The Impact of Large Scale Integrated Displays on Architecture and Urbanism.

Magic Monkey’s living architecture project for Electrabel’s Power Station in Drogenbos, Belgium

I have mixed feelings on LED facade architecture and in particular the placing of large  LED Screens in publc spaces. I’m therefor glad to see that these technologies are getting crtically discussed by a great line up of designers, artists, and architects at a 2 day conference held at Central Saint Martins Innovation Center in London. There’s a  few people speaking, I’ve not had the chance to listen to but enjoyed their books which I’m particularily looking forward to hearing including Bart Lootsma, Kari Jormakka and Malcom McCullough. Full list of speakers can be found below. along with the blurb…

Mediaarchitecture 2007 Conference
11th and 12th September 2007
Central Saint Martins Innovation Center, London

National Library, Belarus

The Impact of Large Scale Integrated Displays on Architecture and Urbanism.

Developments in display technology and building materials are leading to new forms of hybrid architecture that break away from existing conceptions of surface, structure, lighting and moving imagery. Light Emitting Diode (LED) displays integrated with the fabric of built structures allow prominent imagery to be integrated with the façade, even in direct sunlight. Although energy requirements are practical only when displays are used in less bright conditions, there remain significant consequences for the townscape and urban environment; cinematic topias as pervasive as Minority Report and Blade Runner have become technically feasible.

The MediaArchitecture2007 conference creates a new discourse among the latest theoretical and practical approaches. By reviewing outstanding projects and presenting the views of key architectural theorists, media activists, planners, advertisers and artists, the conference will provide the first-depth consideration of the intersection of media and architecture - the premise that architecture and media issues will increasingly be considered together, at the conceptual stages of building planning. Image has become an architectural element; media increasingly pervade the built environment introducing an important ontological element.

blip LED Display

Altering the architectural relationship between image and structure has several significant implications – not only for visual encounter with the completed building, but in terms of planning and construction processes. The emergence of intelligent construction materials, which themselves incorporate display and data components, departs markedly from existing façade implementations in which lighting and display products have been applied in building projects where the underlying architecture is already advanced. The media façade becomes a data system to be specified and commissioned with the expectation of lifetime and maintenance commensurate with other structural elements. Content – the data and imagery that it will carry during that lifetime - is very different from both the rectangular clip material now common on LED billboards and from programmed lighting effects.

MediaArchitecture2007 will address these inversions in several respects:

– the impact on architectural theory of practical media façade systems
– departure of imagery from the confines of the clip towards dynamic creative based on building management and external information
– the practical challenges of large scale displays for urban planning; display viewing design in public spaces
– sustainable display and image data systems that can be specified directly by architects and installed by the construction industry and which are maintainable over the lifetime of a media façade

Aspire Tower, Qatar

SPEAKERS & CURATORS INCLUDE:

Bart Lootsma, Ludger Hovestadt, Realities United, Andrew Shoben, Kari Jormakka, Joachim Sauter, David Cunningham, Mark Dorrian, Michael Batz, Hermann Eisenköck, Patricia Austin, Tim Pritlove, Rogier van der Heide, Malcom McCullough, Mark Dorrian, Els Vermang. Peter Cornwell, Kathrin Kur, Andreas Rumpfhuber, Oliver Schürer, Mirjam Struppek, Jim Thrower, Gernot Tscherteu

registration:  http://www.mediaarchitecture.org
contact: Conference Manager Gernot Tscherteu gt@realitylab.at

Add comment September 3rd, 2007

We Love Technology

I’m doing a talk this coming Thursday 12 July at We Love Technology 07 in Huddersfield (UK) alongside  technologists and artists working in areas such as interactive architecture, sound and games, all presenting new creative uses and misuses of technology. Here is a full list and schedule.

Guest speakers include ‘The Secret Life of Machines’ guru Tim Hunkin, Sky Ear designer Usman Haque, urban screens expert *Mirjam Struppek*, Digital WellBeing Labs’ Alex Grunsteidl, who will be reviewing technology for the ideal home, and Bitfall designer Julius Popp who creates displays from droplets of water.

4 comments July 10th, 2007

Bartlett Summer Show 2007

Anamorphic Tectonics - Theatre for Magicians -  Sara Shafiei Unit 20

Roll up, Roll up, for the Bartlett Summer Show with over 450 students showing innovative drawings, models, devices, texts, animations and even a couple of interactive installations (such as my own ‘Performative Ecologies’ piece below).

Performative Ecologies - Ruairi Glynn Unit 14

I highly recommend coming to the Exhibition opening night and party held in the Main Quadrangle and Slade Galleries of UCL, Gower St, London WC1

Official show opening by Lord Rogers of Riverside
Fri 22 June, time TBC

Exhibition open to the public
June 23, 10.00 – 20.30
June 24, 10.00 – 17.30
June 25, 26 & 27, 10.00 – 18.00
June 28 & 29, 10.00 - 20.30
June 30, 10.00 –17.00 (show closes)

Guided exhibition tour by the Bartlett Professors of Architecture
Tues 26 June, please arrive at 6.30pm for 6.45pm start, tour duration
approximately 1 hour.

5 comments June 19th, 2007

Guerrilla Lighting - Switched ON London

Graffiti Writing to Guerrilla Lighting, yes it seems everyones a rebel these days, even the director of BDP lighting, Martin Luptn who has assembled a crack team of local lighting designers, architects, interior designers and manufacturers, all of whom are keen to draw attention to the possibilities, and importance of, lighting in the urban environment.

Under the guidance of a team leader, each member will take part in creating transient lighting designs by using high powered torches, battery powered LED projectors, luminous dot lights and an array of gels and filters. Instructed to be in a specific position and at a given distance from their target, the teams will simultaneously light up various aspects of the Pool of London’s architecture on cue at the sound of an air horn, creating a dramatic spectacle. The installation will photographed, the lighting turned off and then the team move on to the next site. It has been organised as part of Switched ON London which is a seven night celebration of the relationship between light, architecture and the city consisting of temporary lighting installations and a series of light related events with an overall concept theme of ‘theatre’. London’s first festival of light is currently running from the 8th to the 16th February. More details on the other installations to come…

3 comments February 10th, 2007

Lazer Tagging - Graffiti Research Lab

If your in Rotterdam at the moment, get down to the Graffiti Research Lab’s most recent offering. I got to see a sneak peak while I was at Eyebeam in New York a few weeks ago and I’m really pleased to see it working so well at its current venue, the ‘KPN building’ which incidentally was designed by Renzo Piano. Saturday 10th (tomorrow) is its last showing so if you can make it, be there for around 2200 hours.

KPN Telecom Building
Wilhelminakade 123
Rotterdam 

7 comments February 9th, 2007

Interactive Architecture - Eyebeam - Report

My thanks to everyone who came along to Eyebeam yesterday. It was amazing to see so many people turn up from both the architecture and interactive media world. I hope in some way that the event contributed a little bit to getting these often seperate worlds a little closer together. More details on the presentations will follow in the next posts.

My special thanks to Eyebeam for hosting us,  Phil Ayres, Carmen Trudell and Jennifer Broutin,  Marek Walczak, David Benjamin and Soo-in Yang for their  talks and Professor Stephen Gage for chairing the night.

5 comments January 28th, 2007