Urban Alliance specializes in media objects in which state of the art media techniques are integrated in architecture and design. 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.deputy-dog.com
www.barco.com

• 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

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.

via: realities united

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

The Grand Lisboa is one of Macau’s tallest buildings with 52 storeys. In phase two, it will open a 430 room hotel.

Grand Lisboa will offer our guests a truly memorable and unique experience. Stylistically, a daring and contemporary entertainment attraction, it remains true to our history and heritage within the Macau market, while reflecting the progressive direction of the organisation,” explained Dr Stanley Ho.

The owner, Dr. Ho, was advised by a fengshui expert that the location and architectural design would loose money, unless he made revisions to change the fengshui energy. So Dr. Ho made the necessary changes, and had the top of the building designed to be like a bottle neck, so money comes in, but cannot come out easily. It was supposed to look like feather plumes”

Grand Lisboa media facade was conceived by Magic Monkey

via: kaishin (@flickr)

photo 1: rogoyski
photo 2: Pricey

SmartSlab has attracted quite some attention since it was introduced a few years ago by b consultants ltd, an architectural consultancy run by Tom Barker. It is specifically unique due to its resistant structure and modular approach: the screen is shipped in 600 x 600mm tiles that can be built up into large arrays of any size. The steel and polycarbonate structure allows it to be even used as flooring or curtain walls in buildings.

Another very unique quality of the SmartSlab is that it uses hexagonal pixels - ‘hexels’. This concept is based on the fly’s compound eye and achieves a better optical appearance than conventional screen pixels, since the hexels are always equidistant to each other. Each tile comprises 672 hexels.

The screens can run any Quicktime movie or DVD as well as Quartz Composer applications, which allows designers and researchers to develop dynamic visualizations or even interactive applications based on webcam vision tracking, WII controllers, etc.

The SmartSlab at the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planing currently shows digital artworks created by students from the Design Computing program. Researchers at the group are currently investigating interactive application scenarios that take the physical context of the yard into consideration. On the long run the screen will be integrated into the buildings façade to achieve better visibility from long distances.

We will post additional information as the project progresses.

Walking down the Ginza is like strolling through a glossy magazine - and these buildings are the ads. These brand images are largely communicated through the facades, which increasingly resemble screens. The Chanel store uses a facade composed of hundreds of thousands of LEDs - a high-res building-sized video screen. Uniqlo is an exception to the high end brands in Ginza - having built its brand providing basic clothing at reasonable prices. So in contrast to the sleekness of the other facades, our approach at Uniqlo Ginza was to go simple and basic.

If facades are now screens, our Uniqlo facade is a pixilated “electro-retro” version. It is made up of a matrix of one thousand illuminated cells, whose luminosity can be individually controlled to produce chunky Tetris-style patterns on the facade. A mirror-finish stainless steel grid placed over this screen has the effect of breaking up and blurring off its sharp edges. The four-square Uniqlo logo shines through all, lit up with a bright LED array. Luxury, at low-res.

via: City of Sound

The FLARE system

FLARE is a modular system to create a dynamic hull for facades or any building or wall surface. Acting like a living skin, it allows a building to express, communicate and interact with its environment. FLARE turns the building facade into a penetrable kinetic membrane, breaking with all conventions of the building surface as a static skin.

FLARE units

The FLARE system consists of a number of tiltable metal flake bodies supplemented by individually controllable pneumatic cylinders.
Due to the developed pattern, an infinite array of flakes can be mounted on any building or wall surface in a modular system of multiplied FLARE units.

The visual effect

Each stainless steel flake reflects the bright sky or sunlight when in vertical standby position. When the flake is tilted downwards by a computer controlled pneumatic piston, its face is shaded from the sky light and this way appears as a dark pixel.
By reflecting ambient or direct sunlight, the individual flakes of the FLARE system act like pixels formed by natural light.

The system is controlled by a computer to form any kind of surface animation. Sensor systems inside and outside the building communicate the buildings activity directly to the FLARE system which acts as the buildings lateral line.

via: flare-facade.com