Media Architecture Biennale 2010 by Media Architecture Institute

Gernot Tscherteu Martin Tomitsch (Editors)

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2010

Imprint Media Architecture Biennale 2010 Exhibition Catalogue Published by media architecture institute First edition: 200 Vienna, 2010 Editors: Gernot Tscherteu, Martin Tomitsch Research: Petra Hendrich, Wolfgang Leeb Content Management: Petra Hendrich, Tobi SchĂ¤fer Design: Katrin Schoof, Dorothee Guther contact: exhibition@mediaarchitecture.org ÂŠ media architecture institute mediaarchitecture.org

Gernot Tscherteu Martin Tomitsch (Editors)

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2010 Exhibition at Künstlerhaus Vienna Oct 7 - 31, 2010 Biennale Curators: Oliver Schürer - conference Gernot Tscherteu - exhibition Martin Tomitsch - exhibition

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Contents

table of contents :: preface by Martin Tomitsch and Gernot Tscherteu ... 7 // media architecture by Gernot Tscherteu ............ 9 // Media Facades: Fundamental Terms and Concepts by Gernot Tscherteu ............................... 17 Animated Architecture ............................. 25-40 Spatial media art ................................. 41-50 business and “money” architecture ................. 51-58 social media architecturE ......................... 59-65 future trends ..................................... 67-77 // technical appendix ................................ 78-126 // the biennale conference by Oliver Schürer ......... 129 :: organisations involved in project exhibited ....... 130 :: advertisements .................................... 134 :: credits ........................................... 140

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MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

preface

// preface We want to dedicate this exhibition to the discourse centred around a new form of built environment and emerging uses of media. It is intended as a contribution to a culture of media architecture, which emphasises a responsible approach to embedding technology within public space. This is a unique exhibition, which brings together a variety of disciplines. It provides an overview of the current state and a glimpse into the future of media architecture. The motivation behind the exhibition was to create an arena for reflection and discussion. The exhibited artefacts serve as trigger for dialogue and response to questions relevant for the future development of media architecture. The exhibition continues a process that began with the first Media Facades exhibition in Berlin in 2008. In a careful selection process we have increased the number of projects featured in the exhibition this year, with the goal to provide an overview of the different scenes within the field of media architecture. The scenes that emerged during this curation process and which are represented through the exhibited objects are: animated architecture, business and money architecture, social media architecture, future trends and 3D media architecture. The following chapter provides further discussion of these scenes. This year the exhibition forms a central part of the inaugural Media Architecture Biennale. The Biennale format emerged as a logical response to the first Media Architecture conference that was held in London in 2007 and the 2008 exhibition, to provide an umbrella format for a collection of conference sessions, workshop talks, and the exhibition. The exhibition would not have been possible without the help of many people. Particularly we would like to thank our institute colleagues Oliver Sch체rer (conference curator) and Wolfgang Leeb as well as Petra Hendrich (research and organisation),Tobi Sch채fer (technical management) and the iPad Development Team Bernard Bucalon, Josh McInerheney, Loan Myers, and Oliver Dawson. Finally a big Thank You! to all our partners and sponsors particularly Peter Bogner (K체nstlerhaus), Stephan Wittekind (traxon e:cue) und Bernd Clauss (Zumtobel). We are pleased to welcome you to this exhibition catalogue. The exhibition curators Gernot Tscherteu Martin Tomitsch

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INtroduction

// Media architecture by Gernot Tscherteu What is Media Architecture? Currently there are three different terms that appear quite often and are closely related to each other: · Urban Screens · Media Facades · Media Architecture Their different impacts on public space and the way they are perceived is in my understanding directly derived from the relationship between the screen element and the architecture behind it. I personally understand Urban Screens as large scale screens that are attached to building facades without worrying too much about the integration of both parts. The screen and the building behind it remain two separated layers in the technical sense as well as in terms of communication. Each layer communicates for itself and in most cases the Urban Screen is more dominant because of its brightness and the moving images on it. It is quite easy to move Urban Screens from one place to another. In some cases, like e.g. in the case of giant billboards along freeways, a building is not needed at all. The Urban Screen becomes an independent architectonic element - with a single purpose: to communicate. In order to reach this goal Urban Screens follow the streams of traffic and adjust to their target group with respect to size, height, resolution and direction.1 In the last ten years there have been considerable efforts made by architects, media designers and technology experts to bring both layers - screens and buildings - closer together if not integrating them into a new hybrid structure commonly referred to as a Media Facade. Media Facades are facades with integrated light sources (or kinetic elements) and network infrastructures for distributing power and data. If this integration is successful, it is no longer the screen on a building that communicates with its surrounding, but rather the building as a whole. Although from a technical perspective the image production still takes place on certain parts of the facade, this is irrelevant for the perception of the building. In the eye of the spectator the single pixels are merged into one large image. Therefore the design goal is in most cases to make the whole building, not only single parts of it, communicate with the public. Therefore we consider the term “Media Architecture” to be more appropriate. „Media Facades“ seems to be the appropriate term to describe the technical implementation on a building surface whereas the term „Media Architecture“ is more appropriate to describe the interaction between a building - or any other spatial structure - as a whole and the audience in the public space.2 A desired side effect of the term Media Architecture is its ambiguity: You can understand it in two different forms: a. as architecture that has a media function as it communicates with it surroundings and b. as architecture (in the sense of layout) of a media setup that consists of software, computer and other hardware and a spatial structure (a building) – analogue to how the term “software architecture” is commonly used.

for more approaches of defining Urban Screens see: Urban Screens Reader Editors: Scott McQuire, Meredith Martin and Sabine Niederer http://www.networkcultures.org/_uploads/US_layout_01022010.pdf 2 For more introductions have a look at Häusler 2009, Häusler 2010a, Häusler 2010b, Kronhagel 2010 1

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As Media Architecture is a hybrid form combining features of the digital as well as of the physical space, both meanings simply reflect the fact that it is no longer possible - and no longer useful - to determine which of the two sides is “more important”. Does the media aspect support the physical appearance of the building or is the building - its shape and its facade - simply a function of its communicative goals? To summarize: Media Architecture has one or more of the following features: · They form a combination of Architecture (physical spatial structure) and Media (Images produced on the surface or within the structure of the architecture). · Media content forms a central part of the project. · It is mostly displayed by a rather large number of integrated light sources (In some cases also by kinetic elements). · Content is electronically produced. · Content is in many cases not abstract but readable or “watchable” and creates a dialogue between the building and the spectator. · In many projects the installation provides different forms of interaction which allow inhabitants and passers-by to influence the content or even upload user-generated media, such as imagery or text. · Media Architecture is highly relevant for cityscape and urban atmosphere. From all the above features the first one seems to be the most important one. Architecture and Display must merge into something new that is more than the sum of both parts. This hybrid form certainly has some forerunners in theater performances, baroque festivities or sacral buildings but the existence of LED and other advanced displays certainly marks a decisive step as the surface of architecture became permanently changeable and a means of communication that goes beyond the symbolic communication which has always been a part of the perception of architecture. To repeat: Media Architecture goes beyond symbolic representation. It does not only stand for certain values or for the power of the building owner but it is furthermore able to express “speech acts” that very much resemble interpersonal communication in their speed and with regards to the amount of transmitted information - and in fact it is not the building that “talks” but a commissioned team of designers who makes the building “talk” and who defines the content that is communicated. As one can see in the different scenes below in this text there are various types of motivation for designers, building owners and other stakeholders to create media architecture and to make it “talk” in specific ways. Nevertheless one must not reduce Media Architecture to “just a new communication channel”. It is more appropriate to see it as physical representation (or artefact) of a web of interactions that pervades different levels of human life: Living and working in this architecture, commissioning, planning and building it as well as walking or driving in the city and looking at it. It is necessary to see the whole “interactive sphere” around the building itself in order to understand that it is not a neutral channel for communication but is itself an expression of that communication. It is probably the only visible part but nevertheless the team of designers has to also take into consideration the other parts of the system, in order to understand the “meaning” of what is going on. As in every other cultural setting, meaning is not an inherent feature of a certain artifact but it is something that is produced by the interaction around it. We are therefore not only looking at the artefacts (the buildings and installations themselves) but also at the cultural environment in which the production of these artifacts takes place.

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Scene 1: Animated Architecture This area is dominated by architects and architecture remains the definitive reference system in this scene. Dynamic media elements are used intentionally – not to dissolve the architecture but to shape it in a contemporary way. The works by realities:united and UNStudio in particular do not intend on making architecture the carrier of new media technology, but architecture, more than ever, is the medium itself. Because of the fact that architecture has always had a medial function, we have to explain the relationship between the building and its medial effect more precisely: While in the past the representative architecture often had the function of expressing money, power, or spiritual glamour, it is now mainly about representing “communication” itself. A building and its users are of public importance if they are subject or rather: instruments of communication. This is not mainly related to the content which is sent via media facades and it is also not so much about transforming buildings into a dynamic visual medium, but it is primarily concerned with the architecture’s participation in the reproduction of media society. Architecture should take a central position in media society. The content, which is communicated via the facade, is usually very dependent on the facade’s structure – oftentimes we only have very low resolution and extremely limited colour space at our disposal, which results in very limited options for content. Even with the most professional curating and the greatest artistic charisma, the media facade’s respective aesthetics remain a very restrictive parameter for the designer. The architecture dominates the show. 3 In most cases, the amount of pixels is not enough to present very detailed images, but it is enough to give the building a specific look-and-feel and to stage the building in the cityscape. The facade, and with it also the building, becomes dynamically changeable and that is why we find the term “animated architecture” appropriate. The artistic possibilities for architecture that arise from this are still hard to grasp. Therefore many architects see the integration of pixels into the facade as a threat to architecture instead of seeing it as an expansion of architecture. These facades were to some extent incorporated at a later point and the architects were not very happy about it. Nonetheless, at the end of the day some of these projects can be considered successful, as long as the content allows for the architecture or at least the facade’s shape. In the projects by realities:united and UNStudio the pixel takes a central position. The building’s identity seems to derive directly from the pixel, as can be seen in projects like Crystal Mesh, UEC Iluma, Galleria Seoul, and Star Place. The surface and the space which is enclosed by the surface often seem to be built around the pixel. In all of the cases mentioned above, the pixel works – in an architectonic sense – even if the facade is not illuminated. This is an attribute that emphasizes the pixel’s architectonic relevance and must not be underestimated. Therefore the arrangement of the pixel, its technical realization and its relationship to the surface and to the building are the main challenges in this area. It is an urgent demand to closely match the content to the architecture, but unfortunately contractors do not always completely understand this demand. 3

Generally this is more easily achieved in cultural buildings than in department stores. (The UNStudio projects Galleria and Star Place are department stores.)

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Scene 2: Business and Money Architecture As can be inferred from the title, money plays the primary role in this area which consists of three rather different fields of application: a. banks and insurance companies b. shopping centres c. casinos Naturally all three areas serve the purpose of taking a prominent position within the cityscape by means of media facades. However, the way of doing so differs in each area. In banking representation is most important, shopping centres mainly focus on glamour and casinos are all about the appealing visual flirtation á la slot machines. But we get the feeling that all three areas are about “money in motion” and that the moving light represents this cash flow. This is done intentionally, at least in the Asian context, where Feng shui plays an important role – in the European and American context even the most expensive media facades could not affect the bank crisis. The Lehman Brothers Inc.’s media facade could not save this company and Dexia got into a lot of trouble despite its cool headquarters in Brussels. Dexia finally took its media facade out of service, as as sign of humility.4 We believe that banks want to withdraw from the initial media facade boom to a sedated, less vivid designs. Brightness and dominance in the cityscape will remain but in the content slowness, sedateness, and understatement will prevail to radiate seriousness. The danger of confusing banks with casinos is already, even without media facades, great enough. In shopping malls and casinos we see considerably more need for motion, colourfulness, and glamour. Here we see increasingly complex light effects – especially in the interior – which on the one hand go beyond an abstract projection and on the other hand also have an illusion-like effect: A ceiling equipped with LEDs simulates a canopy of leaves, withdrawing clouds, etc… Inevitably baroque churches come to mind. Money Architecture, similar to baroque churches, tends to produce pseudo-images or rather pseudospatial structures (cf. “simulacrum” as with Jean Baudrillard).5 Elaborate frescos on the walls and ceilings of baroque churches should create a state of rapture. By the use of artistic and architectonic means not only the distinctiveness of this place but also something like a spiritual mood should be instilled to prepare oneself for this place and its significance. One should feel closer to God: the heavens open up – and you would like to cling to the heels of a plump angel and rise up... Now I wonder what the LED walls and ceilings in retail heaven are trying to tell us? In principle the intention is the same: preparing customers for the importance of the place – the function of light and media installations is to put the customer in the right mood to spend their money. Similar to baroque churches, shopping centers and casinos remove people from their daily experiences and consciously aim at creating a specific mode of awareness – the final goal is to put the customer into “shopping” or “gambling mode”. A series of architectonically high-grade shopping malls prove that Money Architecture and Animated Architecture do not necessarily contradict each other. The danger that media facades on shopping malls are filled with commercial content and advertisements, is according to experience very high – although, as mentioned above, they already, due to their low resolution, are often not suitable for such use.

„Due to the economic and financial crisis, the lighting of the Dexia Tower has been drastically reduced.“ (http://www.dexia-towers.com/index_e.php) 5 Baudrillard 1983 4

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Scene 3: Social Media Architecture In “Social Media Architecture” the user plays the main role. They are provided with an interactive interface, which allows them to communicate with the building and beyond that with the residents of a city. The designer’s primary task is to create a medium in which the building’s display-installation will be complemented by a series of input methods. Probably the most well-known project in this area, “Blinkenlights”, offered a series of tools, which allowed the user to create simple images, animations and “love letters” as well as to register for “sending” their mini-message onto the screen. After the curator’s approval the content could be activated via text message. In this area media artists like the Chaos Computer Club (Blinkenlights) or Lab[au] (Dexia Tower) are the major players to date. To my knowledge, before that one of the first installation in this area was the project Marnix by Magic Monkey and only recently I found out that already in 1998 a project called „click SCAPE 98“ by „Stadtwerkstatt“took place in Linz and in a way„invented“ the aesthetics of this genre.6 Out of all these areas, I suspect Social Media Architecture to be most likely to set positive impulses for the social interaction within cities – like a positive sense of community or a “we-feeling”, which could fight the city’s latent tendencies of social distance and marginalisation. Projects like Marnix or Blinkenlights have the potential to create individual moments of belonging, which occur on a personal level rather than on the “mass” level. At the Media Facades Conference in 2008 in Berlin we asked our panel if new impulses for media architecture could have emerged from the social media boom and if hybrid structures will arise and penetrate our urban space with new social media formats. I still see the possibilities for these media formats – but, speaking from my own experience, I know that there are at least two reasons for the difficulties of innovative projects. First, the corporate groups decide centrally on big budget projects and it is not easy to advance into these central areas. Second, in light of Social Media’s current development, the question arises which content can be transported in this way and if the value of communication is in danger of being destroyed by an inflation of options for communication. Despite these restrictions, I see great potential in this area. Soon we will certainly see corresponding innovative campaigns which will also include interactive media architecture. If these, however, turn out to be concepts which represent enrichment to the urban space, like Blinkenlights, remains to be seen. Maybe the much-cited “Corporate Social Responsibility” is the right approach to convince corporate groups to use famous campaigns with big budgets to combine their own brand with central social values, like for example “tolerance” or “sustainability”. Projects in the area of “Social Media Architecture” would certainly be a good medium. In any case, projects in this area reach a level of complexity which can hardly be surpassed, because, as we have seen, this is not only about the production of a certain artefact (like e.g. of a media facade) but it is about creating a balanced communicative interface which contains various tools (web, mobiles,…) and their aligned patterns of behaviour.

