Performance for a matrix of 64 gas balloons, lights, and sound

A room is filled with deep, evolving noises from a four-channel sound system. An eight-by-eight array of white, self-illuminated spheres floats in space like the atoms of a complex molecule.
Through variable positioning and illumination of each atom, a dynamic display sculpture comes into being, composed of physical objects, patterns of light, and synchronous rhythmic and textural sonic events. Change, sound, and movement converge into a larger form.

The height of the helium balloons is adjusted with a computer-controlled cable, whilst the internal illumination is accomplished using dimmable super-bright LEDs, creating a pixel in a warped 8×8 spatial matrix. The sonic events, the patterns of light, and the movement of the balloons are manipulated in real time as a 45-60 minute-long performance.

balloon motion control: Christopher Bauder
Music, sound design & LED patterns: Robert Henke
Balloons software and hardware engineered by C.Bauder, Till Beckmann and Holger Pecht (whitevoid.com)

Concert Hall Aarhus is the setting for an interactive piece that invites the citizens of the city to be part of a shared experience. In contrast to billboards, Aarhus by Light is not driven by commercial interests. Rather it is an alternative staging of the encounter between the citizens of Aarhus and a cultural landmark. It is a blend of architecture, ornament, and interactive entertainment. People experience the facade in a multitude of situations. They may be headed for the Concert Hall or passing by on their way to shopping. Some may cast a quick glance and hurry on, while others will be lured to explore the interactive potentials of the facade.

It has been a challenge to come up with a design that functions with all of these situations in mind. However, we carry out the Aarhus by Light experiment precisely to gain insights into the workings of media facades.

The interactive facade consists of 180 m2 LED displays. The displays are not in the shape of a giant rectangular TV, rather they form an organic shape that becomes part of the architecture.
The facade is interactive. On the path towards the concert hall, a number of sensors capture the movements of passers-by and transform them to silhouettes on the facade. In this way, you can contact and play with the luminous creatures.

via: aarhusbylight.dk, cavi.dk

In TARMLED 4×4 kommen die weltweit hellsten RGB-Highpower LEDs
(3 in 1 SMD, 3 W) zum Einsatz. Dieses Produkt ist sowohl für den Indoor- als auch für den Outdoor-Einsatz konzipiert und liefert selbst bei direkter Sonneneinstrahlung eine Bildqualität von unübertroffener Brillanz. Die hoch transparente (82%), leichte und modulare Aluminium-Gitterstruktur bietet volle Videofähigkeit und ist flexibel konfigurierbar, z.B. zu einem Zylinder oder in Wellenform. Die einzelnen Module werden nach dem Daisy-Chain-Prinzip miteinander verbunden, wobei über lediglich ein Kabel sowohl der erforderliche Strom als auch die Bildinformationen an bis zu 40 Tiles transportiert wird.

Typische Anwendungen aufgrund der äußerst geringen Windlast und einem Betrachtungswinkel von 140° x 140° sind z.B. großformatige LED Rückwände für Konzertbühnen, großflächige Messedisplays und der Einsatz in der modernen Architekturbeleuchtung

via: Tarmled

Urban Alliance´s mission is to integrate modern communication technologies in the built environment in order to create interactive public spaces and objects. Urban Alliance combines expertise in design, content production, engineering and construction. This way UA is a one-stop-shop for tun-key mediatecture solutions. Urban Alliance works for developers, governments, advisers and architects on projects indoors and outdoors for purposes as city marketing, social safety and arts.

via: www.urbanalliance.nl
www.vvkh-architecten.nl

Situated in a breathtaking 7-story high glass atrium, The Comcast Experience is a joint gift to the citizens of Philadelphia from Comcast Corporation and Liberty Property Trust; one that combines sculpture, architecture and technology into an inviting and unique public environment. By transforming a public transportation hub into an artistic focal point for the city, The Comcast Experience encompasses a number of important “firsts.” From a technology standpoint, the world’s largest four millimeter LED wall is 83.3’ wide by 25.4’ high (25.38m x 7.74m), and is comprised of 6,771 Barco NX-4 LED modules. With 10 million pixels mounted in a seamless flat array, the wall provides an extremely high degree of photo-realism — five times the resolution of high-definition television.

