http://largedisplaysinurbanlife.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/

The goal of this one-day CHI 2011 workshop is to cross-fertilize insights from different disciplines, to establish a more general understanding of large interactive displays in public urban contexts, and to develop an agenda for future research directions in this area. Rather than focusing on paper presentations, this workshop aims to trigger active and dynamic group discussions around the following topics:

Beyond Playful Interaction

A number of studies found that large display installations invite for playful interaction but often fail to convey meaningful experiences related to content. This raises the following questions:

* How can we design installations that endure people’s attention past the initial novelty effect and direct the interest toward the content?
* What design strategies can be applied to promote an active individual and social exploration and discussion of the presented information?

Character of Interaction

A number of interaction techniques have been explored for large displays in public spaces ranging from interaction via cell phones, to direct-touch or full body interaction. We would like to discuss:

* How do different interaction methods shape people’s experience of large display installations in urban spaces?
* How do interaction methods differ from each other in terms of triggering interaction and engagement with the presented content?

Evaluation

Different quantitative and qualitative methods have been applied to evaluate people’s experience and use of large display installations in public spaces. During the workshop we would like to discuss:

* How can we evaluate the “success” of large display installations in urban spaces?
* How can particular aspects of public large display installations such as engagement be evaluated?
* What kind of evaluation methods are most effective in different progress stages (design phase/installment phase)?

We see this workshop as an opportunity to start thinking about a general framework that can inform the design and evaluation of large interactive displays in different urban contexts. With a diverse research community present at the workshop we hope to come up with an agenda for future research directions in this area.
=======Submission details==========

Submit a position paper (maximum 4 pages) to largedisplaysinurbanlife@gmail.com by January 14, 2011 using the CHI extended abstract format. The paper should describe experiences, works in progress, or theories around designing and/or evaluating large interactive displays in public urban settings. We plan to explore approaches and insights from different disciplines to this topic so submissions from art, architecture, design, HCI, media theory, and social science are highly encouraged. We welcome all methodological approaches and techniques centered around the topic of large interactive displays in urban life.

At least one author of each accepted position paper needs to register for the workshop and for one or more days of the CHI conference itself.
======= Organizing Committee ===========
* Uta Hinrichs, University of Calgary
* Nina Valkanova, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
* Kai Kuikkaniemi, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology
* Giulio Jacucci, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology
* Sheelagh Carpendale, University of Calgary
* Ernesto Arroyo, Universitat Pompeu Fabram, Barcelona

=======Schedule===========
Submission Deadline: January 14, 2011
Notification of acceptance: February 11, 2011
Workshop: May 7 or 8, 2011 (final date to be announced)

=======Links=============

http://largedisplaysinurbanlife.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/

The timeline depicts different international lighting approaches from backlit clerestory windows for spiritual enlightenment to changing pixelated planes based on LED technology. Embedded videos for some projects enable a vivid understanding of dynamic installations. More text information is available on YouTube.

via: Thomas Schielke – arclighting.de

Medienfassaden und medial gestaltete Räume.

Christoph Kronhagel, Architekt und selber seit fast 20 Jahren mediatektonisch arbeitend, präsentiert hier einen Bogen der verschiedenen Methoden medialer Inszenierungen. Dazu haben die bekanntesten Protagonisten aus dieser neuen Szene ihre Erfahrungen und Visionen anhand ihrer Projekte beschrieben.

Es entstand eine Skizze, welche grundlegenden Transformationen die Architektur in einer Zeit macht, in der der öffentliche Raum durch den Einfluss der Medien völlig neu verhandelt wird. Die daraus entstehenden Fragen und Herausforderungen werden durch Interviews und Beiträge von ganz unterschiedlicher Theoretiker und Gestaltern angesprochen.

Den Rahmen für die bewusst gewählte Gegenüberstellung von Theorie und Praxis setzt Christoph Kronhagel durch eine Reihe eigener Beiträge, persönlicher Reflektionen und Projekte.

Das Buch erschien im Springer Verlag, hat 450 Seiten mit vielen großformatigen Projektpräsentationen, die durch die Verlinkung (QR-Codes) der Artikel mit Videoclips auf Youtube ergänzt werden.

