Existential Dimorphism: Digital existence x Physical realities_Design Dissertation_2021-22 by aoa_confluence_2022

EXISTENTIAL DIMORPHISM: DIGITAL EXISTENCE X PHYSICAL REALITIES By Ganesh Beniwal Javaree Lal Bali Devi GUIDED BY Ar. ROHIT SHINKRE A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment Of the requirements for SEM-IX The Degree

BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE

MUMBAI UNIVERSITY

MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA.

5TH YEAR, SEM-IX, BARD 911, OCT’2021

Conducted at:

RACHANA SANSAD’S ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE, UN-AIDED COURSE RACHANA SANSAD, 278, SHANKAR GHANEKAR MARG, PRABHADEVI, MUMBAI 400025.

BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE

MUMBAI UNIVERSITY

MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA.

5TH YEAR, SEM-IX, BARD 911, OCT’2021

Conducted at:

RACHANA SANSAD’S ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE, UN-AIDED COURSE RACHANA SANSAD, 278, SHANKAR GHANEKAR MARG, PRABHADEVI, MUMBAI 400025.

APPROVAL

CERTIFICATE

The following Under-Grad Design Dissertation Study is hereby approved as satisfactory work on the approved subject carried out and presented in a manner sufficiently satisfactory to warrant its acceptance as a pre-requisite and partial fulfillment of requirement to the 5th Year Sem IX of Bachelor Of Architecture Degree for which it has been submitted. This is to certify that this student Ganesh Beniwal Javaree Lal Bali Devi is a bonafide Final Year student of our institute and has completed this Design Dissertation under the guidance of the Guide as undersigned, adhering to the norms of the Mumbai University & our Institute Thesis Committee. It is understood that by this approval and certification the Institute and the Thesis Guide do not necessarily endorse or approve any statement made, opinion expressed or conclusions drawn therein; but approves the study only for the purpose for which it has been submitted and satisfied the requirements laid down by our Thesis Committee. Name of the Student:

Ganesh Beniwal Javaree Lal Bali Devi

Date:

Tuesday 26th Oct’ 2021

Approved By Principal Ar. Prof. Rohit Shinkre

College Seal

Certified By

Certified Seal

Examined By

Thesis Guide Ar. Prof. Rohit Shinkre

External Examiner-1

External Examiner-2

DECLARATION I hereby declare that this written submission entitled “Existential Dimorphism: Digital Existence x Physical Realities” represents my ideas in my own words and has not been taken from the work of others (as from books, articles, essays, dissertations, other media and online); and where others’ ideas or words have been included, I have adequately cited and referenced the original sources. Direct quotations from books, journal articles, internet sources, other texts, or any other source whatsoever are acknowledged and the source cited are identified in the dissertation references. No material other than that cited and listed has been used. I have read and know the meaning of plagiarism* and I understand that plagiarism, collusion, and copying are grave and serious offences in the university and accept the consequences should I engage in plagiarism, collusion or copying. I also declare that I have adhered to all principles of academic honesty and integrity and have not misrepresented or fabricated or falsified any idea/data/fact source in my submission. This work, or any part of it, has not been previously submitted by me or any other person for assessment on this or any other course of study.

Signature of the Student Name of the Student: Ganesh Beniwal Javaree Lal Bali Devi Exam Roll No: Date: 26th October’ 2021

Place: Mumbai

*The following defines plagiarism: Plagiarism occurs when a student misrepresents, as his/her own work, the work, written or otherwise, of any other person (including another student) or of any institution. Examples of forms of plagiarism include: • The verbatim (word for word) copying of another’s work without appropriate and correctly presented acknowledgment; • The close paraphrasing of another’s work by simply changing a few words or altering the order of presentation, without appropriate and correctly presented acknowledgment; • Unacknowledged quotation of phrases from another’s work; • The deliberate and detailed presentation of another’s concept as one’s own. • “Another’s work” covers all material, including, for example, written work, diagrams, designs, charts, photographs, musical compositions and pictures, from all sources, including, for example, journals, books, dissertations and essays and online resources.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to take opportunity to express my gratitude to all the people who have guided, helped, inspired and believed in me. This thesis is dedicated to my Family who made me think about how to adapt to changes in your life. It was the observations that I made in mine and my friends life that made me dwell on such a topic. I consider each encounter, event, discussion, interaction and mistake to have been vital in the development of my personality and ability. I would like to thank my mentor, Ar. Rohit Shinkre, for his motivation and advice, I am grateful to him for all the long discussions that inevitably ended with motivation and a specific scope of work to evaluate the discussion. All the faculty, as well as the support staff and administration at the Academy of Architecture (Unaided) have provided me with a good academic curriculum, an active-extra curricular and an environment of freedom to move around. I would take this opportunity to thank Books, Music and Nature for granting me access into a world of ideas, in addition to imparting wisdom. I would also like to thank my college juniors, seniors as well as classmates who have spent hours debating and discussing my topic with me. Finally, I would like to thank my mother Bali Devi, my Sisters Seema and Neeta, my neice Swarnakshi, my brother in law Santosh and my father Javaree Lal, Prati and her mom and dad, Shravankumar Solanki and Unmesha Nag for their love, care and enthusiasm. It’s from their wisdom that I strive to live my life.

