound, as well. 3 units consisting both of mikes and speakers are installed at 3 walls of the house. Outside sounds can be recorded and replayed in the inside and vice versa. Loudness and (a computer directed) degree of sound-transformation can be adjusted - ranging from "original" to "abstract".
redlighthaze & intersite
2 façade installations that use arrays of LEDs, which change lightness or pattern according to real-time sound analyses of local sound conditions.
flexible response
The sounds in the inside (lobby) trigger the light movement on the windows. Thus, during office hours, the glass facade translates and projects fragments of the social choreography. At night the interactive part is replaced by a self generating light composition. Yes It does look a little bit like Blinkenlights BUT this was done first!
interflow
interflow monitors the movements of the bypassers and conceives, correlatively, a changing reflection of both movement and context. Interflow consists of 2 elevated steel frame-systems, containing 16 double faced high-grade steel-mirrors. Universal joint bearing facilitates a 360 degree turning of each mirror which is generated by 2 motors contained in the steel frame-system. The center of each steel-frame contains a digital camera.
The steel frame-systems are directed toward 2 pathways leading to the hospital. The cameras monitor the bypassers' movements and send the respective data to a computer, which according to that movement, defines angle and torque for each of the mirrors' new positions.
See more work at Achim's website
July 21st, 2006
Miles Kemp explored the question ‘Why can't architecture grow with us?’ for his Masters Thesis at Southern California Institute of Architecture. Inspired by the actuation of miniature robotic modules like the “Self-replicating, Self-sustaining and Adaptive Machines ” from Cornell’s Computational Synthesis Lab (US), he has developed a series of prototype robots and at the same time explored the practical application of such a technology as a new form of dynamic architectural material.
Miles suggests that “Digital technology, and the mechanics that allow spaces to be kinetic, should be embedded in the physical architecture we live in. The form of Architecture should not be predetermined, instead Architecture should play a more active role in suggesting new ways for its inhabitants to use space based on real time information exchanges.
Recently, technological advancements have been made in robotic fields that look at new ways of designing systems to be more interactive. We should employ this way of thinking when we design the relationships of the parts that make up interactive space. Spaces should be constructed of parts that have the ability to communicate with one another and constantly reshape our experience.”
The final images explore the potential future of consumers buying units of modular robotic materials to add to their own homes. The building itself would absorb the new modules into the existing pool of robots to continue to build transforming spaces to inhabit.
Website
July 20th, 2006
The Anxious Lounge': An investigation into the way that active furniture might share space with people. Each piece of furniture has it's own goal set. Toby's work is an extension of his paper '…Emergent Voyeurisms in the Performative space of Architecture and Cinematography' presented at GameSetMatch II in Delft earlier this year in which he explores interactive environments by comparing these with typical hyper real structures in Bertold Brecht's plays.
See Video
Toby Carr as part of his investigation generated a series of notational drawings describing the spatial and behavioral relationships between the entire set of table and chairs and additionally their relationship to human inhabitants.
July 18th, 2006
Lightmodulator is a series of projects by Architect Nick Rich which work with light and the phenomena of moments in time where light and the materials it lands on or passes through create magical transformations of space. His initial research has been to understand the sun's movement and the changing quality of light it gives. Analysis of the sun's movement can be found on his website portfolio 'sun studies' and 'daylight - information from the sky'.
Nick explains "I moved on to experimenting with light modulation through different media. The process of making the media; be it a grid, lense or refractor and observing the effects, puts you in direct contact with light in a similar why to making shadow puppets or playing with your shadow. It is this interaction between us and light which I find interesting and which I'm trying to build into my work."
The Sun-Space Modulator
In the 'sun-space modulator ' sunlight is be filtered through a series of layers onto a mist. The installation is designed as a panel, like a skylight, installed above the heads of the viewer. Three layers modulate the light in different ways.