Deutsche Ausgabe lieferbar bei Amazon

via:Christoph Kronhagel – kronhagel-mediatecture.de and Facebook

The timeline depicts international media facades with their different artistic, social or brand messages up to interfaces like iPhone Apps or brain sensors for public participation. The movie is a shortened version of the lecture, „The semiotics of media facades – When buildings start to twitter” that was presented at the Parsons The New School for Design in New York.

via:Thomas Schielke – arclighting.de

via/by: Thomas Schielke – arclighting.de

The International Lighting Design Index collects the innovators and leading heads together with their current projects to present the contemporary technology-driven trends.
via: luminapolis.com
Click for Registration Form

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/)

2. How have digital media facades on new urban infrastructure changed
the ideas of branding architectural styles?

It is certainly true, that media facades will be used in order to brand Corporate Identities (CI) of large companies. Some Companies like Coke already use “the pixel” as part of their CI. But more and more companies will discover media facades as a means to communicate with their clients and to a certain extent they will take over functions like public information and orientation that have been so far the domain of public entities. E.g. informing about time and temperature has traditionally been a service by cities and/or churches; Nowadays it’s more and more the private sector that provides this information. But that’s only the start as media facades have the potential of displaying lot of other services like traffic, pollution, news. That’s simply a means of getting more public attention. And finally there’s the potential of involving passers-by
in games or other feedback-cycles what ties clients to a company (or a site).

3. Does media architecture created a new form of architecture or simply
apply a façade to previously derived styles?

It is certainly possible to see it either way. I personally believe that integrating a display in a building changes its entire character. In “good” media architecture there should be a relation between a building it’s media facade and the media content. In “bad” media architectures the facade forms a separate layer from the building behind. “Good” media architectures like e.g. the projects of “realities united” or the “Galleria” project in Seoul or “Chanel” project in Tokyo tend to have customized display solutions that match quite perfectly the specific needs of the site. In “good” media architectures the display and the building should merge and it it’s up to the creativity of designers and architects HOW this merge is done. That’s a new topic within architecture
and a big challenge for young architects and designers.

4. Have media facades become our modern urban monuments?

There are different sorts of monuments, but some media facades are certainly among them.

5. Media architecture is considered unnecessary ornamentation by some,
does the interactive element involved justify the costly nature of
installing large-scale media systems?

As pointed out above “good” media architecture doesn’t mean ornamentation, because the display should be an integral part of the building. The justification of costs is subject to individual judgement. A marketing manager has to look on it in terms of “facade impressions” and might consider it a unique means of communication on the other hand a critic will see it as an enormous waste of energy. I like to take up different positions before I come to a conclusion. In some cases it is certainly justified to speak of a waste of money and energy.

6. What are the future risks of installing media facades if they become
subjects of neglect and poor maintenance? Do any examples of this neglect
currently exist?

Media facades generally require a high level of maintenance.
LED sources loose brightness and have to be replaced after some time. They “burn” faster when they are lit at 100%. So the management of the display is crucial and helps to save costs. The human eye is very accurate at detecting mistakes in large images. A single broken pixel may cause irritations. Another risk is deriving form the fact that many media facades have a web interface for maintenance and content upload. Like website also media facades may be attacked by hackers that are interested in taking over the display for communicating their agenda.

7. Movies like Blade Runner and Brazil, now 25 years old, produced
quite accurate representation of the future of large-scale, animated media.
If one cares to speculate, what films currently exist that could present a
feasible view of public media displays? Are we moving towards 3-D
projections like those seen in Minority Report and A.I.?

I think you are right that movies and science-fiction in general are always avantgardistic, in the sense that they inspire designers and architects. The media facades in Blade Runner were certainly very influental. I also think that we will see more flying displays for certain events like Olympiads or World Championships. On the other side not all visions make sense for a large public. I very much like multi touch sensitive interfaces like shown in Minority Report – and it was very successfully applied to Apple’s iphone – but I don’t think that they make sense on large facades. They might be useful in shop windows but once they distance between the display and the user interacting with it becomes to large, other people cannot understand who is actually controlling the interface.

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This is my presentation at the Media Architecture Conference in London in Sept. 2007. with voice and better image quality.
If you want to see the presentation full screen go here and press icon “full”.
The text version is available here.

Keywords:
MediaArchitecture definition (first try), challenges, tag cloud, media facade typologies, facade structure, display structure, building automation, led

The Torre Agbar is a colored lighting illuminate skyline that pretend to become one of the 21st century landmark of Barcelona.

The building is characterized by its nocturnal illumination: it has more than 4,000 luminous devices that use technology LED. A total of 4,500 L3 RGB lights were installed to illuminate the 32 floors of offices in the Agbar tower. The lighting system, which contains 4,500 L3 RGB lights, is controlled from a single computer.

Jean Nouvel wrote on this project: “This is not a tower, a skyscraper, in the American sense. It is a more an emergence, rising singularly in the center of a generally calm city. Unlike slender spires and bell towers that typically pierce the horizons of horizontal cities, this tower is a fluid mass that bursts through the ground like a geyser under permanent, calculated pressure.”

via:ledlightray.com
Photo: by megapiksl via flikr