Please inform me if you know a project before „click SCAPE 98“

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To do so one has to not only overcome a series of technical challenges but also the basic problem that human behaviour and social patterns can only be predicted and planned to a minor extent. Whoever deals with Social Media Architecture projects, should be aware that they will not be designing facades and content but in the end they will create a social medium in which interaction takes place. The users’ behaviour and interaction between the users is more important than the concrete objects. Generally, it is significantly more productive to develop a creative frame for new forms of interaction than to reduce them upfront content-wise to a limited set of desired behavioural patterns.7

Scene 4: Spatial Media Art Since media art is formed and absorbed in a completely different context than architecture, in this scene, it is more likely to conduct experiments and to pursue avant-garde approaches. Artists are rarely compelled to design the prototype of new building surfaces and displays, however, the area of media art can still offer important impulses for built architecture. In this case it is not so much about new technical solutions but much more about aesthetic experiments, e.g. the spatial impact of three-dimensional displays or the combination of luminous spots with kinetic elements. Interestingly enough, many protagonists in this area have studied architecture – others approach this area via video art or the computer sciences. Lab[au]’s, White Void’s, and Aether Architecture’s projects were chosen because their technical innovations do not end in themselves, but always lead to aesthetical innovations. The playful and experimental use of technology and aesthetics gives rise to astonishing results and presents an important source of inspiration for other areas of media architecture.

Scene 5: Future Trends and Protoypes 3D Media Architecture 3D in the film and video branch is currently experiencing a boom – and not for the first time. But as long as there is no “without 3D-glasses” - solution, this technology will have to be relegated to a niche existence – however, this niche definitely has growth potential. Architecture’s main advantage is that it is intrinsically three-dimensional. Media facades add another dimension by creating moving images. The facade can take on various colours and images. The projects presented in this section go a step further. These are projects where luminous spots are not only arranged 2-dimensionally, as it is the case with most facades, but they are arranged in 3-dimensional space. This much is clear: so far no display seems to be able to produce 3-dimensional images that withstand stereoscopy – but comparisons like this are not very productive. 3-dimensinal displays are so fascinating because they demonstrate a few basic characteristics of space – especially the endless formability and the openness for any shape. In this way, 3-dimensinal displays often have a meditative effect; one tends to get lost in their playful colours, without paying attention to any concrete visual content. Abstract content generally suits 3D displays better 7

For an excellent introduction into this cross-over topic see Borries 2007,

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than objects and people do. The displayed concrete images or bodies suffer from the typically low resolution and from the fact that part of the display is being concealed by the surrounding pixels – even if these pixels are neither part of the image nor illuminated. A higher resolution is no solution – but rather the opposite. As long as pixels are visible and have their own cubic expansion, the problem remains. All in all, three-dimensional displays like “Nova” are fascinating animated spatial structures which particularly have an impact on our senses and perception. Another series of projects in this category encompasses kinetic facades. Kinetic elements in the facade are nothing new, but what is new is the demand to use them to express – at least abstract – media content. The projects’ artistic options and impressions are breathtaking, but unfortunately the technological challenges regarding lifespan and maintenance are still considerable, so that in the end a luminous solution is often preferred for re-vitalizing a building’s surface.

Conclusion I ask myself time and again, what I personally think about the developments in Media Architecture and whether they enrich our cities or contribute to the pollution of our already intensively used urban space. As I take a closer look, these general questions are not very productive, as, first of all, the project’s quality is determined in the concrete individual case and secondly, despite persistent resistance we will never change the fact that the implementation of Media Architecture is technologically possible. The best way to form an opinion is to take a hand in something and to use one’s own creativity, knowledge, and sense of responsibility to contribute to the development of meaningful projects. By doing so we also have to admit that we possibly do not know enough yet and that we can make incorrect decisions. We are most likely to become aware of our own mistakes if others point them out to us and that is why it is important to see this as an open-ended process: Nobody knows everything in this area – there are a lot of new things to learn and it is easier to do so by facing criticism and by looking for conflict. Despite all the interest in these breathtaking technological developments which are taking place in the area of Media Architecture, we must not forget that in the end, what should really interest us is the impact on our life in society. For this reason we primarily dedicate our work in the Media Architecture Institute to the discourse surrounding these breathtaking projects and generally, we try to use the same method which we also happen to find most suitable for the development of Social Media Architecture. We must not concentrate on technology and the buildings themselves but we have to centre our attention on the interaction between the various stakeholders: 1. architects and media designers 2. light industry experts and facade planners 3. media and telecommunication experts 4. scientists, city planners, and urban administration 5. city dwellers

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It is our mission, as the Media Architecture Institute, to design suitable media in the form of events and other tools, so that stakeholders are able to exchange opinions, develop new projects and – maybe most importantly – to establish new values and standards for the assessment of projects and their social impact. Despite all the oppositions and differences, which we neither want to nor are able to overcome, in this discourse we can at least expect personal development and inspiration as well as mutual recognition of motives and accomplishments. Having said all this, I would like to express my appreciation for the projects in this exhibition and I am happy to encourage everyone involved and anyone who is interested in this topic to continue participating in the discourse and to help us, in the interest of all participants, to promote it by using appropriate media.

Sources: Medienarchitektur, Arch+ 149 150, Ag4, ag4-mediafacades, Daab 2006 Jean Baudrillard, Laßt euch nicht verführen, Berlin: Merve 1983 Friedrich von Borries (Ed.), Steffen P. Walz (Ed.), Matthias Böttger (Ed.) Space Time Play: Synergies Between Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism, Birkhäuser Architektur 2007 Lucy Bullivant, Responsive Environments: Architecture, Art and Design, Victoria & Albert Museum 2006 Lucy Bullivant, 4dsocial: Interactive Design Environments, Wiley 2007 Ava Fatah Gen. Schieck, Media Screens – Urban Environments as a Medium of Communication, Mediamatic May 2007, http://www.slideshare.net/revi.kornmann/media-screens/ zuletzt geprüft: 5. Oktober 2008. Matthias Hank Häusler, Media Facades: History, Technology, Content, Av Edition 2009 Matthias Hank Häusler, Chromatophoric ArchItecture: Designing for 3 D Media Façades; Jovis 2010 Matthias Hank Häusler, Spatial Dynamic Media System: Amalgam of form and image through use of a 3D light-point matrix to deliver a content-driven zone in real-time, VDM Verlag Dr. Müller 2010 Andy Jörder, Improve Your City’s Appearance – Medienfassaden in urbanen Brennpunkten Diplomarbeit. http://www. nd80.de/portfolio/pdf/IYCA_Screen.pdf, zuletzt geprüft: 5. Oktober 2008 Christoph Kronhagel, Mediatektur, Springer 2010 Thorsten Klooster; Smart Surfaces - and their Application in Architecture and Design, Birkhäuser Architektur 2009 Scott McQuire

The Media City: Media, Architecture and Urban Space, Sage Publications Ltd. 2010

Joachim Sauter, Das vierte Format: Die Fassade als medialeHaut der Architektur; 2004, http://netzspannung.org/cat/ servlet/CatServlet/$files/273668/sauter.pdf, zuletzt geprüft: 5. Oktober 2008 Susanne Jaschko / Joachim Sauter, MedialeOberflächen – Mediatektur als integraler Bestandteil von Architektur und Identität stiftende Maßnahme im urbanen Raum, ublished in Arch+, Nr 180, Convertible City, Sept 2006, official exhibition catalogue of the German Pavillion at the 10th Bienale of Architecture in Venice, Italy. http://www.sujaschko.de/ downloads/256/Mediatektur zuletzt geprüft: 5. Oktober 2008 Christa Sommerer (Ed.), Lakhmi C. Jain (Ed.), Laurent Mignonneau (Ed.), The Art and Science of Interface and Interaction Design: v. 1 (Studies in Computational Intelligence) Robert Venturi, Steven Azenour, Learning from Las Vegas, Revised Edition: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form, Mit Press; Revised. 1977 Alexander Wahl, Wandelbare (mediale) Gebäudefassaden, 20.01.2002, 2008; http://www.alexanderwahl.de/dateien/medienfassaden/medienfassaden.html zuletzt geprüft: 5. Oktober 2008 Notes: 1 for more approaches of defining Urban Screens see: Urban Screens Reader Editors: Scott McQuire, Meredith Martin and Sabine Niederer http://www.networkcultures.org/_uploads/US_layout_01022010.pdf

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media facades

// MEDIA FACADES: FUNDAMENTAL TERMS AND CONCEPTS Author Dr. Gernot Tscherteu Research DI Wolfgang Leeb Media facades create utterly new connections between digital space on the one hand and architecture and urban space on the other hand. Never before was there an interface between the physical and the digital world, which was public to such an extent, that it appeals not only to individual users, as in the case of a personal computer, but also to whole groups or even to a whole urban population and that furthermore also allows to “reply”, i.e. to interact with a facade or to design its content. In this case, a powerful potential for design and effectivity is created, involving a range of chances and risks that are difficult to estimate and that require thorough discussion. The producers and the users of media facades equally face a range of challenges, and it will need time for fully differentiated opinions and positions to evolve from the discourse which is just taking shape. This exhibition has been conceived in a way that it supports this essential discourse by collecting relevant projects, looking behind the “facades”, and by making apparent their materiality and technical structure. Certainly a more refined technical understanding will be helpful for developing a more differentiated attitude to media facades. One of the purposes of the following introductory text is to demonstrate the range of technical characteristics that have a substantial influence on the visual experience, but also on the interactivity and the “urban value” of media architecture. Media facades elude a classification into mutually exclusive categories and therefore it is more meaningful to discuss their most important characteristics (display technology, translucency, interaction, …) and to demonstrate that the individual projects presented in the exhibition base themselves on quite similar elements of design, but interpret these very differently and thus vary from each other. Thus, in the diagram below, a media facade will not only be classified concerning only one element, but it will take a place in relation to every single one of these characteristics. The so-called media facades are simply good examples for the relevant characteristic, but naturally they also exhibit other characteristics and would eventually also serve as good examples in those places. It is not the point to rigidly classify media facades and media architecture, but to have a set of terms at hand in order to be in a better position to compare and discuss them. Earlier attempts of classification and disambiguation that have partly found their way into my work are not to remain unmentioned and are cited in the sources.

Display technology The handling of light serves as the best starting point for technological consideration: Does the facade actively emit light, or does it create images through mechanical movement at the surface of the building? Kinetic and even static media facades obviously also work with light – albeit in a passive way. They use sunlight or ambient light and modulate it in order to create surface effects and image information. Examples for this are the projects Flare or Daisyworld.

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There is a range of technologies for the production of light on media facades (LED, fluorescence, â&#x20AC;Ś), and likewise there are different methods to move mechanic parts: from compressed air, to servodrives or the simple use of wind energy. A special case is demonstrated by projected facades): the do not generate light by themselves. The surface of the building is used as projected area and the projection occurs from the outside onto the building surface, or alternatively from the inside onto translucent areas (windows in most cases), which are thereby converted to screens. In this exhibition we have disregarded projected facades â&#x20AC;&#x201C; mainly because our topic is the smooth integration of the display into the architecture and this embraces projections only in exceptional cases. Of course this point of view is subjective and vulnerable.

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media facades

aWhat are the properties of the image created by the media facade? Resolution Of how many pixels is the image composed? The spectrum is enormous - some examples: Blinkenlights 144 pixels, Uniqua about 160.000, Grand Lisboa over 1 Million pixels. A larger number of pixels does not necessarily improve the quality of the image – Blinkenlights shows how much is possible with very few pixels – but definitely a higher resolution allows for sharper and more detailed pictures, if needed. Pixel pitch How big are the pixels and how far are they located apart from each other, taken from their center. Diffusion The size of the individual pixels has a big effect on the observer. It is possible to turn light sources as small as a couple of millimetres (like LEDs) into pixels of the size of one meter through the use of diffusion surface – as in the case of Galleria Store in Seoul. The luminosity or light power of a lamp is dispersed into a larger area through the diffusion, but its luminance or light density is thereby reduced. Distance from the observer There is a direct relation between this property and those of pixel pitch and diffusion, because the bigger the pixel pitch or the pixels, the farther away one has to be from the picture in order not only to see single dots, but to recognize a meaningful overall picture. Viewed from up close, interesting abstract light effects may result from this fact. Brightness The techniques mentioned under the point „Display technology“ are highly variable in respect to brightness. Of all the active displays, only LED is bright enough to persist in direct sunlight. However, some kinetic facades (like Flare) skilfully take advantage of the sunlight. During the night, too much brightness may turn into a drawback, since it affects residents and traffic. Colour depth / Tone Depending on the technology, more or less colours are at one’s disposal. Reduction to fewer colours (like in the case of BIX, SPOTS, Blinken Lights or Chanel in Tokyo) may also be used as stylistic device. LED allows for a production of colour spaces with millions of colours.

Integration of the display into the building Integration is a vital point for the assessment of media facades – a decisive characteristic („differentia specifica“) for the acknowledgement of something as media facade or not. Without integration, the display seems fitted and constitutes its own level of meaning, which seems detached from the building. If a display has been integrated well into the building or its facade, then these two merge into something new – what we refer to as media architecture. In addition to the constructive integration, the content may also be customized with respect to the building and emphasize the unity of display and building. Since the integration of building and display is not simply a superficial characteristic that is restricted to the facade, I here find the term media architecture more suitable and more comprehensive. The following speaks in favor of the term media architecture: 1. The media concept can not only include the facade, but also the room lighting and thereby reaches from the surface into the depths of the building. 2. Spatial and medial structures overlap, so that communicative processes may evolve,

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which may not only occur on the surface of the building, but also inside, in the public sphere around the building and finally also - spatially unrestricted - in electronic media. The term “architecture” makes advances to this, since it is also open to non-spatial structures and processes - and exactly that is what many of the successful projects are about. In some cases, successful integration may also be accomplished when the building has already been constructed and the media facade is designed and installed only afterwards (UNIQA is a good example for this). As a general rule, successful media architectures emerge especially when all factors that have been regarded here are considered already in planning and are interwoven to a coherent concept. The relationship of the terms “media facade” and “media architecture” is not substantially different from the relationship of “facade” to “architecture”. Facade refers to surface and all of the functions that are part of a surface: protection, climatisation, representation, and so on. Architecture on the other hand is a substantially wider term and refers to the whole range and depth of spatial structures and functions. Moreover, this term is often used also in reference to non-spatial structures – see for example “software architecture”.

Permanent / temporary Closely connected to the issue of integration is the question of the durability of a media facade installation. One should generally suppose that permanent installations should yield better results, because more planning and money is spent on these. In practice there are many exceptions to this assumption: the most convincing being Blinkenlights, and also many show facades of concerts and events are quite successful (Asian Games, for example). In this context, successful installations with artistic content (like Spots) are also not to be forgotten.

Dimensionality Another aspect of “integration” is dimensionality. Since buildings usually are spacious and not simply flat structures, obviously media facades should also have a spatial effect. Only in uncommon and extraordinary cases will it be possible and meaningful for a display to take up the entire three-dimensional space of a building, since this could easily lead to problems with the occupants. There are already many concepts that include the room lighting of a building into the projection. As long as there are no occupants in the house, projection into the depth of the building is thus possible – but it is temporally restricted to a couple days every year and a few hours every day. More common, so far, are “2.5 D” projections. 2,5 D means that media facades are not restricted to only one surface, but flow around edges of buildings (Galleria Store), or extend to spherical surfaces (UNIQA and Grand Lisboa). In this way, all-around-projections and striking spatial effects are possible. A good example for a true three-dimensional display is the Nova installation inside the train station in Zürich.