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Abscence is as crucial as presence. - Cass lennox, Blank Spaces

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opportunity for the democratization of knowledge and power, and noticing the recent past we need a pinch of that.

PART 0: ABSTRACT Sitting here in my Living/Dining/Bedroom, listening to music on my phone, writing this abstract on my laptop, I wonder if all these things have changed me in any way. This accessibility, this privilege, this wonder that I feel, the ease with which I can just escape the bickering going on in the other room, and dive deep into a world that isn’t even ‘real’. This state of my existence I term as Dimorphism in this thesis, existing in two distinct realities at the same time. This phenomenon has originated new ways of experiencing the world, communicating and making memories. A wide array of devices are present in our daily lives, double-edged swords which are essential in these trying times. They have currently manifested their capabilities at a very individualistic level, but the public applications of them are still in R&D. This is the aspect of this dimorphism that has architectural potential in today’s world. As we transition into a Post Pandemic World, this weapon will be vital to deal with the workings of life. What we need is proper training and a better understanding of its implications on human life. Architecture has become too separated from the experience of life as we know it, and utilising the upcoming technological advancements as a tool that can be useful for rejuvenating that experience. An essential part of the digital world is that it does provide the

*Quoting Morpheus in The Matrix (1999)

Our interactions with technology have been very superficial up till now. It provides a voice to everybody, does one thing that the world before it could never do properly, accessibility for everyone! Life has been reduced to functionality, traveling to work, working at a desk, working at a site, traveling back, walking with headphones on, and watching movies on a bus. No wonder everyone wants to opt for this option of selfindulgence (which is not necessarily bad), where you can enjoy what you like most without any encumbrances. We are so focused on making an Identity for ourselves that we forget the reality of being human, of not knowing things, instead just working 24x7 to doing tasks, not stopping until we can’t work anymore. In conclusion, we need to have an evolved understanding of what reality is, what technology is, and how the new experiences that we are having are going to affect our future as a species. And thus, this thesis tries to explore the realness of experiences we have and how we can, together, achieve a new world order, where we respect experiences more than institutionalized knowledge. And just like Morpheus* said- ‘This is our last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill the story continues as it is, and you believe whatever you want to. You take the red pill you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.’ So which one will it be? Back to the world or into the rabbit hole?

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THESIS DIAGRAM Literature Review DERSTAN

R P HI SM

City of BitsWilliam Mitchell

O IM

Ready Player OneErnest Cline

Background Research

G T HE D D IN

The History of the FutureBy Christophe Canto

Ready Player One (2018) Movie Tokyo Story (1953) Movie Black Mirror Series

What? There is a need for people to first understand and protect what is there, rather than making systems for any kind of prize or profit, and assessing the impact of actions! Why? Architecture can mobilize people and has opportunity of intervention in making this dimorphism more synergised How? By utilising the existing and projected technologies to make synergic spaces for technology and life!

Hypothesis Statement Architecture acts as a base for most Physical Realities, and instead of using technology as a routine or escape we need to collectively utilize it for building synergies between world.

Physical Realities • • • •

Solid, tactile, definite Parameters of Experiencing a space by a user Sensory Clues in Architecture Space + Memory = Reality

Research Learnings • • •

Blurred Boundaries between time, connectivity and trade Interaction between the built and the unbuilt should be fluid Architecture is too isolated from the living beings

Digital Existence • • •

New Definitions of Socialization Programmatic Transparency Cohesive and Collaborative environments

Thesis Statement To utilize the synergy between the physical realities and digital existence to make spaces for the living, to promote accessibility to the medium and creating a cohesive city Identity.

Design Objectives • • •

Accepting the Dimorphism 3D spatial blips Going beyond physical materials

Criteria for Site • • • •

Metropolitan Culture Densely populated locality Centrally Located in the heart of the city Adaptable to change

Case Studies • • •

Technology has vast possibilities within it Spaces without maps and boundaries Spatial dichotomy

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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PART 0: ABSTRACT

PAGE 15

PART 1: THE OVERVIEW

PAGE 20

PART 2: LITERATURE REVIEW & CASE PAGE 26 STUDIES 1. Architectural Case studies 2. Different Authors and their books, articles etc. (Summary of all kinds of literature & mediums reviewed) 3. Research Arguments (view points of different authors both for and against) 4. Theoretical/Conceptual Framework (Hypothesis development)

1. What are the Physical Implications of the Digital 2. What is the need of such spaces 3. Selection of Program 4. Selection of Site 5. How to create the Sense of Digital 6. Demographics

PART 4: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

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PAGE 30

1. Inferences 2. Conclusion 3. Antithesis

REFERENCES, BIBLIOGRAPHY, ANNEXES

1. Background Statements – Problem statement; Research questions, Aim & Objectives 2. Methodology – Things to study and other research 3. Rationale and Justification of Architectural Intervention in context, Expected results & Use of Study

PART 3: ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH

THES

Index & Structure

OF TH

PAGE 40

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Research Question

Aim

In today’s world, where everyone is so reliant on and involved in digital media, forming a community and molding a space is not limited to the physicality of it.