“There’s never been a screen not only of this resolution, but also of this realism,” said Steve Scorse, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Barco’s Media & Entertainment division, North America. “Not only does the screen integrate seamlessly into the Comcast Center as a forum for content, but at times, the content mimics the atrium’s natural wood paneling and virtually disappears,” said Scorse. “The resolution, contrast and seamlessness are such that you can do things with this screen that cannot be done with any other technology.”

via: www.barco.com video: Comcast Video

 

• MegaPhone is Phonecall-Controlled, Real-Time, Multi-Player Collaborative Gaming Platform for Big Screens in Public Spaces, but we already said that. What we mean is, it’s a game you control with a phone call.
• MegaPhone is NOT a downloadable application that runs on your phone, and it’s NOT a wireless network, like Wifi or Bluetooth.
• There are two ways to send input to the display: keypad and voice. The keypad can be used much like a video game controller, and the volume and pitch of the phone’s microphone can also become input in the game.
• MegaPhone updates the game state on a shared screen, and can send custom audio and text messages back to each user. MegaPhone uses this mobile channel back to the caller to close the loop on out of home media advertising.

1) A viewer sees the phone number on screen
2) They call the number with any phone, and interact using their microphone and keypad
3) Their mobile carrier forwards us the call
4) The MegaPhone server answers the call and processes the voice and keypress data
5) The MegaPhone server sends the data over the internet
6) The MegaPhone Flash game displays the updated state on the screen
7) The MegaP

hone mobile content server can send the caller SMS, MMS, or digital files

via: playmegaphone.com

This project has been shown at the Media Facades Exhbition Berlin 2008 and was published in the Exhibition Companion
(download the Catalogue Pdf – 7 Mb).

This interview was given to Scott Johnson and Ashlen Williams, graduate students from the University of Kansas currently developing a research project on “Communicative Architecture: An Analysis of How Digital Infrastructure Shapes Human Interaction in the Built Environment.”

1. How does the interactive, animated nature of the newest forms of
media facades redefine public space?

Well, I think we all must admit that we simply don’t know. Always when a new technology emerges there are some prophets that predict salvation and the dawn of a new era of communication and there are others that warn against negative effects like light pollution or excessive advertising. In a sense both sides are true but one has to develop more differentiated points of view. In other words: an emotional but also rational discourse is needed in order to tame the chances and risks of this new field. The discussion has to be as public as possible and is to involve different stakeholders. – That’s a main reason for organising the Media Facades Festival in Berlin (http://www.mediaarchitecture.org/mediafacades2008/)

(more…)

The winning competition entry for the “Espacio de Creación Artística Contemporánea” by Nieto Sobejano architects from Spain proposed the integration of a light- and media façade on the building surface facing the RíoGuadalquivir.

realities:united was commissioned to develop the conception and the design for this media skin. The façade made from pre cast fiber concrete panels (GRC) has been transformed into a 3-dimensional relief with indented “bowls”, which are an abstract derivate of the interior structure of the building. The indirectly lit “bowls” are arranged in patterns of varying density and respectively element size. They result into a screen with a varying image resolution similar to the retina of the human eye. The grayscale system based on fluorescent light will allow the display of moving images at a rate of 20 frames per second.

via: realities united

This project has been shown at the Media Facades Exhbition Berlin 2008 and was published in the Exhibition Companion
(download the Catalogue Pdf – 7 Mb).

DAISY.WORLD by Thomas Nicolai is the simulation of an artificial self-monitoring ecosystem placed on an urban structure. Comparable to the rules in nature the computer simulation calculates the dynamic growth behavior of two artificial flower populations. Both species and the outer conditions are interlinked in feedback loops to a complex network of interaction – a permanent DRIFT, a spreading and retreat, an incessant self-balancing to adapt to every outer change – finally the idea of assertiveness and will power without supreme intervention. LIFE.

DAISY.WORLD will be a colorful performance, a fancy dynamic movement of large flower landscapes growing over the surface of a city building.In symbolic way nature conquers the habitat of men, and man becomes again a part of it. DAISY.WORLD evokes a sensibility for the fragile balance and the coherence of all aspects of our living world. The concept is related to a classic scientific experiment, a computer simulation by James Lovelock the father of the GAIA-theory.

We proudly announce that a prototype of Daisyworld will be shown in October at our Media Facades Exhibition in Berlin.

via: daisyworldproject.de

This project has been shown at the Media Facades Exhbition Berlin 2008 and was published in the Exhibition Companion
(download the Catalogue Pdf – 7 Mb).