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media facades

Transparency / Translucency There are various points in which media facades may come into conflict with other functions of the building. The most important ones concern light and energy (for energy see below, sustainability). With respect to light the issue at stake is that components of a media facade cover parts of the surface of the building. Sometimes there is not enough daylight reaching into the inside of the building, sometimes there is none at all, and so the use of the subjacent space as office space is no longer possible. For this reason, various approaches have been taken to reduce the lightemitting parts and to maximize their luminosity. The properties of LEDs serve these goals well and thus they are increasingly integrated into facade components like cover caps and louvers for sun protection so that they subduct only a small amount of daylight. In other cases, occupants are completely unimpaired by the media facade. There certainly is a logical conflict between the performance of transmitted light and the resolution or the pixel pitch also in those cases, where the lighting socket is integrated into the facade. In order to attain higher resolution or to reduce pixel pitch between rows of pixels, the facade grid has to be adjusted accordingly, or alternatively louvers for sun protection or similar components need to be placed in front of the facade, which necessarily impairs the performance of daylight. Satisfying solutions are especially achieved through the use of forward-spaced components with integrated lighting sockets, which equally feature a high quality image and high quality usage. From the point of view of the occupant, it is not only important for him to receive enough daylight, but also that he enjoys an unobstructed view. A facade may be translucent, but not transparent, as in thecase of the Chanel building in Tokyo, where building film was used as diffusion layer. Obviously, one of the designer’s goals in this case was to dissolve the individual lighting sockets into lighting areas using Privalite-glass, and to thereby create image effects that strongly resemble fabric. The magnificent effect of the image in this case really is at the cost of the occupants, who cannot clearly see outside during operation. The diffusion layer furthermore has the effect that part of the light is reflected inside the building as scattered light. Therefore, a blind is lowered as soon as the display operates. This contributes to the further impairment of the room’s quality. Blinds are also used in order to screen the room lighting from the outside, i.e. to separate those two levels of light – inside and on the media facade.

Energy consumption – sustainability In time of increasing energy consumption, which not only leads to high costs but also to conflicts evolving around distribution, one cannot keep quiet about the fact that media facades consume energy – quite much in some cases. The consumption depends on the effectiveness of the illuminants, as well as on their number and luminosity. LEDs are very effective, but if they are used in high numbers (in some projects way beyond one million units), then their consumption levels accumulate or square. The brighter, the bigger the total area and the more densely packed the pixels are, the higher is the energy consumption. Acute cases involve competing with sunlight and operating displays during the day and under direct sunlight. We will not have to wait long for discussion to come up about the meaningfulness of such projections. Here, as in other cases, one will have to compare costs and benefit, and relevant in this case has to be what is justifiable to society,

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MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

not simply what a big company can afford. Since the issue of energy seems to essentially involve problems of distribution, one can not categorically speak of what is justifiable and what is not. If enough energy is available on the spot, for example due to the utilization of sun power, argumentation will be facilitated, as in the case of Greenpix. Furthermore, one should clearly keep in mind that besides the operation, other phases of the lifecycle of a display also have to be included in an ecological balance sheet, like its production and disposal.

Media content and the building This concerns the issue whether or not the projection of a facade takes into account the building as spatial structure or the local environment. This is another case which is closely related to the integration of the display into the building. Even if a smooth integration has been accomplished, the projection still may not establish a relation to the building. In my opinion, one can not speak of a relation even if the logo or the products of the building’s proprietor are included in the projection. Such a relation in terms of content make sense in some cases, but it should not only regard the corporate identity of the company, but also take into account the shape of the building. In a successful master plan, all three components – identity, architecture and projection – should be balanced and considered in advance. It doesn’t seem purposeful to me, if media facades refer to content that is in no relation to the building, its occupants and the place where it is located – a case often found in poor advertisements. If, on the other hand, the above mentioned components are equally balanced, not only successful media architecture may arise, but also a strong advertising effect. In the process of design and evaluation of advertisement on buildings, it is often forgotten that the value is not only to be judged by the number of people witnessing the projection, but also by how it affects the people’s perception of the building. Often there is more benefit for the proprietor, if attention is successfully drawn to balanced media architecture, as in the case of the UNIQUA-building, than in cases of a permanent projection of his logo. The building thereby turns into a landmark, a part of everyday urban perception that one gets accustomed to and after some time does not want to miss. The benefit that a proprietor (or renter) may derived from a media facade consists less in short-term advertising effects and more in long-term relationships and identifications that may arise between pedestrians and the projected building. This value is not as easily quantifiable as that of advertising spots, but it is still there and highly estimated. Certainly every form of projection of media facades – be it for advertising purposes or a purely artistic projection – requires a lot of expertise and experience, because, as we have seen above, they differ so much from ordinary screen effects in many respects (like resolution, pixel pitch and brightness) and require much sensitivity for architecture and urban space.

Interaction By far the biggest potential for the identification of occupants with media architecture consists in an interactive media concept. The projection of Blinkenlights in Berlin, for example, is well documented. Here, the “users” were given different possibilities to communicate with the building itself, or with other inhabitants of Berlin. On the one hand, clips containing simple animations or text

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media facades

messages of the user could be sent to the façade – love messages were very popular in this case. On the other hand, one could even play “Pong” via cell phone interfaces. During “normal operation”, Blinkenlights automatically performed a predefined playlist of usergenerated animations. One could discontinue the programme via cellphone, in order to play Pong either alone or together, or to activate a previously uploaded love letter. Rendering could be temporally timed through the submission of an activation key via cell phone, so that the message would perfectly suit a romantic moment with one’s loved one. It is obvious that through very personal moments like these, where one self plays the leading part on the media facade, a particular intense form of identification is established. These are unique experiences, which stay in one’s memory and are closely associated with a particular place. What more could a proprietor expect, than for the residents and visitors of a city to feel personally connected to his building? The website and public access to the software played an important part in the formation of a community around Blinkenlights. The users conceived of themselves as part of the medium and had tools at their disposal, with which they could create concrete and meaningful messages. They turned into active designers of media content and thus accepted Blinkenlights as THEIR medium.

Outlook The enormous development of consumer generated media in Web 2.0, and within that the boom of social networks like Myspace and Facebook, allows for the assumption that there is an enormous potential for applications which create social networks around media architecture, and which thereby will lead to further penetration of physical and virtual space. Here, new media formats will be created, which will presuppose a high level of interdisciplinarity on the part of the designers and which have the possibility of producing very innovative urban experiences. Certainly the projects of this exhibition can not be sufficiently described with the characteristics presented above. Especially the social and urban aspects of media architecture need further engagement and defy an all too technical description. We are aware that much work needs to be done in this domain. Possibly an exhibition may not even be as appropriate a format as a broadly based discourse of protagonists and experts and so we hope that the establishment of this discourse on a broad basis will be successful and that this exhibition has nevertheless provided qualified illustrative material and solid basic knowledge for this purpose. English translation: Dennis Johnson Sources: Alexander Wahl, Wandelbare (mediale) Gebäudefassaden, 20.01.2002, 2008; http://www.alexanderwahl.de/dateien/medienfassaden/medienfassaden.html certified on 5. Oktober 2008 Susanne Jaschko / Joachim Sauter, Mediale Oberflächen – Mediatektur als integraler Bestandteil von Architektur und Identität stiftende Maßnahme im urbanen Raum, ublished in Arch+, Nr 180, Convertible City, Sept 2006, official exhibition catalogue of the German Pavillion at the 10th Bienale of Architecture in Venice, Italy. http://www.sujaschko.de/downloads/256/Mediatektur certified on 5. Oktober 2008 Joachim Sauter, Das vierte Format: Die Fassade als medialeHaut der Architektur; 2004, http://netzspannung.org/cat/servlet/CatServlet/$files/273668/sauter.pdf, certified on 5. Oktober 2008 Andy Jörder, Improve Your City’s Appearance - Medienfassaden in urbanen Brennpunkten Diplomarbeit. http://www.nd80.de/portfolio/pdf/IYCA_Screen.pdf, certified on 5. Oktober 2008 Ava Fatah Gen. Schieck, Media Screens – Urban Environments as a Medium of Communication, Mediamatic May 2007, http://www.slideshare.net/revi.kornmann/media-screens/ certified on 5. Oktober 2008. Lucy Bullivant, 4dsocial: Interactive Design Environments, Wiley 2007; Lucy Bullivant, Responsive Environments: Architecture, Art and Design, Victoria & Albert Museum 2006 Ag4, ag4-mediafacades, Daab 2006 Medienarchitektur, Arch+ 149 150, http://www.mediaarchitecture.org

Projects

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projects

Animated Architecture

This scene is dominated by architects, who want to go beyond the physical form of buildings and make them communicate with the city. Architects throughout time have wanted to express attitudes and messages on building facades, but now media facades and other technologies offer new forms of expression. The main difference: The facade is no longer static; it can change its appearance in a blink of an eye and thereby architecture becomes more animated than ever. One of the main challenges in this scene is to integrate pixels into the facade, therefore a variety of costumised architectural pixels have been developed, each with a specific function for the building and a specific aesthetic.

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animated architecture

galleria store seoul, 2004

People stop in the street speechless, take photographs and take videos of the facade, all of them utterly amazed. The designâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s subtle color changes and abstract images perfectly fit in the contemporary image of the building. The Galleria Fashion Mall is back in the heart of the city.

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animated architecture

Kunsthaus - BIX graz, 2003

“The Graz building as a responsive skin of some sort was always in our mind - the ‘realities’ boys made it reality - with sparkle. What more could you ask for?” Peter Cook; Architect, London, GB

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animated architecture

national library minsk, 2006

In 2006, Minsk received a new architectural symbol â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a brand new building to house the National Library of Belarus. The twenty-three story library is designed in the form of a rhombicuboctahedron (diamond) and symbolizes the enormous value of knowledge that mankind has stored in books.

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animated architecture

allianz arena

Munich - FrĂśttmaning, 2005

The most spectacular views of the Allianz Arena are at night when the outer enclosure radiates the color of whichever club is hosting the eveningâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s match. The eleven bottom rows of the inflated membrane cushions - 1.058 elements out of a total of 2.874 - are illuminated. In addition to monochrome lighting, alternating strips and a diamond-shaped pattern can be created in two colors.

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animated architecture

The Chanel Ginza Tower Ginza, Tokyo, 2004

With a brand that is admired and respected for grace and sophistication, Chanel once again dominated the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention by establishing a new store in a place recognised as one of the most luxurious shopping districts in the world: the Ginza district in Tokyo, Japan. Lighting Science Design Works partnered with Peter Marino Architect to pioneer the innovative utilization of media facades as a powerful yet elegant branding method.

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animated architecture

KPN Tower

Rotterdam, 2000

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think it is enormously important to work with the intangible elements of space. Light, transparency, vibration, structure and color are those elements that interact with the shape of the space, rather than emphasize its function. The language of Architecture is changing. New technologies can bring together peoples and cultures in a way that is unique in the History of mankind. I firmly believe in the value of these options.â&#x20AC;? Renzo Piano

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animated architecture

Nordwesthaus Rohner FuSSach, 2009

Nordwesthaus on Lake Constance An impressive lighting display in the new Rohner harbour.

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projects

animated architecture

UEC Iluma - Crystal Mesh Singapore, 2009

Crystal Mesh is a façade for the ILUMA building complex in Singapore. It’s a “bastard” as it combines aspects of a conventional curtain façade with those of a light installation or monitor-façade.

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animated architecture

Wilkie Edge - Aamp, Singapore 2009 Singapore, 2009

The “Architectural Advertising Amplifier” (AAMP) is a permanent generative media art installation at “Wilkie Edge”, a mixed commercial development in Singapore. AAMP is creating transitional aspects between a commercial LED billboard that had already been set into the façade and the actual architecture of the building.

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animated architecture

yas hotel

abu dhabi, 2009

The Yas Hotel, a 500-room, 85,000-square-meter complex, is one of the main architectural features of the ambitious 36-billion-dollar Yas Marina development and accompanying Formula 1 raceway circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Asymptote envisioned an architectural landmark embodying various key influences and inspirations ranging from the aesthetics and forms associated with speed, movement and spectacle to the artistry and geometries forming the basis of ancient Islamic art and craft traditions.

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animated architecture

Star Place

Kaohsiung, 2006-08

A vibrant new landmark has appeared in the fast and modern city of Kaohsiung: the luxury shopping center Star Place. Both outside and inside, the building radiates dynamism and the kind of bright perfection that the architect refers to as the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Made in Heaven Effectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Everything about the building moves the eye.

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animated architecture

City of Dreams Macau, 2009

StandardVision designed and implemented a lighting and media system covering over 50,000 square meters of LED display, stretching over four hotel towers and into two large porte-cochere entries. The custom integrated pixel lights, power systems, data mapping systems, data conversion systems, HD distribution systems and software for controls, plus original media content were developed by StandardVision as no â&#x20AC;&#x153;off-the-shelfâ&#x20AC;? solutions could meet their requirements.

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animated architecture

Bauarena Volketswil Volketswil, 2009

Attractive light LED faรงade illumination by Zumtobel for Bauarena in Switzerland.

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animated architecture

African Pavillion Expo 2008 Zaragoza, 2008

“Water and sustainable development” was the motto of the international world exhibition 2008 held in Zaragoza, Northern Spain. Approximately 100 nations presented solutions for the responsible use of the precious resource. Atelier Brückner and Nüssli designed and created the pavilion of the African countries. Zumtobel implemented the visionary illumination of the façade “Wall of Africa”, an impressive example of the variable use of light-emitting.

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MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

animated architecture

Ars Electronica Center Linz, 2008

The existing Ars Electronica Center and the new extension are connected to form one unit to be perceived as an ensemble. The crystal-like appearance generates a homogeneous interaction with its surroundings, at the same time becoming a distinctive landmark.

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spatial media art

Experiments undertaken in the area of media art are influential for Media Architecture as they give important impulses for new technical solutions as well as for new forms of perception. We can learn a lot about the impact of user interaction, especially from media art projects in public space. Compared to built architecture the projects tend to be smaller in size but nevertheless allow for elaborate innovative relationships between the physical and digital space, which might be the reason why many architects contribute primarily to this area.

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Spatial media art

Stern des S端dens - Project Hope Munich, 2009

The Project Hope is an important symbol for the Global Climate Change Conference in Copen足 hagen - it uses only as much electricity as a haidryer and can still produce amazing light shows.

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Spatial media art

fLUX â&#x20AC;&#x201C; binary waves Belgium, 2008

The urban installation is based on the measuring of infrastructural and communicational flows and their transposition into luminous, sonic and kinetic actions.

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Spatial media art

The Worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Largest Time Piece Zurich, 2005

New christmas lighting for the famous Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich. The lighting spans a length of 1.1 kilometers using 275 tubes of light. A special software controls 8,800 LED bulbs that changes the light patterns and ambiance continuously in accordance with the level of activity in the street and the progression of time in the month of December.

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Spatial media art

Nova

Zurich Central Station, 2006

NOVA blurs the boundaries between science, art and technology offering a universal experience accessible to everyone referring to “third culture”, a term first coined by C.P. Snow in his famous book “The Two Cultures” published in 1964 promoting a streetwise science culture, where working scientists communicate directly with lay people. In reference to this context NOVA’s mission is to make science more tangible to the public by revealing the perfection and beauty of mathematical formula, to awake the fascination for science and to create a dialogue with society.

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Spatial media art

Portable/Deflatable LED Matrix Vienna, 2009

16x16 LED-Display, used for media-art-installations. It can be transported in a ski-bag and controlled via USB. Consists of a dismountable Grid within a transparent wrapper (containing the LEDs) and gets vacuumised by a vacuum-pump.

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projects

Spatial media art

Distributed Projection Structure 2004 various locations - spain, sweden, hungary, finland, switzerland

Distributed Projection Structure is an experiment from 2004 where the creators tried to animate physical matter using algorithmic light.

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Spatial media art

Indemann 2009 Inden, 2009

The Indemann is a landmark project and a mediatectonic symbol for the social revival of a non-urban space.

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projects

Spatial media art

The Thor Heyerdahl Globe Larvik, 2010 ongoing

The Thor Heyerdahl Globe takes its inspiration from the work of Thor Heyerdahl and his lifelong concern with the environment, and the interconnections, flows and movements of people across the world.

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MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Spatial media art

TEXLON

flexipix

Germany, 2009

The curators of “embedded art” asked for a huge display to announce details of the show plus to do some media art experiments. The 4-part pixelcurtain measures 3,2 mtrs by 19,20 mtrs with a total of 6144 pixels. Main artist to play with the screen was Georg Schmalhofer. Zaji Chalem and Filoart contributed clips as well, the later a very successful karaoke for public space.

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projects

Business and „Money“ Architecture

In this scene money plays the main part. As money has taken a dominant role in society it is only logical that Media Architecture emerges which serves as a representation of the power of money. Perhaps even more importantly it attracts people and motivates them to spend money. Examples in this section include: banks, casinos, and shopping malls. The design of these buildings is rather driven by investors than by architects. This type of Media Architecture makes up a major part of current and future projects – especially in Asia and should be critically examined with regards to its impact on public space.