This thesis seeks to investigate the potential of urban built environment as a medium for build a synergial life-space-technology relationship.

In such a case, how can a physical space be made more diversified and useful to living creatures in order to foster an intimate relationship between space, its users and the city as a whole?

To utilize the synergy between the physical realities and digital existence to make spaces for the living, to promote accessibility to the medium and creating a cohesive city Identity. Objectives 1. By establishing public spaces that can enhance the living mind and engage people on multiple levels. 2. By allowing the user to define their own spaces. By integrating the experiences of the digital to the physical. 3. By instilling a sense of public space in its true sense, and by allowing living creatures to interact with the built environment through various mediums.

PART 1: THE OVERVIEW Background Statements In recent years, humanity has entered a digital era, in which individuals are increasingly connected thanks to technological advancements. The human mind is constantly growing without them realizing it. The way humans interact, conduct and view the world has changed. Because of increased involvement in digital realms, authentic physical experiences are gaining new definitions. Despite being physically present in space, one is only partially immersed in it. But it is not just a matter of human psychology; it is also a matter of the built environment in which we live. The built environment should also have the ability to communicate with humans, which is currently lacking in today’s urban environment.

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Sense of Belonging Ease of Communication

Accessibility for All

Opportunities to showcase talents

Entertainment

Reduced Physical Communications

Easy access to information Securities Risks

Graphic I. The Scope of Digital Media in Today’s World (By Author)

Methodology User interface and user experience are two procedures that have been used to design digital media. It has a variety of design elements and features that make it an engrossing medium. It an

necessary interactive

to bond

study with

digital media architecture

Digital Experiences

Along with its functions, several factors pique the interest of users in digital media, such as design elements that connect better with users, features, and the quality of understanding the user and its preferences.

Cybercrime

Trade and Commerce

It is a custom-built simulated space where people engage in intellectual discourse, conduct business, exchange knowledge, share emotional support, make plans, play games, and do a variety of other things.

Long-distance connectivity, selfexploration convenience entertainment, global connectivity, and so on are some of the reasons why people become involved in cyberspace space.

Fake Identities and Fraud

Communication

User Experience in both the modes

Purchasing a product, connecting with people around the world, and completing a task that is beyond your capabilities in the real world are all examples of activities that take place in ‘cyberspace’.

Health Hazards Building Communities

Why People use digital Media

elements to and living

create beings.

These elements have not only been studied, but I have attempted to analyse and relate them to architectural spaces and concepts to draw parallels between these two fields.

• De-cluttered Pages • Play of Visuals/ Intriguing graphics • Consistency in Design • Escape button • Error Messages • Accessibility Features

Physical Parallels • Proper Division of Spaces • Visual development of surroundings • Following central concept • Escape routes • Signage • Universal Design

User Interface in both the modes Digital Experiences

Physical Parallels

• Focused and Non-Focused • Public and Private Elements

• Functional and Service Spaces • Public and private functions

Digital Life resembling the Physical One

Features and Functions of Digital Media

1. The Homepage is like an Entrance Lobby 2. The Search Button is Like the Reception Desk 3. Programs are like functional Spaces 4. Players and users are like people 5. Booting up a device is like waking up and gaining consciousness!

• • • • • • • •

Conveyor Interactive Communication Exploratory Updating with the current trends Less entropy to access the media Defined path and order User opinions and convenience is important

Conclusions 1. 2. 3. 4.

User Study and Experience is most important Order in design is a must/Every detail has importance Play of visuals is a key element in the design The first glance at a space decides if the person is going to use the space or not!

#Informed by Engaging People With Built Environment by Prerna S.

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Approach By looking at case studies we will gauge what type of spaces are already present and the current scene of this connection between the physical and the digital. Understandings from other research papers would then be collated into a holistic view of how to approach the topic. Describing its necessity, its flaws and shortcomings, and most importantly use it to help lessen the loneliness quotient that is increasing in our population as we speak. Justifying the need of such spaces

Picture I. Snippet from Music Video for Panini by Lil Nas X showing a future with holographic environments (LilNasXVEVO, 2019)

Rationale & Justification of Architectural Intervention

I. The concept of time and day has been constantly gaining new meanings. When the world wasn’t connected to the internet, the circadian rhythms were more or less daylight based. We are moving from a Monophasic and Biphasic sleep pattern to a polyphasic sleep rhythms, and that also factors in making the all-time open spaces. II. The whole process of design is going to change, there will be a paradigm shift. Where initially it used to be predictive design tools, combined with the real time inferences gathered from occupied spaces, can result in a more adaptive approach to design using the combination the predictive and informed along with the behavioral data collected In the occupied places.

