Posts filed under 'Reciprocal'
A project that caught my eye a while ago is ‘Living Light’ by The Living, architects in New York. It is a permanent public pavilion in Seoul that visualises air quality data from the city. Although according to their website it hasn’t been completed yet, images are starting to appear.
The lines represent neighborhoods so, broadly speaking, you can spot which areas of the city currently have pollution issues. You are also able to communicate with the structure via text message to receive more in depth information about the air quality. More lights illuminate when it communicates in this way, as a visual gauge of public interest.
As Ruairi noted early last year, The Living always have a few research projects on the go, what they call ‘flash research’. With a budget of less than $1k, a project duration of less than three months, and the idea of finishing up with a full scale prototype, its a simple recipe for producing interesting projects.
As a newbie to the world of architecture I find it amazing that a short timeframe and a small budget can allow such developments in that realm. We often find it hard enough in digital media to accomplish these things to any major degree of success without needing to consider architecture’s expensive and challenging areas like construction materials.
The following images are of River Glow, another R&D project of theirs. They will be exhibiting a similar project in New York starting September 2009.
“Two networks of floating interactive tubes will house a range of sensors below water that will monitor the presence of fish, water quality, and hydrodynamic forces. This data will then be displayed above water using an array of LED lights, along with wireless sensor communication and a text-messaging interface so that citizens can communicate with it from the shoreline.” See Situated Technologies: Toward the Sentient City.
Article on The Living. Images from The Living.
July 13th, 2009
I’ve finally got round to recovering interactive architecture dot org and I’m pleased to be able to get back to blogging by introducing my most recent research into Constructing Interactive Reconfigurable Space. Collaborating with Paul Burres a fellow student of mine at the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) we created the ‘Angels‘ Project as a way of investigating more closely some ideas that grew out of a building proposal we put together earlier this year.
Video
The ‘Angels‘ project questions the nature of fixed architecture and looks at the possibilities of an architecture lighter than air capable of sheltering us and even bringing communities together. Acting as either individual agents or flocking together to create large architectural constructs, they inhabit the world around us both within buildings and outdoors creating dynamically responsive architectures in real-time.
Summary PDF
Detailed Description of Research PDF
Our current iteration has a simple set of behaviors reacting to human gesture, proximity and conversation, future iterations will investigate learning algorithms so that the Angels can adapt to their environment. In its current form the “Angels” act as individuals but the potential for these to structurally network is a continuing part of our investigation.
Our investigation additionally explored suitable forms of notation to express interaction in space. Initial drawings described the motion paths of the Angels and Inhabitants and were later followed by notation that correlated statistical data. Using the Angels onboard Vision System transmitted wirelessly to a local computer we processed real-time data of conversation space using a piece of software we developed in MaxMSP Jitter that generated formal representations to support our recording and notation of the interactions that occurred. These projections also provided an added form of feedback when projected into the conversation space.
See Website
July 5th, 2006
As you may have seen there’s a tutorials page attached to the blog which I’ve had online as long as the blog has been running. I’ve been meaning to build up a tutorials section of links to other websites and books about physical computing, hacking appropriated technology etc but just haven’t got around to doing so. Its mainly aimed at students interested in interactive installations and devices of any kind for the time being. I get quite a few emails from architecture, design and art students asking about learning how to use basic electronics and programming etc so I’ve added a few essential links in the last couple of days but would really like to make it a more comprehensive resource. Have you got any suggestions? I will of course credit those who pass on their suggestions so please leave your name and website if you’ve got one.
Thanks so much and hopefully I may see some of you at transmediale in Berlin which is where I’m off on a holiday for a week starting tomorrow. Hurrah!
image from the excellent ‘low-tech sensors and actuators project’ by Usman Haque and Adam Somlai-Fischer
February 2nd, 2006
Okay apologies for irrelevant last post here’s one about interactive architecture strangely enough. NOX run by Lars Spuybroek do some fantastic work and have made a number of interactive buildings and installations over the past few years including Son-O-House and D-Tower which I still haven’t got round to blogging. Here’s one of their new projects which should be completed by the end of 2006.
Whispering Garden is a public art work next to Hotel New York in Rotterdam, that we based on the myths of Lorelei and the Sirens, luring the ships onto the rocks. All the possible wind properties (direction, force, duration) are used to have computer-generated female voices continuously singing vowels splitting into other vowels, making overtones proliferate, creating a polyphonic forest of sound.
The steel structure brings the whirls from Mucha’s hair-arabesques into a systemacy of crossings and mergings supporting green glass panels. The faceted glass shatters the light into many directions, and with every step we take there will be a new flicker, a new variation of emerald shading. Whispering Garden is a synaesthetic node, short-circuiting all elements and forces that are present: connecting the wind to light, light to structure, structure to sound, sound to architecture, architecture to bodies, looping all the loops, making everything sensing everything, making everything sensuous.
NOX Website
via designws
January 18th, 2006
A spin off from the Remote Home project another project by Interactive Architect Tobi Schneidler called Lonely Bench. Part of their LonelyHome project.
A ’self conscious’ piece of furniture reluctant to its use. The sensors for this version was completely remade into a highly responsive and sensitive system triggering each cushion on the bench individually
“The LonelyHome bench is a hybrid creation, part domestic furniture and part robotic pet: a socially intelligent design object. It can be used as an ordinary piece of living room furniture, but it will also come alive unexpectedly.”
Video
The Lonely Bench is a complete stand-alone system ready to plug into the power outlet of any home. It was shown at the Touch Me exchibition at Victoria and Albert museum, London. Heres the website of maoworks who are a design strategy and production company working with commercial, research and cultural clients.
from loove.org
January 10th, 2006
Exhibited at The Kelvingrove Gallery, Glasgow. KRD were commissioned for the Design Machine Exhibition. The aim was to make visitor experience the manipulation and exploration of space, without an enforce defined technique or direction.
Video
Clad internally with brushed stainless steel. The ceiling responds to individuals movements within the room, moving 2100mm up and down and tilting side to side completely transforming the space within and tilting side to side. Light integrated into the ceiling amplifies and dramatises the spacial changes created by the visitor.
November 16th, 2005
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