PROJECTS

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Business and „Money“ Architecture

UNIQA headquarters Budapest, 2009

Using innovative lighting, Traxon Technologies helped turn UNIQA’s Hungarian headquarter into a modern symbol of Budapest attracting worldwide attention. It now features a huge animated media screen.

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projects

Business and „Money“ Architecture

Stadion Center Vienna, 2007

The CCS is a central communication spot for different groups of population. Sport is the central topic of design for the square surface and the mall and will be made visible through the media facade over long distances. - Freimüller Söllinger Architektur ZT GmbH.

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Business and „Money“ Architecture

La Porte Shinsaibashi Osaka, 2007

It displays memorable messages for passers-by by showing elaborated images making good use of the vertically long shape, expressing each season in the midst of the urban area and displaying impressive statements and poems.

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

projects

Business and „Money“ Architecture

Grand Lisboa Macau, 2007

When walking through Macau there is one building that catches your attention for sure - the Grand Lisboa. With its egg-like bottom and the lotus flower like top it has a unique form that is supported by visual effects during the night.

PROJECTS

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Business and „Money“ Architecture

UNIQA Tower Vienna, 2004

“I recently spent a week on my honeymoon in Vienna. Our hotel room balcony had a great view of the UNIQA Tower. It is fascinating and remarkable! My wife and I would just sit on the balcony with a glass of wine and watch in amazement at the building.” A visitor to Vienna

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projects

Business and „Money“ Architecture

King’s Road Tower Jeddah, 2010

Jeddah’s Corniche won’t ever be the same after final completion of the King’s Road Tower and its breath-taking cutting-edge LED Media Facade. Being the largest in the Middle East, with almost 10.000 sqm of custom-made video system, it also uses the DMF 2.0 technology: the latest and trendiest innovation for full integration into the Facade.

PROJECTS

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Business and „Money“ Architecture

Mediamesh

Milan, 2007

Milan

Mediamesh® Milan – a distinct and meaningful fusion of both cultural and economic dimensions.

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projects

Social Media Architecture

The users play the main role in this scene. They create or at least modify content which is shown on architectural installations in public space to a large number of people. The designer’s main task is to design a medium – or a communicative setting – that one invites people to take part and two offers easy to use tools with more or less predefined forms of interaction. Computer experts and interaction designers play a more important role than architects. If such projects work out the anonymity of the big city can be lifted for a short time, in that personal feelings and relationships become visible.

PROJECTS

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Social Media Architecture

boxLEDs

Vienna, 2010

Media Architecture for the rest of us. boxLEDs is a lightweight and very flexible hard- and software toolbox for a new breed of social media applications in public space.

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

projects

Social Media Architecture

Dynamic Ornament Vienna, 2009

Development of an artistic, experimental media facade in an exhibition at the Kunsthalle Wien, Project Space. Various new features of a screen have been realized, like the image is produced to the inside and the outside at once, inhomogeneous resolution, spatial depth of the screen surface, kinetic transformation effect with the motion of the observers, playful social media in collective painting on the facade via handheld devices.

PROJECTS

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Social Media Architecture

Marnix 2000

Brussels, 1999

Marnix 2000, the world’s first interactive RGB media façade. In 1999, the BBL-ING headquarters in Brussels were converted into a monumental interactive screen. The project, designed by magic monkey, was open to everyone.

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projects

Social Media Architecture

Blinkenlights

Berlin, Haus des Lehrers, temporary installation 2001

Celebrating its 20th anniversary the Chaos Computer Club has made a special present to itself and the city of Berlin. From September 12th, 2001 to February 23rd, 2002, the famous “Haus des Lehrers” (teacher’s house) office building at Berlin Alexanderplatz has been enhanced to become the world’s biggest interactive computer display.

PROJECTS

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Social Media Architecture

Dexia Tower

Brussels, 2006

On Brussels’ Rogier Place, at the bottom of the tower, a multi touch screen is mounted where people, both individually and collectively, can interact in real time. The interaction is constituted by both static and dynamic inputs and takes parameters of size (finger, hand), direction (horizontal, vertical, diagonal) and duration (introducing growth) into account. The user’s inputs establish a play of graphical elements inspired by abstract art such as Mondriaan’s ‘elementarism’ and Kandinsky’s ‘point and line to plane’.

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

projects

Social Media Architecture

The Cloud, London 2012 London, 2012

The principal effects of the Cloud are generated from their context â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from the aerial sea of swarming data, from the diverse populations of London, the UK and the wider string of global villages, and from the seamless stretch of weather that unites us all.

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MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

projects

Future Trends and Prototypes

This section provides a collection of projects that cast light on what Media Architecture might look like in some years. Decreasing energy consumption and peripheral energy production will be two of the main challenges in this area. The pixel as a universal and intelligent building block seems to be in the focus of the interest of innovative researchers. The pixel of the future could contain all the technology necessary for measuring environmental data, communicating with each other and even changing its own position. In the future we might be confronted with swarms of intelligent pixel drones. Flying displays that change their form and position according to events in the environment.

PROJECTS

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Future Trends and Prototypes

Solar Collector - www.solarcollector.ca Waterloo, 2008

A solar-powered, web-connected, interactive sculpture. Angled shafts combine solar energy and online expression to create a performance in light each night. A collaboration between the community and the sun.

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

projects

Future Trends and Prototypes

Polymedia Pixel - 3d display Prototype developed in Sydney

The Polymedia Pixel can be integrated into various physical surroundings as an active media facade, including embedded sensory equipment functions as an interface, allowing audio, visual and interactive response to dynamic situations.

PROJECTS

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Future Trends and Prototypes

GreenPix - Zero Energy Media Wall Beijing, 2008

“It’s not easy to be green.” Greenpix behaves like an organic system, absorbing solar energy during the day and generating light from the same power in the evening. The project promotes the uncompromising integration of sustainable technology in new Chinese architecture, responding to the aggressive and unregulated economic development currently undertaken by the industry, often at the expense of the environment.

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

projects

Future Trends and Prototypes

One Ocean - Thematic Pavilion Expo 2012 Yeosu, 2012

The bionic principle of the kinetic media façade supports the idea of a “consistent effect”. Geometry, material, movement and light are seamlessly interrelated. The longer the single lamella - the wider the opening angle - the bigger the area affected by light. The bionic approach also underlines the ecological agenda of the EXPO. As a moving, emotional experience the kinetic façade combines the sensation with the sensational while communicating the EXPO’s theme in an innovative and investigative way.

PROJECTS

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Future Trends and Prototypes

Urban Pixels

Project, 2007 - 09

Urban Pixels are a wireless network of physical pixels that enables flexible, reconfigurable, unbounded, low-resolution, and responsive urban displays.

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

projects

Future Trends and Prototypes

Luma Space 2010 Project, 2010

Project under Development

The experience of light and lighting is multi-sensory: light does not only provide sight, but also enhances texture (that we feel), reveals shape (that we touch) and space (that we are in). Media architecture often is created using “hard” surfaces such as glass and composites, with little attention to the experience of texture and tactility. Luma Space 2010 is the result of an exploration of “soft” materials that are back lit using a pixelated LED grid.

PROJECTS

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Future Trends and Prototypes

Flyfire

project, 2010

Imagine pixels that could fly out of your computer screen and create an immersive, luminous cloud capable of displaying digital information in three-dimensional space.

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

projects

Future Trends and Prototypes

FLARE Facade

kinetic ambient reflection membrane

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.

PROJECTS

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Future Trends and Prototypes

Neuroled

Germany, 2010

Give your location additional attention with the innovative and interactive NeuroLED modules. Fascinate your clients. They will take photographs and videos of the magic interactive NeuroLED Wall, totally amazed. Catch peoples attention and get them play for a moment. Most elementary and easy to understand.

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

projects

Future Trends and Prototypes

C4 Espacio de Creación Artística Contemporánea Cordoba, 2011

The C4 project with a building facade with an integrated light and media installation is far away from the concept of uniform dots of light (pixel) and structured layout.

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Technical Appendix

A b c d e

technical appendix

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Galleria Store

Seoul, 2004 People stop in the street speechless, take photographs and take videos of the facade, all of them utterly amazed. The design’s subtle color changes and abstract images perfectly fit in the contemporary image of the building. The Galleria Fashion Mall is back in the heart of the city. A new facade for the Galleria department store The Galleria Department Store is in fact a refurbished project. Originally the Galleria Building was a drab concrete box. It’s owner Hanwha Stores Co, had the desire to turn it into a landmark building that reflects the innovation and style of the area, manifesting its own identity for quality, in the same way as the exclusive boutiques within its walls are doing. Architects UNStudio were asked to recreate the mall’s exterior. They introduced Arup Lighting as the project’s light designers. Together they developed a chameleon-like facade that reflects the subtleties of natural light on opalescent, dichroic glass discs during the day. At night the discs are individually backlit and controlled by a video software, in order to create brilliant and unique color schemes all over the building. Each disc is acting like a big pixel on a giant screen. 4.330 discs, each 850mm in diameter, make up the entire facade of the mall. “The subtle daytime looks of the building change to something expressive and outgoing during the night”, says the lighting designer Rogier van der Heide.

Country

Southkorea

City

Seoul

Year

2004

Owner

Hanwha Stores Co.

Architect

UNStudio

Light Design

UNStudio and Arup Lighting

LED Hardware

Xilver Dynamic LED Lighting

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

e:cue

Facade Type and Geometry

Black box building covered with glass disks with LED back lighting.

Kind of Light Creation

Custom made full color LED fittings behind glass disks with a diameter of 830 mm. The glass disks consist out of a sand blasted glass sheet, an acid etched glass sheet, and 3M dichroic film in between.

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Low resolution - 4500 LED fittings cover mainly two sides of the building. At daytime, due to the 3M dichroic film, the building has an extraordinary appearance while the facade is not lit.

Luminance

Medium: the operation of the facade starts at twilight.

Urban Situation

Because the building is situated at a street corner, only two of its facades can be seen. They can be viewed from a long distance.

Photo Credits

Christian Richters

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

Kunsthaus - BIX

Graz, 2003 “The Graz building as a responsive skin of some sort was always in our mind - the ‘realities’ boys made it reality with sparkle. What more could you ask for?” Peter Cook; Architect, London, GB BIX - Communicative Display Skin for the Kunsthaus Graz BIX is a matrix of 930 fluorescent lamps integrated into the eastern Plexiglas facade of the Kunsthaus. Through the possibility to individually adjust the lamps’ brightness at an infinite variability with 20 frames/sec. images, films and animations can be displayed. The BIX installation and the architecture share a strong symbiotic relationship. The facade as a display extends the communication range of the Kunsthaus, complementing its programmatically formulated communicative purpose – in an abstract and mediated form the media facade transmits its internal processes out into the public. For the development central design features of conventional large screen displays had been abandoned in order to obtain a number of substantial advantages: On the one hand, the low image resolution imposes strong limitations. On the other, this “deal” enables the modular structure and the huge size of the installation to be highly integrated into the architecture. Not a separately mounted video wall but the Kunsthaus itself radiates messages. Country

Austria

City

Graz

Year

2003

Owner

Landesmuseum Joanneum GmbH

Architect

Peter Cook & Colin Fournier

Light Design

realities:united

Light Hardware

SE Lightmanagement AG

Lighting Control Software

John Dekron, Jeremy Rotsztain/ Mantissa, Ulrike Brückner/ Musterfirma, Peter Castine in collaboration with realities:united

Lighting Control Hardware

SE Lightmanagement AG

Facade Type and Geometry

Double layer façade construction with a non-transparent inner façade and an outer “skin” constructed from translucent Plexiglas panels covering the biomorphic building. BIX consists of a matrix of conventional circular fluorescent light tubes integrated in the Plexiglas façade of the Kunsthaus.

Kind of Light Creation

Fluorescent light tubes (custom fixtures)

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

930 pixels on a total surface area of 900m2

Luminance

Medium-high; used under twilight conditions and at night

Urban Situation

Installation is integrated into the building’s riverside frontage which faces the city

Photo Credits

realities:united, Berlin

Link 1

www.bix.at

Link 2

realities-united.de

technical appendix

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

National Library

Minsk, 2006 In 2006, Minsk received a new architectural symbol – a brand new building to house the National Library of Belarus. The twenty-three story library is designed in the form of a rhombicuboctahedron (diamond) and symbolizes the enormous value of knowledge that mankind has stored in books. A library inside a sparkling diamond The National Library is covered with glass panels, which sparkle during the day like a real diamond. Architects Victor Kramarenko and Michael Vinogradov, the authors of the building’s idea, wanted to preserve and convey this vision at night. Professor Viktor Kramarenko describes the challenge: “In the evening, the sparkling effect vanishes. External flood type illumination of the building is not effective, since glass panels reflect light into space.” The authors suggested hiding the light sources behind the glass “to create an illusion of a giant color display”, continues Kramarenko. A total of 4646 color-changing LED fixtures were installed all around the building, effectively creating a monitor with 25x25 meter sides and 62 meters in diameter. “As a result, spectators are able to observe a fantastic show with incredible dynamic plots from hundreds of meters away. It is an extraordinary creative venue for lighting designers”. The entire color-changing system was designed and produced by Walter Industries (Minsk, Belarus), a 100% subsidiary of the Canadian lighting manufacturer GVA Lighting, Inc. The entire network of dynamically addressed LED light fixtures is controlled through a custom-designed software operating on a standard PC. The lighting designer is presented with a flexible interface for easy control and creation of lighting shows and specific lighting effects.

Country

Belarus

City

Minsk

Year

2006

Owner

Public Building

Architect

Victor Karmaenko

Light Design, Technical Layout and LED Hardware

Walter Industries (GVA Lighting, Inc)

Facade Type and Geometry

Diamond shaped glass facade (ca. 7000m2)

Kind of Light Creation

STAR LED fixtures built of 3x1 Watt Luxeon LEDs.

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Low resolution - 4646 LED fixtures mounted behind a glass layer.

Luminance

Medium brightness - the facade is only being used at dawn.

Urban Situation

The building can be seen from different angles and from a long distance.

Photo Credits

GVA Lighting

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

Allianz Arena

Munich - Fröttmaning, 2005 The most spectacular views of the Allianz Arena are at night when the outer enclosure radiates the color of whichever club is hosting the evening’s match. The eleven bottom rows of the inflated membrane cushions - 1.058 elements out of a total of 2.874 - are illuminated. In addition to monochrome lighting, alternating strips and a diamond-shaped pattern can be created in two colors. An illuminated doughnut for Munich The Allianz Arena has a delightfully surreal appearance. The exterior is covered in tufted, translucent material; viewed from afar, the stadium resembles a giant, quilted doughnut. At night, it becomes positively radiant: the facade is lit from within, which means that the entire arena glows (The windows of 106 luxury boxes can be partially discerned behind the curved scrim.). At most evenings, the building emits a soft white light, reflecting the silvery tone of the synthetic skin. However, at nights when one of the two Munich soccer clubs has a home game and the teams share the stadium, the building changes its color: red for Bayern Munich, blue for the TSV 1860 Munich. The arena retains its allure during the day. The unusual material- ETFE, or ethylene tetra fluoro ethylene- gives the stadium a cushiony texture, as if it was an oversized, permanently moored blimp - you want to climb up and touch it. Its subtle white hue eerily duplicates the Munich sky on a cloudy winter afternoon and the stadium practically ‘disappears’. In the sun, it brightens. The 2,760 tufts - made of two sheets of ETFE, each 0.2 mm thick, which are sewn together and filled with air- are arranged in a strict diamond pattern, giving the facade a subtle sleekness. (The New Yorker, 20 March 06) Country

Germany

City

Munich

Year

2005

Owner

Allianz Arena-München Stadion GmbH

Architect

Herzog & de Meuron

Light Design

Michael Schmidt Lichtplanung

Light Hardware

Siteco Beleuchtungstechnik GmbH

Membrane Skin

Covertex

Facade Type and Geometry

Pneumatic membrane skin made of 2874 diamond-shaped ETFE cushions (ca. 65.000m²)

Kind of Light Creation

Specially designed fluorescent lamps are being used. Each package contains three colors (blue, red and white).