III. Home education rate increases by 7% to 15% annually. At current estimates suggest 3.4% of school age students are home-schooled. The reason for putting this demographic here is to understand that there is an increasing percentage of people opting for homeschooling and they would require resource centers, a hybrid digital-physical space can provide that IV. The concept of location has changed, it’s not just physical points located on the map anymore, it’s about people moving through spaces, and information flowing from one place to the other.

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Architectural Case Studies: MORI Building Digital Art Museum, Japan by teamLab Borderless* teamLab Borderless is a world of artworks without boundaries, a museum without a map created by art collective teamLab. teamLab Borderless is a group of artworks that form one borderless world. Artworks move out of rooms, communicate with other works, influence, and sometimes intermingle with each other with no boundaries.

II.

III.

IV. Picture II. Liquid Crystal Display Picture III. Digital Projection Picture IV. Comprehensive Display and Organisation System (THESIS 2020 | Architecture’s Response to Digital Art | Ayesha M Fathima. YouTube, 28 Sept. 2020)

It offers an Immersive experience for your body in borderless art in a vast, complex, three-dimensional 10,000 square meter world, using 520 Computers and 470 Projectors. It uses softare 3D Modelling and sensory technology. B.

You can Wander, explore with intention, discover, and create a new world with others. As soon as 2019, Borderless entered the Guinness World Records as the most visited museum (single-art group) in the world with 2,2 million visitors, ahead of Van Gogh Museum in The Netherlands and Picasso Museum in Spain.

PART 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND CASE STUDIES Architectural Case Studies

D. Picture V. Pictures of the Type of experiences modulated inside the Museum Graphic II.

Location of the Museum on Google Map

(teamLab Borderless: MOvRI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM, 2018)

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Architectural Case Studies: Alternative Reality Masters Thesis by Matheus Stancati* “Space + Memories = Reality” Different combinations of these are what makes our reality. Some points to take away were1. Light forms images on our retina and this can be produced by natural or artificially produced light 2. From this we try and figure out where and what we are observing

Visual Sense Perception of Colours

Touch Sense

Some theories: Auditory Sense

Smell Sense

Graphic III.

A. The Five Senses as Recievers and gateway to Mind

B. What are the facets of Architecture that need to be dealt with

Architecture as Social Narrative Architecture as embodied Knowledge Architecture as Language Architecture as Discourse Architecture as Focal Point

• We are not perceiving the world but we are constantly generating it • We can process light before it enters the retina and make new spaces

Steps to achieve modifiable versions of reality: • Creating a synthetic space – Photogrammetry • Retrieving memory – AI and VR assisted space generation (still primitive) • Augmenting perception – overlaying the retrieved memories onto the synthetic space, creating portals for creating variable realities • This creates multiple perspectives of the same physical space that you inhabit, which has become monotonous in this digital age AR and VR will be a general part of our lives, maybe for good. Environment is a big factor in how we develop our cognition and how we actually behave, loci and imagines (location and memory) What if social interaction becomes a mix of two memories, along with the personal share of information?

D. Picture VI. Augmented Perceptions Created by Matheus in His Thesis

(BlessedArch. (2021). Alternative Realities | Masters Thesis by Matheus Stancati [YouTube Video].

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Books, Movies & Series

Book & Movie: Ready Player One & Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline (2011 & 2019)* In this science fiction novel, the author describes a world not too far in the future where the crumbling economies and an Earth overburdened for resources, a novel solution of a digital Universe, titled OASIS, provides a relief from the atrocities of the real world. This impacts the real world so starkly that the currency used in this virtual universe also becomes very common and functional in the real world.

William Mitchell employs numerous practical examples and illustrations in this technically sound yet approachable examination of architecture and urbanism in the context of the digital telecommunications revolution, ongoing miniaturisation of electronics, the commodification of bits, and the growing dominance of software over materialised form. Picture VII. Scenes From the Movie- Ready Player One

Book: The History of the Future by Christophe Canto (1993)#

Series: Black Mirror by Charlie Brooker (2011-2019)## Black Mirror is a speculative series about how our lives would be in the coming future. Whether it be people being able to record everything they do, see or hear in ‘The Entire History of You’ to the option of existing for eternity in a virtual reality in any time period in ‘San Junipero‘, it creates world that might actually exist in the near future.

This an anthology of all the things that were predicted for the 21st century, and how that turned out. It providesa a lot of insights into how speculative thinking works, and how authors & artists are pretty influential about the image of the future!

Predicted modes of travel in this century

SAN JUNIPERO

City of Bits is a comprehensive introduction to a new type of city, an increasingly important system of virtual spaces interconnected by the information superhighway. It is entertaining, concise, and relentlessly probing.

Even though the novel follows a protagonist, it becomes essential to understand how this type of a dynamic existence between the real and the virtual world can be foreseen in the near future.

Picture VIII.

Book: City of Bits by William J. Mitchell (1995)**

Picture IX. Enjoying Entertainment on a ‘Telephonoscope‘

*Cline, Ernest. Ready Player One. Crown Publishers, 2011. #Christophe Canto. The History of the Future. 1993.