The first layer is an array of mirror elements, 529 of them each orientated to catch the sunlight at a given moment. Below the mirror array is a kind of grid which acts as a selective venetian blind only letting a small amount of light through at a given time. Each hole through the grid is orientated slightly differently to allow light to pass through at a specific range of times in the sun's calender. The third layer is an array of prisms each one aligned to the opening in the grid above. These work to disperse the light into the spectrum. The modulated light will then be displayed on a fine cloud of mist and should appear as a series of rainbows each on with a different orientation. Nick recent work has started to explore the scaling up of these principles to create large communal public spaces that are mediated by the seasonal changes of the sun and moon.
July 17th, 2006
Fred Guttfield ´s work explores the contested territory between technology and nature. He designs 'Natural Amplifiers' which highlight the necessity and beauty found in nature and natural behaviours. 'The Bird Table' is his latest project. Fred explains: “The current garden bird feeder is a typical example of design in spite of nature. The bird feeder exhibits few natural characteristics but as a result of regular interaction with local birds begins to condition the birds to Pavlovian levels.' Using a combination of observation and parametric design methods the 'Bird Table' went through a number of iterations to behave not just in response to the birds that interacted with it but also to human and wider environmental factors. In this way the table has developed its own behaviours, moods and rhythms in tandem with the ecology in which it is sited.”
Video
The table is based on a rocking arm with an accelerometer which logs the oscillations of the system. This enables the system to detect various patterns and levels of bird behaviour. Responses can be made back through the amplification arm and its inbuilt fan mechanism. The video shows various bird and table behaviours and the development of dialogue between nature and technology.
As an extension of the bird table, Fred´s project is nocturnally active. All movements of the system during daylight hours, including responses triggered by users and weather, are memorised. Darkness brings about the reenacting of these events for the human observer. This 'Echo State' is intended to extend the human experience of the bird table, leading to a wider understanding of the system.
July 15th, 2006
Architect & Editor of 'The Space Between'magazine, Christian Kerrigan investigates in his recent work, how man’s ability to control his surroundings is intimately linked with his advancing capabilities of using technology. Christian says "We have reached a point in our evolution where we are now capable of creating design criteria to manipulate natural growth and development." Here are a number of stunning award winning drawings he has produced to bring his futuristic visions to life.
This project explores the possibilities of a symbiotic relationship between two different systems of organization, technology and nature. The technology is designed to theoretically alter newly planted trees in the last remaining Yew forest- Kingley Vale.
By controlling the manipulation of refined armatures, calibrating devices and designed corsets; the system is capable of controlling the growth of a ship inside the forest. The ship will grow over a period of two hundred years and will exist as a hidden architecture inside the trees.
The ship growing in the forest is the ship from the ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, a tale of man’s relationship to mortality. For the evolution to last without human intervention, the artificial system harvests resin from the trees to measure time passing. The hourglass is designed to a volume of two hundred years, as the resin passes from the tree the clock slowly fills.
Ultimately the hourglass volume is filled, jamming the clock signally the completion of the system. The project demonstrates by creating this architecture within the trees the artificial system itself extends new possibilities into the relationship between technology and nature.
Images
1. Copse View: as the trees slowly evolve the 'Amber clock' strapped to the tree registers the passing of time with a two hundred year hourglass.
2. Macresco: The corset strapped around the tree creates the formwork for the extruded hull section
3. Tree evolution: As the forest matures the 'Amber clock' is consumed with the body of the trees. It acts as an artifact for the artificial system of manipulation.
4. Hull section: As the trees grow the manipulation of the hull section evolves as a trained section inside the tree.
5. Amber Clock: The hourglass is deigned to a volume of two hundred year time span, as the resin passes from the tree the clock slowly fills. Ultimately the hourglass volume is filled and the clock stops signally the completion of the system.
6. Ships Figurehead: This the carved ornamental and painted figure erected on the bow of ships. In this system it evolves from the splitting of the tree as an iconographic piece of a symbiotic relationship between nature and technology.
July 12th, 2006
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