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

1058 of 2847 elements can be illuminated. Monochrome and alternating patterns are possible. The color effect achieved through the illumination is visible externally and in part internally. From outside, the increasingly dense printing on the lower rows of inflated cushions obscures a direct view of the lamps and also disperses the light.

Luminance

Illumination is only being used in the evening.

Photo Credits

sponsoring.allianz.com/en/allianz-arena/images/

Link 1

www.covertex.de

Link 2

www.allianz-arena.de

technical appendix

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

The Chanel Ginza Tower

Ginza, Tokyo, 2004 With a brand that is admired and respected for grace and sophistication, Chanel once again dominated the world’s attention by establishing a new store in a place recognized as one of the most luxurious shopping districts in the world: the Ginza district in Tokyo, Japan. Lighting Science Design Works partnered with Peter Marino Architect to pioneer the innovative utilization of media facades as a powerful yet elegant branding method. A branded building The Chanel Tower is the first true architectural integration of LED technology into a curtain wall environment. It pioneered the innovative utilization of media facades as a branding method. Lighting Science Design Works collaborated closely with the architects at Peter Marino Architect throughout the engineering and project design process to ensure the design intent to integrate the LED system in to the buildings structure was met. Over 23,000 individually addressable, monochrome LEDs were used to achieve the stunning facade that epitomized the meaning of understated elegance. The front facade comprised over 18,000 LEDs housed in 1,870 video fixtures; while the side facade hosted 5,040 LEDs encased in 560 video fixtures. Each fixture was created with lightweight extruded aluminum approximately 2 inches in diameter by 2 meters in length. Diffusers for the fixtures were constructed from electronically controlled Privalight glass. Privalite glass becomes opaque when voltage is applied directly. However, when voltage is shut off, the glass will adopt a frosty coloring that works as a diffuser for the video fixtures. In addition, each video fixture is meticulously spaced apart to further allow visibility through the windows, without compromising the overall display. During the day, blinds are retracted, allowing the Privalite glass to be energized, and at the same time, allowing people inside the building to see through the windows. At night, blinds are engaged to provide a black background for the illuminated video fixtures, and the Privalite glass reverts to its ivory coloring, providing a display screen for the LEDs.

Country

Japan

City

Tokyo

Year

2004

Owner

Chanel

Architect

Peter Marino Architect

Display Content

Chanel

Project engineering, technological integration and installation

Lighting Science Design Works

Project Coordination

SGF Associates, Inc.

Facade Type and Geometry

Dual-layered glass facade enhanced with intelligent “Privalite” glass that interchange in opacity according to voltage levels. Additionally, 1,120 square meters of computer-operated canvas roller blinds provide a dramatic black backdrop for the video fixtures that accents the monochrome display at night.

Kind of Light Creation

Light is created from monochrome LED video tubes that are vertically mounted behind the first glass layer.

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Ultra-high density pixel grid was utilized as a video screen while Privalite glass served as a diffusion layer as the LED facade displayed shows.

Luminance

High. Illuminated with over 23,000 individually addressable, monochrome LEDs

Urban Situation

The Chanel Ginza Tower is located in the heart of the Ginza district in Tokyo, Japan, recognized as one of the most luxurious shopping districts in the world.

Showreel

The facade displays Chanel promo clips and its distinguished double “C” logo.

Photo Credits

Lighting Science Design Works

Link 1

www.chanel-ginza.com

Link 2

www.lsgc.com

Link 3

www.petermarinoarchitect.com

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

KPN Tower

Rotterdam, 2000 “I think it is enormously important to work with the intangible elements of space. Light, transparency, vibration, structure and color are those elements that interact with the shape of the space, rather than emphasize its function. The language of Architecture is changing. New technologies can bring together peoples and cultures in a way that is unique in the History of mankind. I firmly believe in the value of these options.” Skyscraper on an island A wall of light measuring 3.000 square meters has turned the new headquarters of the largest Dutch telecommunications company KPN in Rotterdam into a spectacular attraction. The stunning building, designed by Renzo Piano, was officially opened in September 2000. Located on an island by the New Maas it can be seen from miles. The 100-metre-high and 40-metre-wide sloping north facade is equipped with around 900 PLANON® flat-panel lamps. Because they can be controlled individually with electronic control gear, they form the pixels of a gigantic monochrome display on which still and moving images can be created. Country

Netherlands

City

Rotterdam

Year

2000

Owner

KPN Telekom

Architect

Renzo Piano

Facade Design

Corsmit Engineers

Display Content

Studio Dumbar, Pixelsex, Graffiti Research Lab

LED Hardware

Osram Planon

Facade Type and Geometry

Single layered, overhanging glass facade (ca. 3.000m²).

Kind of Light Creation

Osram Planon flat panel lamps

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Low resolution - 900 Planon lamps have been used

Luminance

Relatively bright - use during daytime is possible

Urban Situation

The building can be seen from one side from very long distances.

Showreel

Graffiti Research Lab

Photo Credits

Michel Denancé

Link 1

www.zumtobel.at

Link 2

www.studiodumbar.com

Link 3

www.pixelsex.org

Link 4

www.graffitiresearchlab.com

technical appendix

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Nordwesthaus Rohner

Fußach, 2009 Nordwesthaus on Lake Constance An impressive lighting display in the new Rohner harbour Reflecting in the lake The 12 integrated RGB LEDs per luminaire offer an immense spectrum of more than 16 million colors. This means that the color of the lighting can change subtly from one shade to the next through the entire color spectrum. The compact luminaires are fitted with asymmetrical optics to ensure that the amoeba-like voids in the concrete walls are fully illuminated. The optics spread the light wide in the voids in the walls and also focus it to the sides in the room and also to the outside. This means that there is very little scattered light inside the building, which in turn helps create a pleasant atmosphere and ensures that people are not disturbed by the built-in spotlights. DMX control enables dynamic lighting sequences to be created. It is these sequences that are helping to turn the building into a sightseeing attraction.

Country

Austria

City

Fußach

Year

2009

Owner

Hafen Rohner GmbH & Co KG

Architect

Baumschlager Eberle, Lochau/A

Light Design

Baumschlager Eberle, Lochau/A

LED Hardware

Zumtobel: 12 RGB LED spotlights with 1.500 individually controllable LEDs and asymmetrical optics

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

DMX 512

Facade Type and Geometry

LED spotlights

Kind of Light Creation

LED façade illumination

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Catches people’s attention

Luminance

12 RGB LED spotlights

Urban Situation

Harbour

Photo Credits

Zumtobel

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

UEC Iluma - Crystal Mesh

Singapore, 2009 Crystal Mesh is a façade for the ILUMA building complex in Singapore. It’s a “bastard” as it combines aspects of a conventional curtain façade with those of a light installation or monitor-façade. Crystal Mesh - Ornamental and granulated light and media facade Façade design effective both at day and night: The concept blurs boundaries as it merges the concept of a media screen with an ornamental architectural screen filtering air and light, while blending futuristic imagery and 70’s Vegas style. Crystal Mesh consists of a tessellated pattern made of over 3,000 modules of deep-drawn polycarbonate covering a façade area of more than 5,000 m2. About 1,900 of these modules contain a regular matrix of compact fluorescent light tubes forming “active patches” within the façade. At night the light matrix superimposes the idiosyncratic physical structure of the white, crystalline daytime façade. But the irregular arrangement of these patches – dividing the façade into areas with different resolutions – does not create a large, homogeneous screen in front of the building, but instead forms a more general impression of the building’s “media-ness” as a surplus to and an essential ingredient of its architecture. A herald of an architecture which is moving from a static to a dynamic art. Country

Singapore

City

Singapore

Year

2009

Owner

Jack Investment

Architect

WOHA Architects

Facade Design

WOHA Architects & realities:united

Light Design

realities:united

Light Hardware

SE Lightmanagement AG & Million Lighting Pte Ltd

Lighting Control Software

John Dekron & Erik Levander/ thismedia in collaboration with realities:united

Lighting Control Hardware

SE Lightmanagement AG

Facade Type and Geometry

Double layer façade construction with a non-transparent inner façade and an outer façade layer that consists of a tessellated pattern made of deep-drawn polycarbonate modules; two thirds of these modules contain a regular matrix of compact fluorescent light tubes forming “active patches” within the façade.

Kind of Light Creation

Compact fluorescent light tubes (custom fixtures)

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

6069 pixels (total active façade areas: 2550 m2; high resolution areas: 1750 m2; low resolution areas: 800 m2)

Luminance

High; used under twilight conditions and at night

Urban Situation

The building is located in the Bugis area, Singapore’s designated entertainment district, just opposite the national library; the installation faces one of the area’s busiest roads

Photo Credits

realities:united, Berlin; Dirk Enters, Berlin

Link 1

realities-united.de/#PROJECT,138,1

technical appendix

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Wilkie Edge - Aamp, Singapore 2009

Singapore, 2009 The “Architectural Advertising Amplifier” (AAMP) is a permanent generative media art installation at “Wilkie Edge”, a mixed commercial development in Singapore. AAMP is creating transitional aspects between a commercial LED billboard that had already been set into the façade and the actual architecture of the building. Architectural Advertising Amplifier To create a continuously changing content, AAMP “hijacks” the never-ending stream of commercial content displayed on the LED billboard: A specialized artistic software permanently analyzes this content and transforms it into a visual color-echo that is displayed on the AAMP installation in real time. Triggered by the results of the software’s image analysis, various algorithms are applied to automatically “digest” the incoming images and generate a never-repeating artistic interpretation. Although the resolution of the installation is extremely low, the displayed abstract images and patterns maintain an astonishing degree of legibility as the human brain manages to link and associate the color patterns back to the originating moving images displayed on the commercial LED billboard. While the production of an artistic light aura as such is the default operational mode, two special modes are there to add an extra twist: With “Recursive Mode,” the software not only processes the AAMP behavior, but also aesthetically feeds back onto the LED billboard itself in real time, i.e., the software artistically manipulates the screened commercials and acts on both the high-end and the low-end screen. While the use of “Recursive Mode” is bound to special agreements with the advertisers, “Dream Mode” is automatically used at all times when no paid commercials are scheduled for display – here the AAMP machine starts “dreaming” by generating a unique, abstract yet poetic art piece based on all the commercials shown – and recorded – in the past. While commercial LED billboards on most buildings remain “anti-architectural elements,” AAMP is an attempt to generate a transitional joint between the realms of art, architecture, and advertising. Maybe it can help to enrich the ongoing discussion about the use of large-scale advertising as an undeniable element of today’s urban reality.

Country

Singapore

City

Singapore

Year

2009

Owner

CapitaLand Commercial and Integrated Development Ltd.

Architect

WOHA Architects

Concept and Design

realities:united

Light Design

realities:united

Light Design, Technical Layout

realities:united

Software Development

John Dekron & Erik Levander / thismedia

Structure

Installed in the outer layer of a double skin façade, each of the individual LED lights is used as a “light projector” inducing a square color projection onto the inner hull. The Venetian blinds in front of the office windows serve as projection screens.

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Low resolution - content is projected onto the inner blinds that form the screen

Urban Situation

This media installation does not cover up, but transforms the architecture to become a carrier of digital information and an urban landmark at the same time.

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

The Yas Hotel

Abu Dhabi, 2009 The Yas Hotel, a 500-room, 85,000-square-meter complex, is one of the main architectural features of the ambitious 36-billion-dollar Yas Marina development and accompanying Formula 1 raceway circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Asymptote envisioned an architectural landmark embodying various key influences and inspirations ranging from the aesthetics and forms associated with speed, movement and spectacle to the artistry and geometries forming the basis of ancient Islamic art and craft traditions. A hotel and a race track The architectural marvel of the Middle East, YAS Hotel in Abu Dhabi, completed with the launch of the first Formula 1™ race held on October 30th 2009 at the new Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix circuit built around the hotel is the world’ s biggest LED project, to date, controlled through RDM (Remote Device Management) protocol by an advanced lighting control solution provided by e:cue lighting control. The main design attraction of this 500-room, 85,000-square-meter complex, is the curvilinear grid-shell covered with over 5,300 diamond-shaped steel panels, containing nearly 5000 RGBW LED fixtures, controlled by e:cue’ s CONTROL SERVER through RDM protocol. Thirty two e:cue BUTLER XTs, RDM capable, provide bidirectional communication between the LED lighting on the grid-shell, and e:cue’ s CONTROL SERVER for status monitoring of LEDs. The system sends status reports to building management and automatically adjusts the intensity of LEDs to prevent overheating. Country

Vereinigte Arabische Emirate

City

Abu Dhabi

Year

2009

Owner

United Arab Emirates

Architect

Asymptote Architecture

Facade Design

Asymptote Architecture

Light Design

Arup Lighting, New York

LED Hardware

Enfis/Cooper Lighting

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

e:cue lighting control

Technology

Butler XT, LCS1, Media Engine 2, Connect Base 8

Elements

Thirty two e:cue BUTLER XTs, RDM capable to provide bidirectional communication between the LED lighting on the grid-shell, and e:cue’ s CONTROL SERVER for status monitoring of LEDs. The system sends status reports to building management and automatically adjusts the intensity of LEDs to prevent overheating.

Urban Situation

in the middle of a formula 1 race track

Photo Credits

Asymptote Architecture, Traxon Technologies Ltd.

Drawing Credits

Asymptote Architecture

Link 1

www.asymptote.net

Link 2

www.ecue.de

technical appendix

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Star Place

Kaohsiung, 2006-08 A vibrant new landmark has appeared in the fast and modern city of Kaohsiung: the luxury shopping center Star Place. Both outside and inside, the building radiates dynamism and the kind of bright perfection that the architect refers to as the ‘Made in Heaven Effect’. Everything about the building moves the eye. Fluent forms Technically acting as a sunscreen and weather barrier the curved façade is fully glazed and combines the curtain wall glazing with horizontal lamellas and vertical glass fins. The position and size of each of the façade elements are derived from a twisted frame system, which is related to the interior organisation of the building. The concave front of the building displays different fluent forms when seen from varying distances and directs the visual field of the customers traveling on the spiraling escalators. Edge-lighting for the vertical glass fins spreads soft colors onto the façade by night. The lighting intensity and color effects are digitally controlled and choreographed adding another layer of fluidity to the building’s skin.

Country

Taiwan

City

Kaohsiung

Year

2006-08

Owner

President Group

Architect

UNStudio

Light Design

UNStudio and Arup Lighting

Display Content

UNStudio, Lightlife (Cologne,Germany), Alliance Optotek Corporation (Hsinchu, Taiwan)

Facade Type and Geometry

front facade: curtain wall with sunscreen made of aluminum lamellas and glass fins with dot frit and integrated edge lighting; back facade: aluminum paneling

Kind of Light Creation

Custom made full color LED edge lighting profiles integrated with glass holding fixtures on bottom of glass fins with modular length; the lighting fixture is designed with a combined optic of a condenser lens just above the LED and a linear Fresnel lens to distribute the light evenly across the entire length of the glass panel; the glass fins have screen printed dot frit to spread the light, therefore the become aglow;

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Low resolution - 2500 LED light modules (each 10 Watt) are integrated into the window frame, illuminating the frit, and allowing each glass fin to become a self-illuminating pixel by night; the lighting is programmed to create color flows that follow the dynamic pattern of the glass fins

Luminance

the operation of the facade starts at twilight and does not need to be visible during daylight, however the building is situated in a dense urban environment with high ambient light levels. It was required for the façade lighting to stand out against the city lighting without being too overpowering, and also to be visible in front of the interior lighting.

Urban Situation

The building is situated on a roundabout, the sunscreen facade appears dynamic on the convex shaped building as it is changing due to the viewers standpoint; at night the fins glow, visible from all angles and from long distances.

Showreel

The storyboard was developed based on different lighting scenes for different events, the theme of the ‘rising star’ combined the various sequences that were designed in aftereffects and applied to the control system programming.