In its more dystopian settiings the worlds range from being a work based credit system where you have to work hard to get by in an overpopulated world in ‘Fifteen Million Merits‘ to the world of ratings and reviews for everyone you meet, where being good actually has a quantitative measure, and how there is the possibility of everything coming crashing down in ‘Nosedive‘, Black Mirror mimics our trajectories into the future.

THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF YOU

NOSEDIVE

FIFTEEN MILLION MERITS

Picture X. Speculated Futures in the Series- Black Mirror

**Mitchel, William J. City of Bits. Mit Press, 1997. ##Brooker, C. (2015, November 16). Black Mirror. Netflix.com.

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Movie: Tokyo Story by Yasujirô Ozu (1953)*

Research Paper: Clothes as a means of cultural expression & design thinking by Christophe Canto (1993)*#

‘The path, not the place, is the primary condition of being’ - Shukichi Hirayama In the movie, we get a new look at how we look at social customs, family is that which supports each other and not necessarily formed because of relationships due to blood. This is very important to understand in today’s context, as the definition of what a family means is constantly chaninging and adapting to the urban environments.

Picture XI. Scenes From the Movie- Tokyo Story, Noriku Serving Tomi and Shukichi Hirayama

Research Paper: Enhancing Interaction Spaces by Digital Media for the Elderly by Volkmar Pipek (2020)#

Research Paper: Understanding local Community Engagement using Mobile Technology by Kevin Han (2020)**

Home technologies aimed at encouraging sociability, inclusiveness, and social awareness must address various underlying design features, such as planning for recreational or ludic experiences, rather than efficiency and utilitarian interests.

We utilize temporal and geographical points, not evidence of connecting to people and the world, to merge social and mobile technologies. We walk to transport, educate, rest, or exercise ourselves, but much of our walking is incidental and buried in life’s minutiae, so we are generally oblivious of it and only discover its complexities in the wobbly gaits of newborns, the elderly, or the ill.

The concepts go beyond revolutionary home technologies that enliven the home with a plethora of sensors, actuators, and multimedia equipment, without adequately recognising the loneliness of the elderly. Providing the sense of the intuitive, almost tangible presence of remote connections in a non-intrusive technology solution that medium-income homes may afford.

Clothes are frequently overlooked in empirical studies of embodiment. The body in motion is depicted as an impersonal diagram or stylized nude, whose cultural nuance or idiosyncratic movement is difficult to capture. Some fields informing technology design, such as ergonomics, anthropometrics, and wearable computing, still view human bodies as generic, unemotional, skeletal apparatus that requires ‘tools’ to adapt or extend their function. Many designers may have overlooked the subtly personalised movements of wearing and use due to an underestimation of the significance of dress and an over-commitment to the aesthetics of artefacts rather than the embodied aesthetics of people using artefacts. What role do our bodies play in shaping our sense of self? What is the definition of sensing motion, weight, or position of the body as skin, muscles, tendons, and joint movement?

Software is a method for establishing an externally imposed regulatory order on space and movement. However, we would argue that it is also a method of creating new spatial experiences. Indeed, software systems are both places of resistance and control, as well as components of how new spatial experiences are created.

Research Paper: Computer Human Interaction Encounters by David Browning et all. (2020)## “Repetition serves an overall aim of fostering interpersonal connection” - Tannen Wherever we are, whether in an urban dream or nightmare, a suburban order or mediocrity, or a rural arcadia or torpor, we have a ‘felt life’ feeling in the experience that is frequently intimately interwoven with our ideals. So, while repetition is commonly seen to be negative and monotonous, we as designers must be mindful of the importance of both synchronic and diachronic forms. Tannen contends that repetition aids understanding by establishing a link to previous content and that it is critical in the interaction of communication. Indeed, repeated words, sounds, and gestures may be a distinguishing feature of oral traditions, which are particularly prevalent in rural regions. Repetition, in addition to controlling communication, demonstrates a group’s unity and is a method of attracting outsiders into a group. Youtube Video: How architecture helped music evolve by David Byrne (2013) Byrne explains how music evolved along with the changing trends in architecture and senses of locality, and turned into the form that it is today. It shows the potential that architecture has in transforming how we experience even the basic of human senses, in this case that is sound!

Picture XII. Snippet from the talk by David Byrne showing a person dancing with an airpod (TED-Ed, 2013)

*Yasujirô Ozu. (1953,). Tôkyô monogatari. #.Volkmar Pipek. (2020). Enhancing Interaction Spaces by Media for the Elderly

**Candy, F. J. (2020). Movement-based interaction and the performance of personal style

* Han, K. (2020). Understanding Local Community Social Support Networks Mediated by Mobile Technology

Browning, D., Bidwell, N. J., Hardy, D., & Standley, P-M. (2020). Rural encounters. ‌

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Research Arguments We have progressed in the field of technology in the past 100 years, but we still haven’t been able to sufficiently make this link between the physical and the digital sustainable, for the technology as well as the humans. Somehow, we haven’t had a well-developed typology of space that can accommodate the newer technologies that are being formed daily. Partly because the experiences that we had over these digital spaces weren’t more nuanced. But, in this post Covid-19 scenario, where even the essential commodities have been digitized, we need to look forward to a future where we will be needing spaces which can accommodate their needs. One of the other factors, which is hindering this shift is that the experiences that we have on digital spaces aren’t regarded to be authentic and ‘real’. But as we can see more and more is that people can have real and authentic experiences in digital spaces. A lot of people have found their communities online, and the geographical location is not a restricting factor anymore.