Photo Credits

Christian Richters

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

City of Dreams

Macau, 2009 StandardVision designed and implemented a lighting and media system covering over 50,000 square meters of LED display, stretching over four hotel towers and into two large porte-cochere entries. The custom integrated pixel lights, power systems, data mapping systems, data conversion systems, HD distribution systems and software for controls, plus original media content were developed by StandardVision as no “off-the-shelf” solutions could meet their requirements. The extensive media façade was integrated into the architectural fins and is designed intentionally so that the outlines of the buildings are visible at night. The collection of towers combine to create a unique video “screen” that goes way beyond a typical x and y configuration. StandardVision The City of Dream’s extensive media facade dominates all four of the hotel buildings. One of the challenges of the overall architecture was balancing the individuality of each individual building into an integrated look that tied the entire hotel / casino complex into a singular presence. Horizontal and vertical exterior fins with over 200,000 integrated pixel lights create an architectural commonality as well as a dynamic media display. Original content by StandardVision combines live action HD video and full color, abstract graphic animations into a mesmerizing display of content that flows seamlessly from building to building and into 2 enormous Porte-cochere ceilings. Literally a monument in light to the new powers of information technology, the system refreshes information to each light 60 times per second. Country

China

City

Macau

Year

2009

Owner

Melco Crown Entertainment

Architect

Arquitectonica

Light Design

StandardVision, LLC

LED Hardware

Custom LED hardware - StandardVision,LLC

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

Individual pixels receive native DVI input from high-resolution video transmitted over fiber optics to synchronized servers by Electrosonic of Burbank

Facade Type and Geometry

LED pixels integrated into the architectural fins

Technology

Standard Vision developed a custom software template which simulated the pixel formations mapped onto the building forms. A content strategy was developed for City of Dreams with a flexible library of live action media, abstract imagery and motion graphics which can be shown at different times of the year as desired.

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

4096 x 768 (each building is 1024 x 768, there are four buildings linked by synchronized servers to create a seamless moving image)

Luminance

30 nits per pixel; turned on from 5:30pm until 3:00am

Urban Situation

within a large urban entertainment complex

Showreel

original live action and designed graphic high-definition video

technical appendix

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Volketswil Bauarena

Volketswil, 2009 Attractive light LED façade illumination by Zumtobel for Bauarena in Switzerland Eye Catcher At night, 100 LED light lines create a vibrant luminous shell for the Bauarena in Volketswil, Switzerland, with red color sequences matched perfectly to the Bauarena’s logo. This unique lighting installation by Zumtobel has turned the building into an eye-catcher, demonstrating the importance of sophisticated façade illumination in order to attract people’s attention and enhance a company’s image. If required, the intelligent control system allows to create up to 15 different lighting scenes.

Country

Switzerland

City

Volketswil

Year

2009

Owner

Bauarena

Architect

Nüesch & Partner Architekten, Volketswil/CH

Light Design

HEFTI. HESS. MARTIGNONI. Zürich AG, Zürich/CH

LED Hardware

LED Line DMX RGB Tube Typ.: Zumtobel HILIO

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

DMX 512 Control via Recorder

Facade Type and Geometry

LED Line

Kind of Light Creation

LED façade illumination

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Catches people’s attention, creates a distinctive design outside and inside the building

Luminance

Hilio LED-RGB LED light lines

Urban Situation

industrial area

Photo Credits

Zumtobel

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

African Pavillon Expo 2008

Zaragoza, 2008 “Water and sustainable development” was the motto of the international world exhibition 2008 held in Zaragoza, Northern Spain. Approximately 100 nations presented solutions for the responsible use of the precious resource. ATELIER BRÜCKNER and Nüssli designed and created the pavilion of the African countries. Zumtobel implemented the visionary illumination of the façade “Wall of Africa”, an impressive example of the variable use of light-emitting diodes. Light as a medium of communication In compliance with the world exhibition’s objective to promote and continuously develop innovative technologies on a sustainable basis, ATELIER BRÜCKNER created a media façade spanning more than 1,500 square meters. Together with the builders Nüssli they devised a concept which incorporates more than 220,000 LEDs that visualize the theme of the Expo 2008 “water and sustainability”. The spectacular project in Zaragoza transforms light into a medium of communication with the observer. It also shows that there are no creative limits with LED technology. As each pixel can be individually addressed, a wide variety of light shows and videos with seamless transitions can be realized. The pavilion’s mediafacade communicates itself though this dynamic membrane. The interior message of the pavilion is radiated to the exterior. During the day, a pixilated landscape collage of the 14 African countries presented in the pavilion is visible, printed on small, mirrored panels. The Zaragoza winds activate the swinging panels while the mirrored surface reflects the moving clouds of the sky above. An interaction with the human sensory perception begins. With dusk, a true metamorphosis starts: The LED light display positioned behind the semi-translucent panels takes over the show. At 218-meter in length and six meters high, the savanna comes to life. A landscape rich in life and cultures, shaped by wind and water, unfolds. A visual poem about Africa, created by the media artist Marc Tamschick, enlightens the more than 220.000 monochrome white LED pixels. The emitted light becomes a kind of spirit that paints images on the surface of the pavilion. The seven minute film loop immerses the space with the density and vivacity of the African continent. Country

Spain

City

Zaragoza

Year

2008

Architect

ATELIER BRÜCKNER GmbH, Stuttgart/DE

Facade Design

ATELIER BRÜCKNER GmbH, Stuttgart/DE; Nüssli, Hüttwilen/ CH

Display Content

TAMSCHICK MEDIA+ SPACE GmbH

Graphic design facade

emde gestaltung

LED Hardware

zumtobel

Facade Type and Geometry

Semi-transparent plastic squares movably arranged on the façade with an area of 1,500 m2

Kind of Light Creation

over 220,000 LEDs

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Each pixel can be individually addressed, realising a wide variety of light shows and videos with seamless transitions.

Luminance

daylight white (5600K) LEDs

Urban Situation

The facade works in different levels of perception. There is a new experience at every distance - from very far to close.

Showreel

A visual poem about Africa enlightens the surface of the pavilion and immerses the space with the density and vivacity of the African continent.

Photo Credits

TAMSCHICK MEDIA+ SPACE GmbH, ATELIER BRÜCKNER GmbH

Video Credits

Gesamtplanung: ATELIER BRÜCKNER; Regie: Marc Tamschick, TAMSCHICK MEDIA+SPACE.

Link 1

www.atelier-brueckner.com

Link 2

www.nussli.com

Link 3

www.tamschick.com

Link 4

www.zumtobel.at

technical appendix

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

AEC Linz, 2008

Linz, 2008 The existing Ars Electronica Center and the new extension are connected to form one unit to be perceived as an ensemble. The crystal-like appearance generates a homogeneous interaction with its surroundings, at the same time becoming a distinctive landmark. Ars Electronica Center The AEC is one of the main cultural hotspots in Linz. The aim of the design was to wrap 2.000 m2 in existing buildings and 4.000 m2 in new buildings with a uniform and multi-purpose building envelope that forms a remarkable, shiplike-prismatic silhouette on the bank of the Danube. The urbanistic concept is based on the principle of a dialogue with its surrounding. In consideration of urbanistic important conditions, like the preservation of the wide view over the Danube as well as the conservation of the historical ensembles, an attractive ambience will be generated. A construction consisting of steel and glass connects the existing Ars Electronica Center with the main and supply building. The partly transparent and partly matt laminated glass paneels are illuminated from the back with space in between. During the day, skylight windows, which can be opened, serve as a natural ventilation for the offices lying behind. For the lightning of the façade artists from all over the world can insert their programs through an interface. The crystal-like appearance generates a homogeneous interaction with its surroundings, at the same time becoming a distinctive landmark. Each of the 1.100 glass slabs of 3.6 m width and 1.15 m height represents one pixel of the whole light performance. The detailed frontage elements with built in LED-bars are individually selectable and make changes of infinitely variable color and brightness values (RGBW) possible. This novelty in Europe is initialising new possibilities of compositions for artists. The Ars Electronica Center presents another feature from this innovative technology – the possibility of demonstrating pure white. The AEC becomes – at the push of a button – a white crystal. The light is projected with LED bars sideways into the glass plates. They are installed vertically on one side of the window pane so they integrate invisibly into the facade.

Country

Austria

City

Linz

Year

2006-2008

Owner

City of Linz, represented by Immobilien Linz GmbH und CoKEG

Architect

Arch. Dipl-Ing. Andreas Treusch – Treusch architecture ZT GmbH

Facade Design

Arch. Dipl-Ing. Andreas Treusch – Treusch architecture ZT GmbH

Facade construction

GIG Fassaden GmbH

Light Design

Treusch architecture ZT GmbH

LED Hardware

Multivision Anzeigesysteme Ges.m.b.H

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

Multivision Anzeigesysteme Ges.m.b.H

Facade Type and Geometry

The main building and the extension are both encased with a structure made of steel and glass. This construction makes it into one single architectural unit - a crystal, comprised in the performance.

Kind of Light Creation

The partly transparent (VSG clear glass) and partly matt laminated glass panels (VSG with master POINT) are illuminated from the back space in between: 40.000 LEDs lighten a 5.000 m² large building cover and produce an exciting play of light and color at night.

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Each of the 1.100 glass slabs of 3.6 m width and 1.15 m height represents one pixel of the whole light performance.

Luminance

At dawn the facade will use 100% of the luminosity. However at darkness 20 – 30 % is sufficient.

Urban Situation

The urban concept is based on the principle of dialogue between architecture and environment with due consideration to important factors, such as preserving the view across the River Danube and protecting the surrounding historic buildings, in order to create an attractive ambience.

Photo Credits

Andreas Buchberger, Andrea Ehrenreich, Lois Lammerhuber, Rupert Steiner

Link 1

www.treusch.at

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

Stern des Südens - Project Hope

Munich, 2009 The Project Hope is an important symbol for the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen - it uses only as much electricity as a haidryer and can still produce amazing light shows. Art outside the museum Traxon Technologies innovative lighting fixtures were used to turn a windmill into a sensational piece of LED art. Equipped with over 1,000 ultra bright Dot XL-9 lighting fixtures (9,000 LEDs) the world’s biggest revolving media screen displays a multitude of stunning colors as well as medium-resolution video content. Challenged by the difficult winter-weather conditions as well as the implementation of an installation on a constantly rotating object, artist Michael Pendry chose Traxon as partner for realizing this spectacular project due to its innovative and customizable lighting solutions. IP67-rated the Dot XL offers exactly the flexibility needed for this demanding project. Available with 3, 6 or 9 high performance LEDs per dot casing the single controllable dots are mounted on an elastic cable with customizable pitch offering the possibility of an installation on almost any surface or three-dimensional shape. Furthermore the Dot XL has a robust casing that ensures full outdoor capability. Controllable by DMX as well as DVI input signals Traxon’s Dot XL displays full color lighting effects and spectacular video animations. Visible from a distance of up to 30 kilometers the LED windmill is a pioneering installation and a symbol for green energy, due to Traxon’s cutting-edge innovation using only as much electricity as one hair dryer or two water kettles. Country

Germany

City

Munich

Year

2009

Owner

Siemens

Artist

Michael Pendry

Light Design

Michael Pendry

LED Hardware

DOT XL-9

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

e:cue

Light Design, Technical Layout and LED Hardware

Traxon Technologies Ltd.

Facade Type and Geometry

LEDs mounted on a wind turbine

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

9,000 Siemens Osram light-emitting diodes (LEDs)

Luminance

medium: the show starts at dusk

Urban Situation

next to the A9 autobahn, a main traffic artery

Photo Credits

Traxon Technologies Ltd.

Link 1

www.traxontechnologies.com

technical appendix

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

fLUX – binary waves

Belgium, 2008 The urban installation is based on the measuring of infrastructural and communicational flows and their transposition into luminous, sonic and kinetic actions. A kinetic light wall The installation is constituted of 40 rotating and illuminated panels 3 meters high and 60 centimetres wide, placed at regular intervals to form a kinetic light wall. On one side the panels have a black reflective surface and on the other a matt silver / whitish surface. The rotation around their vertical axis produces an alternating perception of the panels as reflected in the environment and the environment reflected in the panels. Even more the synchronisation of their movement itself produces optical wave patterns whereas its amplitudes and frequency depend on the speed of each panel’s rotation. The inputs driving the installation are provided by infrared sensors and spectrum analysers, capturing the surrounding infrastructural / circulation flows. Each impulse is transmitted from one panel to the other forming waves running from one side of the installation to the other and then bouncing back while progressively losing oscillation. In order to underline the two major principles driving the installation - the measuring and propagation of urban flows - the panels are illuminated by two different colors: the red lights, illuminating one side of the panel in 8 horizontal lines, display the electromagnetic fields of the area whereas the white light, illuminating the edges of the panels, reflects the frequency of people, cars… passing by. The intensity and frequency of light signals varies according to the amount of traffic and the wave strength of the surrounding electromagnetic fields. Furthermore, each captured signal produces a sound leading to a soundscape, a sonic texture, reflecting the circulation. Following these principles, the installation proposes an urban sign having as subject the ‘urban’ transcribing its multiple flows, its activity, in a contemporary play of kinetics, lights and sound.

Country

Belgium

Year

2008

Owner

LAb[au]

Architect

LAb[au]

Light Design

LAb[au]

LED Hardware

LAb[au]

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

LAb[au]

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

40 panels, each 3 meters high and 60 centimeters wide.

Urban Situation

Urban art

Showreel

Inputs are provided by infrared sensors and spectrum analysers, capturing the surrounding infrastructural / circulation flows. Each impulse is transmitted from one panel to the other forming waves running from one side of the installation to the other and then bouncing back while progressively losing oscillation.

Photo Credits

LAb[au]

Link 1

lab-au.com/projects/binary-waves

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

The World’s Largest Time Piece

Zurich, 2005 New christmas lighting for the famous Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich. The lighting spans a length of 1.1 kilometers using 275 tubes of light. A special software controls 8,800 LED bulbs that changes the light patterns and ambiance continuously in accordance with the level of activity in the street and the progression of time in the month of December. A different kind of christmas lights In terms of urban planning, the installation connects the railway station to the lake. Its simple, linear course turns the band of light into the visual backbone of the city, accentuating the appearance of the Bahnhofstrasse and its two slight yet distinct changes in direction. The 7 m high, round tubes had to provide light evenly in all directions, and be able to withstand heavy windloads despite being light in weight. We therefore had to find a rigid, robust casing material that would also transmit light. The final tube was 7 m long and 15 cm in diameter, but its shell was only 2 mm thick; including the lighting and control technology, it weighed just under 23 kg. Intense engagement with the computer-operated production process allowed us to integrate two normally incongruent requirements into a single material, thus using wound glass fibres for lighting on this scale for the first time. During the Christmas season the Bahnhofstrasse is illuminated for eight hours every night, with a constant flow of changing light sequences. Thus the lights are “played” by custom software that controls the 8,800 LED bulbs in real time. We designed the parameters and rules of the algorithm to be potentially unlimited. The installation’s distinctive identity is conferred by the constant creation of new, unpredictable light patterns. Movement sensors affect the design and reflect what is going on below. But the Christmas lighting responds to people on the street gently and quietly, without overemphasising its interactivity. Country

Switzerland

City

Zurich

Year

2005

Owner

Zurich Bahnhofstrasse Association

Architect

Gramazio & Kohler, Zurich

Structural engineering

Arup London

Light Design

ARUP Lighting

LED Hardware

IMS, Industrial Micro Systems

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

IMS, Industrial Micro Systems

Structure

hanging structure

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

275 LED lightbars spaning over one kilometre

Urban Situation

in the middle of a one km long street “Züricher Bahnhofstraße”

Photo Credits

Roman Keller

Link 1

www.gramaziokohler.com

technical appendix

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Nova

Zurich Central Station (and other locations), 2006 NOVA blurs the boundaries between science, art and technology offering a universal experience accessible to everyone referring to “third culture”, a term first coined by C.P. Snow in his famous book “The Two Cultures” published in 1964 promoting a streetwise science culture, where working scientists communicate directly with lay people. In reference to this context NOVA’s mission is to make science more tangible to the public by revealing the perfection and beauty of mathematical formula, to awake the fascination for science and to create a dialogue with society. An interactive real 3D video LED screen The NOVA 3D LED system is suspended 9 meters above ground from the ceiling of the main hall of Zurich’s central train station where 340’000 people pass by each day. It measures 5 x 5 x 1 meters and consists of 25’000 voxels (volumetric pixels). The audience is invited to immerse itself in a universe of 16 million colors and to enjoy a moment of rest and amazement in a very hectic environment. Visitors can explore NOVA interacting with a touch screen at a local terminal which allows browsing, altering and creating content in real time. Furthermore the audience can compose music which will played at the terminal using audio beams and which will be simultaneously visualized on the NOVA screen. The LED voxels measuring 40mm in diameter can be addressed individually and work at a refresh rate of 1/25 of a second, i.e. the equivalent of 25 pictures per second. The “real 3D” video LED object can be animated by a variety of 2D and 3D contents (videos, photos, logos, texts, 3D objects, 2D and 3D animations) which can be presented in a physical 3D imaging structure offering real 3D and panoramic vision of 360°. Using a specific feature embedded in the NOVA software developed at ETH Zurich video content can be shown in the 3D imaging space offering an interpretable image visible form one specific viewing point, whereas displaying a blurred and skewed image visible from all other viewing angles. Patents for the system have been filed nationally and internationally.