Graphic IV.

The whole concept of work has been redefined, with digital jobs being a source of income, and the meaning of work has also changed. What digital technology is, and what its image has become (of becoming an increasingly addictive thing), are two very different things. This image has come up because the immediate physical circles of people have become polarized and overtly stigmatized, and people find refuge in the digital places where they are appreciated for their experiences. It is time for us to form healthy relations with this branch of reality and accepting it as an integral part of our ‘real’ lives. We need to get away from the notion that duplicating the present physical world into a digital world is the future, when the future is so much more than that.

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework

Examples of phygital experiences today:

Conceptual Framework I have arrived at is a world that is Phygital.

1. Kiosks 2. Mobile Apps, curbside pickup and delivery, and buy online and pickup in store (BOPIS) 3. Websites and Customer Portals 4. Voice 5. Digital Payments

What is phygital?* Phygital simply combines the words physical and digital to create a new word: phygital. While it’s not exactly clear who coined the term, its usage started at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Why? Because we noticed more people quickly adjusting their strategies to digitally accomplish tasks that had previously been accomplished in-person. This includes things like grocery shopping, banking, education etc. Other examples include using a phone to look at a restaurant’s menu, paying for gas without having to touch a payment terminal, or using a connected device to monitor your health. While we don’t know whether or not the term “phygital” is going to hang around after COVID-19, the blending of physical and digital in the human experience is certainly here to stay. Reached to these points from some the studies: a. Interacting with Material Form b. Ecological and Configurations of Physical Space and Objects c. The Physical Human Body d. Physical-Digital Information Seeking e. Physicality of Digital spaces, backend spaces f. Locate user profiles

What is the future of phygital in a postCOVID world? In the future, true phygital experiences will have an advanced anticipation model. This idea of advanced anticipation is something that I suspect we will hear a lot more about as phygital experiences become more commonplace. For example, many of us have voice-activated remotes. You can speak the name of your favorite television show into your remote and instantly, your TV provider launches your program. But what if your TV and TV provider knew you so well that you didn’t even need to speak into the remote? It knew your preferences and routines and what you wanted to watch. That’s advanced anticipation. It’s like the Netflix strategy – capturing data that, over time, helps devices “learn” how to make helpful suggestions that point you toward the things that will be of most interest to you. Phygital is about bridging the relationship between a user (human) and activity (company) and making that experience so effortless that your customers don’t even notice that their life has become easier. In the post-COVID world, the line between physical and digital experiences will be so blurred that users won’t even recognize the difference.

Points and Interconnnections in Architecture for the Virtual Reality (By Author) *Welsh, Mike. “The Future Is Phygital: Physical and Digital.” Mobiquity.com, 2021 andy, F. J. (2020).

Existential Dimorphism

What are Physical Implications of Digital

Graphic V.

Diagrams Studying the Expansion and Contractions in the spacial requirements for certain Functions (By Author)

PART 3: ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH The expansion contraction theory (By Author): o The experiences in spaces have been going through changes for a long time o Some have experienced spatial contractions and some have experienced special divergence and expansion o Spatial Hippocracy

I. You need to have the bandwidth to participate in this information economy – not everyone is currently able to participate II. How do we get this bandwidth – by creating data centers and having more satellites for improving the mobile network qualities III. Carbon (in)justice, energy intensive process of storing this digital space, environmental consequences of this, 1% of all electricity consumed worldwide, so even though the usage rose exponentially from the 2010’s to 2020, the efficiency of the data centers also increased maintaining the energy demand at 1% of total world electricity usage IV. What this structure will do is make the personal ownership seem less evocative V. How to make green data centers 1. Creating green data centers that provide tangible benefits for the environment. A rigorous, holistic approach has to be laid for the design and operation of data centers. This has to address cooling, energy consumption, and waste. Listed below are the factors that need to be considered as cloud migration become more commonplace 2. Servers with Low Power Consumption 3. More Efficient Cooling Solutions 4. Implementing Monitoring System 5. Optimized Hardware Refresh Cycles VI. Regarding the actual are that these centers occupy, they are increasingly being built on the peripheries of towns, just like back in the Industrial age factories were built VII. Personally, there is not much that

can be done in that matter, because these centers are like the roots of a tree, continuously expanding, but they are keeping a quality check on themselves, by continuously upgrading their capacities to make them more efficient VIII. In the end, buildings will become computer interfaces and computer interfaces will become buildings – excerpt from the City of Bits by William Mitchell What is the need of such spaces I. The concept of time and day has been constantly gaining new meanings. When the world wasn’t connected to the internet, the circadian rhythms were more or less daylight based. We are moving from a Monophasic and Biphasic sleep pattern to a polyphasic sleep rhythms, and that also factors in making the all-time open spaces. II. The whole process of design is going to change, there will be a paradigm shift. Where initially it used to be predictive design tools, combined with the real time inferences gathered from occupied spaces, can result in a more adaptive approach to design using the combination the predictive and informed along with the behavioral data collected In the occupied places. III. Home education rate increases by 7% to 15% annually. At current estimates suggest 3.4% of school age students are home-schooled. The reason for putting this demographic here is to understand that there is an increasing percentage of people opting for homeschooling and they would require resource centers, a hybrid digital-physical space can provide that IV. The concept of location has changed, it’s not just physical points located on the map anymore, it’s about people moving through spaces, and information flowing from one place to the other.

Existential Dimorphism

Graphic V.

Diagrams Studying the Expansion and Contractions in the spacial requirements for certain Functions (By Author)

Selection of a program

How to create the sense of digital

The Program is primarily a Digital Education Center for real and hyperreal experiences, its components of the program would include-

General digital communication education, Using Clothing and performance art, Ideation areas, video walls, simulation games, simulation tours, Wii gameplay, UI for interaction, randomizing people’s interaction through shuffling spaces

II.

Graphic VI.

Bhuleshwar (Mohammad Ali Road, JJ Flyover) (Google Earth)

Digital Education Center A place for adapting to the newer technologies that are coming up all the time The Real The city and digital spaces are alive 24x7, so it makes Sense to have something that to live along with it Showcase of the things that people are doing, Exploring the Usage of technology in the public realm, as it is still advertismal and impersonal

Selected Plot near M.S. Ali Road

III.

The Hyper-real Projected reality, simulated reality, AR, VR, and potential future inventions

P.S. There will be all types of living creatures here, ranging from flora to fauna to Humans! M.S. Ali Road

Graphic VII.

Site on DP Sheet , Bhuleshwar (Mohammad Ali Road, JJ Flyover) (DP Remarks 2034)

Structures and Locality near the site shown in the pictures (Clicked by Author)

Churchgate

Cross Maidan

BMC Building

CSMT

Telegraph Office

Oval Maidan

Plot near Khau Galli

Graphic VIII.

Other Sites Considered

A. Telegraph Office B. Near Khau Galli, Fort

Selection of a site Site selection criteria would include: I. Location near a densely populated area, with variations in demographics II. Area situated in a neighborhood in need of more public spaces III. A large population of youth IV. An Urban Setting, Proximity to Amenities, Cosmopolitan Culture, Conducive setting of Innovation

Demographics (Targeting the trivialized groups along with the privileged majorities that we always have) Mumbai has a 12.04 Lakh population of children (0-6 Years of Age) according to the 2011 census; they will be teenagers now. There are 2,963,392 Disabled Folks are in the State Maharashtra has a transgender population of 40,891, child population of 4,1012

Existential Dimorphism Graphic IX.

Transformations due to various technological advancements

(Sources Cited)

Inferences

LIVE PERFORMANCE

SPEAKERS

(Henry Horenstein, 1980)

WALKING

(Olaf Mooij, 2013)

AEROPLANE (Parmly, 2015)

(Arek Adeoye, 2017)

? (Photo by Ibrahim Rifath on Unsplash, 2018)

What makes something real? What is existence, reality even? From the beginning of human existence we have always strived to strive for something, but in a world where you have access to the wide array of points to strive towards, what is the goal of life? In the age of access we need to provide agency to those who lack it, and make the world equitable in this new age that we are looking at. Some things to consider while approaching these projects: 1. Digital instruments and means of access are expensive, therefore maintenance and security is important but should not hinder their accessibility to the target audience 2. How do we build it- type, form and methods (Typo morphology)? 3. Principles for design, efficient, sustainable, upgradeable etc. 4. Creative timeline, Past the Present the Future Conclusion

PART 4: CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS

After all the research I have come to the conclusion that current the dimorphism that we are living in/moving towards has the potential of improving the communication and interaction that we have, but we are desperately in need of a space that educates people about how to judiciously use these technologies. And therefore the proposed is a Digital Education Centre for Real and Hyper-real Experiences

Table I.

Data Showing the development schemes for India since 2015

(QUB Planning School)

The Basic Structure of life is changing and it is time that we took the steps to adapt to this new age of existence!

What is going to stay and what is going to go/An Antithesis The urban population have been focused on institutionalized education for so long that they have started losing touch with the essential life skills. Education has become very instructive, while some parts are essential some parts of education definitely have to change. Also, education ha s only recently started including elder population without prejudice. The plan is to include digital phenomenon in real spaces VR, AR, conferencing gear, Interactive murals on walls, AR presentation spaces etc.