Country

Switzerland

City

Zurich

Year

2006

Owner

ETH Zurich

Concept and Design

Martina Eberle, horao GmbH

Hardware Development

Supercomputing Systems AG

Software Development

ETH Zurich

LED Hardware

elfab AG, Industrial Micro Systems AG

Structure

modular, free form, Real 3D

Horizontal and vertical viewing angle

360°

Basic Module Dimensions

Baseplate, 500mm x 500mm (WxD)

Technology

The complex hardware and software were developed by Supercomputing Systems AG and ETH Zurich respectively for the specific purpose of real 3D imaging in color at a refresh rate of 25 Hz in a physical three-dimensional configuration of pixels.

Kind of Light Creation

LED strings of variable length; Voxel (i.e. volumetric pixel): Sphere with minimal diameter of 40mm, 4 SMD LEDs each (2 x 2 configuration); Refresh rate of 25 Hz; Control: each voxel can be addressed individually; Pitch: variable in x-, y-, z-axis; Color Depth of 16 million colors

System

Control: Playlist, Art-Net/DMX 512, OSCD and MIDI upon request; Data Source: NOVA content file (.3dd), AVI, Quicktime, animated GIF or Framegrabber (e.g. HD/SDI real-time stream); Software: NOVA Studio and NOVA Player (both proprietary)

Photo Credits

Oliver Lang, Nick Spoerri; horao GmbH

Link 1

www.nova.ethz.ch

Link 2

www.novalabs.ch

Link 3

www.horao.biz

Link 4

www.youtube.com/horaoclips

www.novalabs.ch www.horao.biz

www.youtube.com/horaoclips

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

Portable/Deflatable LED Matrix

Vienna, 2009 16x16 LED-Display, used for media-art-installations. It can be transported in a ski-bag and controlled via USB. Consists of a dismountable Grid within a transparent wrapper (containing the LEDs) and gets vacuumized by a vacuum-pump. Transported by a single person The Concept for the Portable/Deflatable LED Matrix was developed during an architecture-Summerworkshop in South of France (”experimonde.eu”) The Idea was to build a large mobile display which can still be transported by a single person. The construction is based on a PVC-foil which covers a grid, the stability of the lightweight structure is created by a vacuum (provided by a small vacuum-pump). The grid also clearly defines the dimensions of each pixel. The Controller is a “Borg16”-Board by “das-labor.org” The display can be controlled via the “blinkenlights”-protocol over USB, a screen-grabbing application allows for many datasources to be easily connected to the display. Country

Austria

City

Vienna

Year

2009

Owner

Manfred Wuits

Concept and Design

Manfred Wuits

LED Hardware

Manfred Wuits

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

Manfred Wuits

Facade Type and Geometry

mobile, 240 x 240cm

Kind of Light Creation

LED

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

16x16

Luminance

15000mcd

Urban Situation

mobile within public spaces

Photo Credits

Manfred Wuits

technical appendix

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Distributed Projection Structure 2004

various locations - spain, sweden, hungary, finland, switzerland Distributed Projection Structure is an experiment from 2004 where we tried to animate physical matter using algorithmic light. Distributed Projection Structure 2004 Distributed Projection Structure is built up from 300 plastic pixels inhibiting the pyramidical space of the computer projector. The physical structure follows a simple geometric algorithm where no pixel casts shadow on any other, this way they can be all reached from the projectorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lens. The patterns we project create spatial volumes of colors, planes, simple shapes moving around on the volume of the pyramid.

100

Year

2004

Owner

aether architecture

Architect

adam somlai-fischer, anita pozna, peter sandor nagy, bengt sjolen

exhibition assistant

biljana jovanovic

Light Design

bengt sjolen

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

bengt sjolen

Photo Credits

aether architecture, bengt sjolen

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

Indemann 2009

Inden, 2009 The Indemann is a landmark project and a mediatectonic symbol for the social revival of a non-urban space. A place of interaction The Indemann, designed by Maurer United Architects, is a landmark for the evolution of an entire region – the Indeland. It oversees a landscape shaped by surface mining that is set to undergo a significant structural modernization process. The location has become a place of interaction where people of all ages come together. An outstanding environmental sustainability of the steel structure has been achieved thanks to the extreme weather resistance and ease of maintenance of the stainless steel. The transparent stainless steel mesh Illumesh® is the product of a joint technological and creative alliance between the Cologne-based mediatecture firm ag4 media facade GmbH and the Düren-based metal weavers GKD – Gebr. Kufferath AG. The mesh with interwoven LED profiles covers the entire Indemann and forms the basis for the Illumesh® lighting design specially developed by ag4. The atmospherically dense and slow shifting color sequences stand as a symbol for the area’s careful ecological and economic structural transition. Country

Germany

City

Inden

Year

2009

Owner

Community of Inden

Architect

Maurer United Architects

Light Design

Maurer United Architects

LED Hardware

Illumesh® ag4/GKD

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

ag4

Content

ag4

Facade Type and Geometry

1470 qm Illumesh®

Kind of Light Creation

LED

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

8131 single addressable RGB LED-pixel, vertical: 2m; horizontal: 0,1m

Luminance

48 Nits

Urban Situation

outdoor – landmark project

Photo Credits

ag4, GKD, Marc Maurer, Community of Inden, ndsh

101

technical appendix

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

The Thor Heyerdahl Globe

Larvik, 2010 The Thor Heyerdahl Globe takes its inspiration from the work of Thor Heyerdahl and his lifelong concern with the environment, and the interconnections, flows and movements of people across the world. The Thor Heyerdahl Globe Displayed on a groundbreaking spherical screen, 3 metres in diameter, the project will simulate and track the planets population as billions points of light with new particles being introduced as people are born and others disappearing as people die. The project will realistically simulate the global climate in real time and has been granted full access to the European global atmospheric model, a 3D representation of the current state of the atmosphere updated by supercomputers every 15 minutes. The globe is a custom designed spherical LED display - providing a true spherical image without gaps or distortions, constructed of 492 electronic panels containing over 100.000 individually addressable LEDs. Each circuit board is connected via ethernet to an array of computers working in parallel, using Nvidia CUDA GPU processors to calculate the simulations. The displayed particle simulation is thought to be one of the largest real time simulations ever developed outside the military.

102

Country

Norway

City

Larvik

Year

2010 in progress

Owner

The Thor Heyerdahl College in Larvik

Architect

Lisa Autogena and Joshua Portway

Light Design

Lisa Autogena and Joshua Portway with SmartSlab™

LED Hardware

Lisa Autogena and Joshua Portway with SmartSlab™

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

Lisa Autogena and Joshua Portway with SmartSlab™

Facade Type and Geometry

Sphere covered with SmartSlab panels

Kind of Light Creation

Full color LEDs fitted behind polycarbonate hexagon shaped panels

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

medium resolution with a 16mm pitch constructed with 100,000 LEDs embedded in 492 electronic panels connected via ethernet to the central simulation computers.

Luminance

High, media façade can display media content 24/7

Urban Situation

Inside of a building lobby / atrium at the Thor Heyerdahl College in Larvik, Norway

Photo Credits

Lisa Autogena, Joshua Portway, SmartSlab™

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

TEXLON® flexipix

Germany, 2009 The curators of “embedded art” asked for a huge display to announce details of the show plus do some media art experiments. The 4-part pixelcurtain measures 3,2 mtrs by 19,20 mtrs with a total of 6144 pixels. Main artist to play with the screen was Georg Schmalhofer. Zaji Chalem and Filoart contributed clips as well, the later a very successful karaoke for public space. Public video programme Texlon® flexipix “pixel curtain” was installed free-standing behind the glass facade of the Academy of Arts at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. It was held in place by slim aluminium frames and did not disturb the various daily activities in the hall. A survey of the Academy´s immediate neighbours, the Hotel Adlon (to the left), the US embassy (to the right), and the French embassy (opposite) revealed that they regarded the public video programme as enriching the area. The light emmission and run-times (1-10 pm) were designed not to disturb hotel guests. Country

Germany

Year

2009

Owner

Vector Foiltec

Concept and Design

Vector Foiltec

LED Hardware

Vector Foiltec

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

Vector Foiltec

Facade Type and Geometry

ETFE grid behind glass

Kind of Light Creation

LED grid

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

100 mm pixel pitch

Urban Situation

inner city

Photo Credits

Vector Foiltec

Link 1

www.flexipix.at

103

technical appendix

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

UNIQA headquarters

Budapest, 2009 Using innovative lighting, Traxon Technologies helped turn UNIQA’s Hungarian headquarter into a modern symbol of Budapest attracting worldwide attention. It now features a huge animated media screen. UNIQA Budapest Officially opening its doors just before the end of 2009, the 18,000-square meter, eight-storey building façade consists of over 4,000 custom Traxon 16PXL Board RGB, and is the largest LED lighting installation in Hungary, to date. Chosen for its high quality and unparalleled customization capability, Traxon’s 16PXL Board RGB were selected. Mounted on customized panel frames, the Boards offer optimal adjustment capabilities and simplified installation behind the building’s glass façade. An innovative temperature control mechanism was used to protect the LEDs and the installation from overheating by automatically decreasing light output when a set temperature limit is reached. This striking façade is controlled by over 246 e:cue Butlers and two VCS 1, which make the lighting installation a huge animated media screen capable of replaying video and showcasing images, graphics, and scrolling text. This unique installation reaches beyond specific product promotion, boosting the UNIQA brand memorably beyond the streets where this installation can be viewed.

104

Country

Hungary

City

Budapest

Year

2009

Owner

UNIQA

Concept and Design

Moltoluce

Engineers Kinematics

Alufe

LED Hardware

16PXL Board RGB

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

Butler, VCS1

Technology

innovative temperature control mechanism to protect from overheating

Elements

more than 246 e:cue Butlers and 2 VCS 1

Kind of Light Creation

Over 4.000 pices of Traxon’s 16 PXL Board RGB

Urban Situation

Installed on an office building

Link 1

www.traxontechnologies.com

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

Stadion Center

Vienna, 2007 The CCS is a central communication spot for different groups of population. Sport is the central topic of design for the square surface and the mall and will be made visible through the media facade over long distances. - Freimüller Söllinger Architektur ZT GmbH Shopping Center with media facade Stadion Center is a 21.000m2 shopping mall, located just next door to the Ernst Happel football arena, which was used as one of the major arena’s during the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship. The Stadion Center was constructed in 2007. The main objective for the project was to create an inviting and attractive facade able to display artistic and commercial messages like animations, advertisement, logo’s and ambient color effects. The original idea of architect Regina Freimüller was to mount LED pixels on every cross section of a flexible steel net (part of the building is covered by such a net). Philips Vidiwall evaluated this concept and proposed a solution based on laser cut steel panels with 85% transparency. The pattern in the steel panels is diamond shaped. The Facade transforms the round shape of the building during dusk and nighttime even more because of the curved shaped creative LED display is different from the shape of the building. The 80m wide and 8m high display (640m2) contains 37.620 individually controllable full color LED pixels. The system is connected to a dedicated media server “orchestrating” the digital experience. Country

Austria

City

Vienna

Year

2007

Owner

BA-CA Real Invest GmbH & IG Immobilien-Unternehmensgruppe

Architect

Freimüller Söllinger Architektur ZT GmbH, Vienna, Austria

Facade Design

Philips Lighting

Display Content

Internal content manager

LED Hardware

Philips Lighting

Electrical installation

Alexander WeckmerLicht und Mediensysteme GmbH, Koningsbron, Germany

Facade Type and Geometry

The application is designed to directly look into the LED video facade from multiple sides. The local traffic plan has been modified for a save and pleasurable “drive by”. The LED facade is curved around a large part of the exterior of the Stadion Center fitting in nicely with the shapes of the surrounding buildings.

Kind of Light Creation

Strings of Philips CK Flex SLX LED strings positioned at a custom 140mm pixel pitch and controlled by a Philips VSM-PRO DVI Video system manager. The individual pixels have a flat clear lens.

Position of light elements

Strings of LED’s are mounted in a special diamond shaped configuration on the lightweight steel frame allowing for 85% transparency.

Integration into house automation

The facade is controllable from a special media system managed by a dedicated content manager.

Photo Credits

Rob Nelisse

Link 1

www.stadioncenter.at

Link 2

www.ig-immobilien.com

Link 3

www.freimueller-soellinger.at

Link 4

www.lighting.philips.com

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MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

La Porte Shinsaibashi

Osaka, 2007 It displays memorable messages for passers-by by showing elaborated images making good use of the vertically long shape, expressing each season in the midst of the urban area and displaying impressive statements and poems. Like a woman’s body “La Porte” means “gate” in French as shown by the facility’s location at the entrance of Shinsaibashi area. The external appearance is designed from the image of a beautifully shining women, and the whole building shines in emerald green at night, reflecting its presence as an entry gate. In addition, the west wall has a large LED display, one of the highest displays in Japan, coloring the city with messages and images. The façade geometry is half-spiral. In other words: it is a helical or twisted surface, as if the women’s curvy body was expressed. Before it has never been possible to correspond to a three dimensional architecture with a standard LED video screen. Due to the unique abilities of the Kapas display’s flexibility, durability and lightweight, Komaden was enabled to make the client’s concept become real. The resolution is not high, but good enough to display CG, graphics, advertisement with commercial messages and some short films. The display is working during daytime, but the most beautiful moment is from evening to night. In order to reduce the costs, but nevertheless keeping the image of the beautiful women, Komaden provided the custom- made LED pitch150mm.

106

Country

Japan

City

Osaka

Year

2007

Architect

Plantec Architects Inc.

LED Technical Layout

Komaden Corporation

LED Hardware

Komaden Corporation

Facade Type and Geometry

Helical / twisted surface 54 m high and 4.8 m wide

Kind of Light Creation

Komaden Kapas III. The LEDs are implanted into clusters, mounted on a flexible plastic net behind a glass layer.

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

The pixel grid has a medium pixel pitch of 15 cm using 12.240 pixels and is designed for higher viewing distances.

Luminance

Bright. Use during daytime is possible due to the Cluster Design (1 Cluster = 9 LEDs of different color).

Urban Situation

The building can be seen mainly out of one position and a higher distance.

Showreel

The facade shows the changing of seasons, some advertisement and building information.