Existential Dimorphism

Books

1. Christophe Canto, et al. The History of 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7.

the Future: Images of the 21st Century. Flammarion, 1993. Mitchel, William J. City of Bits : Space, Palce and the Infobahn. Mit Press, 1997. Cline, Ernest. Ready Player One. Crown Publishers, 2011. Byrne, David. How Music Works. 2012. New York Three Rivers Press, an Imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a Division of Penguin Random House Llc, 2017. Cline, Ernest. Ready Player Two. Ballantine Books, 2020. Levithan, David, and Niven, Jennifer. Take Me with You When You Go. Penguin Books, 2021. Riordan, Rick. Daughter of the Deep. Disney Hyperion, 2021.

Research Paper 1. Browning, D., Bidwell, N. J., Hardy, D., &

Videos, Movies & Series 1. LilNasXVEVO. (2019). Lil Nas X - Panini

REFERENCES, BIBLIOGRAPHY, ANNEXURES 4.

(Official Video) [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=bXcSLI58-h8&ab_ channel=LilNasXVEVO TED-Ed. (2013). How architecture helped music evolve - David Byrne [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=p6uXJWxpKBM&ab_channel=TEDEd BlessedArch. “Alternative Realities | Masters Thesis by Matheus Stancati.” YouTube, 11 June 2021, www.youtube. com/h?v=cKaK6pCxToU&list=PLxFlVxR4G 97M2dQG0R3sLVFZg5tp7ITE1&index=4& ab_channel=BlessedArch. Acqua Alta by Adrien M and Claire B Choreography from Chaillot Theatre, Paris. (2021). ARTE; ARTE. https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/101040000-A/acqua-alta-by-adrien-m-and-claire-b/ MSA Mysuru. “THESIS 2020 | Architecture’s Response to Digital Art | Ayesha M Fathima.” YouTube, 28 Sept. 2020, www. youtube.com/watch?v=gTrI2mM88Es&ab_ channel=MSAMysuru. Tokyo Story. (1953). Tokyo Story. MUBI.

https://mubi.com/films/tokyo-story Brooker, C. (2015, November 16). Black Mirror. Netflix.com. https://www.netflix.com/in/ title/70264888?source=imdb‌ The Matrix. (2014). Primevideo.com. https://www.primevideo.com/detail/ amzn1.dv.gti.7eb1fb0b-a20f-7738-4bfbc194cbd01942 Ready Player One. (2018). Primevideo.com. https://www.primevideo.com/detail/ amzn1.dv.gti.ceb42b03-7968-6234-f5817895a098f6ad

Standley, P-M. (2020). Rural encounters. Proceedings of the 20th Australasian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction Designing for Habitus and Habitat - OZCHI ‘08. https://www.academia.edu/3411930/ Rural_Encounters_Cultural_Translations_ Through_Video?email_work_card=view-paper Han, K., C, S. P., Beth, R. M., & M, C. J. (2020). Understanding Local Community Attachment, Engagement and Social Support Networks Mediated by Mobile Technology. Interacting with Computers, 28(3), 220–237. https://www.academia.edu/14193562/ Understanding_local_community_attachment_ engagement_and_social_support_networks_ mediated_by_mobile_technology William J. Mitchell. (1995). City of Bits: Space, Place, and the Infobahn. In Internet Archive. MIT Press. https://archive.org/ details/CityOfBits Dourish, P., Anderson, K., & Nafus, D. (2020). Cultural Mobilities: Diversity and Agency in Urban Computing. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 100–113. https:// www.academia.edu/6145331/Cultural_ Mobilities_Diversity_and_Agency_in_Urban_ Computing Candy, F. J. (2020). “Come on momma, let’s see the drummer”: movement-based interaction and the performance of personal style. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 11(8), 647–655. https://www.academia. edu/6081387/Come_on_momma_lets_see_

Existential Dimorphism

the_drummer_movement_based_interaction_ and_the_performance_of_personal_style Volkmar Pipek, & Rohde, M. (2020). Enhancing Interaction Spaces by Social Media for the Elderly. Iisi.de. https://www. academia.edu/15917572/Enhancing_ Interaction_Spaces_by_Social_Media_for_ the_Elderly Johann Habakuk Israel. (2020). Noncommand-based interaction in tangible virtual environments. First Steps in Physicality. https://www.academia.edu/762834/ Noncommand_based_interaction_in_ tangible_virtual_environments?email_work_ card=view-paper

Websites 1. Welsh, Mike. “The Future Is Phygital: Physical 2.

and Digital.” Mobiquity.com, 2021, www. mobiquity.com/insights/the-future-is-phygital. Baldwin, Eric. “SPACE10 Explores the Future of Digital Design in Architecture.” ArchDaily, 18 Nov. 2019, www.archdaily. com/928299/space10-explores-the-future-ofdigital-design-in-architecture. Young, Carey. “Geography as Destiny (City of Bits: Space, Place and the Infobahn by William J. Mitchell).” Mute, 2011, www. metamute.org/editorial/articles/geographydestiny-city-bits-space-place-and-infobahnwilliam-j.-mitchell. teamLab Borderless: MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM. (2018). Teamlab.art. https:// borderless.teamlab.art/

Webinars 1. QUB Planning School. Planning the PostPandemic City Online Lecture Series. 1, Zoom, 14 Oct. 2021.