Photo Credits

Komaden Corporation

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

Grand Lisboa

Macau, 2007 When walking through Macau there is one building that catches your attention for sure - the Grand Lisboa. With its egg-like bottom and the lotus flower like top it has a unique form that is supported by visual effects during the night. A shining casino Magic Monkey was hired in January 2005 by the prestigious Hong Kong architectural firm DLN to conceive, design and specify the technical requirements for a monumental communication solution for Dr. Hoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new flagship casino, the Grand Lisboa in Macau, PRC. MM was neither responsible for the final technical equipment selection nor for the installation. Magic Monkeyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design integrated the architecture of the Lotus flower inspired building with thousands of individually controlled RGB LED pixels and kilometers of RGB LED lines to create a gigantic video and light display. As the geometry of the glass facade evolved over the course of the 2 years of designing, so did the position of the pixels and the light lines. The flexibility of the concept allowed for total compliance in regards to evolving architectural design issues and client budgets. Country

China

City

Macau

Year

2007

Owner

Dr. Stanley Ho

Architect

Dennis Lau & Ng Chun Man Architects Engineers

Facade Design

R. A. Heintges & Associates

Light Design, Technical Layout

Magic Monkey

Display Content

content guidelines by Magic Monkey

LED Hardware

PXC-73 LED Cluster by Daktronics

Photo Credits

Magic Monkey

Link 1

www.magicmonkey.net

Link 2

www.dln.com.hk

Link 3

www.heintges.com

Link 4

www.daktronics.com

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technical appendix

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

UNIQA Tower

Vienna, 2004 “I recently spent a week on my honeymoon in Vienna. Our hotel room balcony had a great view of the UNIQA Tower. It is fascinating and remarkable! My wife and I would just sit on the balcony with a glass of wine and watch in amazement at the building.” Moving pictures on UNIQA Tower Opened in mid-2004, the UNIQA Tower next to the Danube channel is presented in a favorable light thanks to its unique LED installation. The 20-story glass facade of the head office designed by architect heinz Neumann thereby becomes a vivid surface of moving pictures. For this, a matrix of more than 180,000 individual pixels was integrated into the 7,000m² structure of the facade. All pixel modules were installed on the ceiling-high profiles of the window facade in the facade gaps between stories. The system allows the displaying of images in the quality of a digital video signal onto the UNIQA Tower. All necessary components have been thoroughly integrated into the existing facade structure. The display of images absorbs the architecture and lives off its dimension as well as its discreet integration into the building. The adaptable world of pictures based on abstract and representational motives gives additional life to the exterior shell of UNIQA Tower.

108

Country

Austria

City

Vienna

Year

2004

Owner

UNIQA Versicherungen AG

Architect

Neumann und Partner

Facade Design

Erich Mosbacher

Light Design

Licht Kunst Licht AG, Stefan Hofmann

Display Content

MaderStublicWiermann

LED Hardware

Barco Belgium

Facade Type and Geometry

Double layered, curved glass facade with story high intersections (about 7.000m²)

Kind of Light Creation

LEDs in aluminum housings, vertically mounted, positioned behind the first glass layer

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

The pixel grid has a medium resolution (approximately 180 000 pixel) and is designed for higher viewing distances. Display and building structures are congruent.

Luminance

Relatively bright - use during daytime is not possible.

Urban Situation

The building can be seen at different angles from a higher distance.

Showreel

From June 24th until October 3rd 2010 an Artwork by Brigitte Kowanz of 40,000 points of light covering 7,000 m2 was shown on the UNIQA Tower

Link 1

www.mosbacher-plan.com

Link 2

www.lichtkunstlicht.com

Link 3

www.tower.uniqa.at

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

King’s Road Tower

Jeddah, 2010 Jeddah’s Corniche won’t ever be the same after final completion of the King’s Road Tower and its breath-taking cutting-edge LED MediaFacade. Being the largest in the Middle East, with almost 10.000 sqm of custom-made video system, it also uses the DMF 2.0 technology: the latest and trendiest innovation for full integration into the Facade. The Biggest LED MediaFacade in the Middle East King’s Road Tower has been designed to become a flagship for Jeddah by using the latest innovations and materials within its Architectural Concept. Citiled accepted the challenge and developed a large scale custom-made MediaFacade managing three different cutting-edge technologies: lighting, video and DMF 2.0, that would be totally integrated into the building facade. Being the highest tower in Jeddah, it is conveniently located on the Corniche, thus visible from far away both from the main road, the sea and even up in the air! King’s Road Tower’s MediaFacade represents a truly amazing achievement for all architectural, technical, engineering, lighting design, conceptual, out-of-home media and urban purposes. Country

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

City

Jeddah

Year

2010

Owner

Prince Saud Bin Fahad

Architect

Abdullah Dedhaiter

Light Design

LSLuz

LED Hardware

Citiled

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

Citiled

Facade Type and Geometry

Box shaped high-rise with curtain-wall facade & “The Pearl” (sphere)

Kind of Light Creation

Custom-made LED MediaFacade system. King’s Road Tower features both lighting and video integrated into the architecture of the North, South and West Facades (10.000 sqm). “The Pearl” curve-shaped screen uses the Digital MediaFacade 2.0 (DMF 2.0) patented technology which integrates the LEDs inside the vaccuum of the doble-glazing.

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Full Video Controller with customized Software. Intelligent and instantaneous treatment of images and colours for the whole MediaFacade.

North & South Screens

High Resolution - V480 x H360 - Size: 3.000 sqm (each)

West Screen

Low Resolution - V120 x H240 - Size: 3.500 sqm

Lighting

RGB full-color streamers

The Pearl

DMF 2.0 - Pixel Picth 50x50 mm - Size: 250 sqm

Luminance

2.500 cd / sqm for highly visible images from dawn to dusk

Urban Situation

Located on the Corniche, King’s Road Tower is Jeddah’s highest tower. The tower is visible at 360° from a high distance from the road, the sea and even the air.

Link 1

citiled.com/#/portfolio/project-portfolio-1/kings-road-tower-jeddah-10

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MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Mediamesh® Milan

Milan, 2007 Mediamesh® Milano – a distinct and meaningful fusion of both cultural and economic dimensions An urban screen to cover a construction site The reconstruction of the Arengario Museum, just a few steps away from the famous Milan Cathedral, opened up undreamed-of opportunities and added a completely new facet to the art and culture experience within Milan’s urban environment. The scaffolding surrounding the building had to be completely covered. This gave the Milan firm Urban Screen SRL a perfect opportunity to integrate Mediamesh®, a semitransparent skin made of stainless steel mesh with interwoven LED profiles – developed and installed by ag4 media facade GmbH in cooperation with GKD – Gebr. Kufferath AG. The historical facade shines through the installation, creating an instant and direct link between the historically defined site and state-of-the-art modern technology. Mediamesh® can be used for events such as live broadcasts from the Milan Scala or popular sports events. One of the most beautiful and lively piazzas in Europe is enhancing its potential for connecting people through collective experiences.

110

Country

Italy

City

Milano

Year

2007

Owner

Urban Screen SRL

Architect

ag4

Light Design

ag4

Display Content

Urban Screen

LED Hardware

Mediamesh® ag4 / GKD

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

ag4

Facade Type and Geometry

Mediamesh®, 29,43x16,54m, 486 qm

Kind of Light Creation

LED

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

194.040 single addressable RGB LED-pixel, vertical: 5cm; horizontal: 5 cm

Luminance

2000 Nits

Urban Situation

Outdoor, Piazza del Duomo

Photo Credits

ag4, GKD

Link 1

www.mediafacade.com

Link 2

www.gkd.de

Link 3

www.ag4.de

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

boxLEDs

Vienna, 2010 Media Architecture for the rest of us. boxLEDs is a lightweight and very flexible hard- and software toolbox for a new breed of social media applications in public space. Boxes that blink boxLEDs are the backbone of the exhibition architecture for the Media Architcture Biennale 2010 . A ton of stackable Euronorm - boxes are built up as a monumental indoor media facade. 300 „boxLEDs“ light and blink. Users can interact with the installation through movements and play games with others. Part of the installation are 16 iPads, that can be picked up by the visitors and that guide them as an interactive catalogue through the exhibition. The boxLEDs installation serves as a demonstrator for the „media architecture toolbox“ a collection of software modules for special media facade applications that currently include movement tracking and a sample mobile application for the iPhone / iPad. The iPad/iPhone becomes a blinking pixel and therefore part of the display. The crowd of users turn into a flashmob in the literal sense. More modules are being developed for integrating online social networks when using the installation in public space. So boxLEDs are a very flexible hard- and software infrastructure for new media formats on buildings in the urban context as well as for temporarily installations for events like exhibitions, clubbings and trade shows. Country

Austria

City

Vienna

Year

2010

Owner

realitylab

Concept and Design

realitylab

Light Design

realitylab

LED Hardware

traxon

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

e:cue

Software “Toolbox”

realitylab in cooperation with University of Sydney

Facade Type and Geometry

free configurable “boxLEDs” elements made out of stackable plastic boxes with integrated LED elements.

Kind of Light Creation

LED

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Low resolution. Plastic Boxes used for light diffusion

Luminance

Currently brightness optimized for indoor use. Easily adaptable to outdoor lighting conditions

Urban Situation

boxLEDs are designed as flexible media architecture for events, games, clubbbing, trade shows and for artistic interventions in the public space. Depending on the situation the user is involved via tracking, mobile apps and online social networks.

Showreel

Costumized videos by Catherine Ludwig and interactive content by the realitylab team

Photo Credits

realitylab.at

Link 1

www.mediaarchitecture.org/boxLEDs

Link 2

www.mediaarchitecture.org/toolbox

Link 3

www.departure.at

Link 4

www.traxontechnologies.com

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MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Dynamic Ornament

Vienna, 2009 Development of an artistic, experimental media facade in an exhibition at the Kunsthalle Wien, Project Space. Various new features of a screen have been realized, like the image is produced to the inside and the outside at once, inhomogeneous resolution, spatial depth of the screen surface, kinetic transformation effect with the motion of the observers, playful social media in collective painting on the facade via handheld devices. The Two-Sided image Digital media increasingly pervades public urban space. The vast majority of its interfaces to the public are screens providing visual experiences, mostly advertisements. The trend of this development heads towards a massive commercialization of Public Urban Space. How would a media facade perform that is concerned with cultural issues only? How might it look like? What atmosphere would it generate? How could it challenge commercial advertising-surfaces? An experimental media facade has been displayed at the Kunsthalle Project Space in Vienna, October 2009, to provide one first answer.

112

Country

Austria

City

Vienna

Year

2009

Owner

Architecture Theory, Vienna University of Technology

Idea and Concept:

Oliver Sch端rer

Design and Planning

Kristina Schinegger, Oliver Sch端rer

Light Design

Oliver Sch端rer

Display Content

Stefan Tiefengraber, Mirza Smajlefendic, Christina Simmel

LED Hardware

CAPIX Zumtobel

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

lightmesh controller application by Heigerth

Programming, Interaction Design

Wolfgang Heigerth (controller software development), Alexander Kirk (real time collective painting, colorillo.com), Manfred Wuits (web hosting, CMS, gateways)

Facade Type and Geometry

experimental, inhomogeneous

Kind of Light Creation

LED

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

54x15 lo-res display, Two-Sided Image transmission

Urban Situation

Urban Plaza and Gallery Space

Photo Credits

zolles

Link 1

www.a-theory.tuwien.ac.at/Profiles/Oliver

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

Marnix 2000

Brussels, 1999 Marnix 2000, the world’s first interactive RGB media façade. In 1999, the BBL-ING headquarters in Brussels were converted into a monumental interactive screen. The project, designed by magic monkey, was open to everyone. Interactive Matrix In 1999, magic monkey converted the façade of the BBL–ING Marnix building into a giant light & video display by transforming every window into a big RGB pixel. The magnificent modernist building, designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in the early 60s, was an absolute inspiration to the magic monkey lighting design team. The 7 stories by 52 windows façade was transformed into a 364 pixel interactive matrix, sweeping people’s imagination into the future to celebrate the new Millennium. Everyone was welcome to participate and create their own animations by downloading a free animation interface from the burgeoning web, remember dial-in connections… As soon as a new animation was uploaded, participants would receive an email thanking them for their participation and indicating when their animation would play on the building. From nervous wedding requests to daring political messages, people shared their visions from all over the world on a true monumental scale! Country

Belgium

City

Brussels

Year

1999

Owner

BBL ING

Architect

Gordon Bunshaft

Light Design

magic monkey

LED Hardware

LEG Illumination ACT asymmetrical projector Quartz lamp 300W

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

custom video/data controller

Facade Type and Geometry

Listed modernist masterpiece by Gordon Bunshaft of S.O.M. Exposed structure, double façade building built in the early 60s.

Kind of Light Creation

3 RGB light projectors placed within each window alcove creating a matrix of 7 pixels high by 52 pixels wide, a 364 pixel monumental video matrix for the new Millennium! And open to all via a web based interface.

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

364 RGB pixels data linked.

Luminance

Bright!

Urban Situation

at the heart of Brussels, along it’s inner ring, across from the King’s Palace.

Photo Credits

magicmonkey.net

Link 1

www.magicmonkey.net

Link 2

www.som.com/content.cfm/awards_landing

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MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Blinkenlights

Berlin, Haus des Lehrers, temporary installation 2001 Celebrating its 20th anniversary the Chaos Computer Club has made a special present to itself and the city of Berlin. From September 12th, 2001 to February 23rd, 2002, the famous “Haus des Lehrers” (teacher’s house) office building at Berlin Alexanderplatz has been enhanced to become the world’s biggest interactive computer display. Illuminated windows “Blinkenlights has been planned and build in record time. We had only four weeks from the first thought to the display of the first movie. So we managed to be ready on prime time: the 20th anniversary of the Chaos Computer Club making a present of huge dimensions to both the Club and the town of Berlin. Blinkenlights consists of 8 floors with 18 windows each. Behind each window there is a single lamp on a self-made tripod. Each lamp is connected to the power source via a relay. If the relay switches on, the windowpane becomes bright. In order to achieve the appropriate self-illuminated effect we have painted all windows white. The lamps have a capacity of 150W only. Each relay is connected to the eighth floor via a control cable. There, all the cables come together in a huge thread connecting to the Blinkenlights Chaos Control Center. An amplifier provides the cables with the necessary power to switch the relay. The control computer is capable of switching each relay independently. This is where Blinkenlights Movies become reality. Overall, we had laid out around 5000m of cable in the house. Three computers control the whole system. Although it would have been possible to put it all in one system, we decided to separate the modules (control, playback, telephone interactivity) in order to allow distributed development and operation. The modules communicate via network protocols.”

114

Country

Germany

City

Berlin

Year

2001

Owner

WBM

Architect

Hermann Henselmann (1961)

Light Design

Blinkenlights

Display Content

Blinkenlights

Facade Type and Geometry

Traditional window facade

Kind of Light Creation

Halogen lamps behind opaque painted windows

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Low resolution. 8x18 = 144 big pixel work as a screen.

Luminance

Low luminance. Operation during the night is only possible.

Urban Situation

In the centre of Berlin. Big viewing distances are possible and necessary.

Showreel

The content has been created by the users through simple interfaces that had been programmed by the Blinkenlights crew (play pong, blinkenpaint, loveletters).

Photo Credits

Thomas Fiedler

Link 1

www.blinkenlights.net

Link 2

www.hausdeslehrers.de

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

Dexia Tower

Brussels, 2006 On Brussels’ Rogier Place, at the bottom of the tower, a multi touch screen is mounted where people, both individually and collectively, can interact in real time. The interaction is constituted by both static and dynamic inputs and takes parameters of size (finger, hand), direction (horizontal, vertical, diagonal) and duration (introducing growth) into account. The user’s inputs establish a play of graphical elements inspired by abstract art such as Mondriaan’s ‘elementarism’ and Kandinsky’s ‘point and line to plane’. Touch - Kandinsky on a skyscraper The design of the interface is based on the idea of unfolding the tower to the bi-dimensional surface of the multi-touch screen allowing a coherent mapping of the actual building. The aim of this mapping is to establish a direct relation between the pixel resolution of the screen-space and the actual building giving the user an intuitive means of interaction. Following this objective the gesture recognition has been reduced to simple inputs and direct feed-back in order to focus the users’ intention and vision towards the tower rather than to the interface. For example the first user input is to touch the screen at any point; a point from which the tower gets illuminated; a point which becomes a vertical line and than unfolds like a curtain over the entire building. Its colour results from the mapping of the screen surface to the spectrum of visible light. Here a simple user input results in a dramatic chromatic change of the tower, an opening sequence which underlines the intended relation between user inputs and the tower and which directly translates the notion of ‘touch’. But the interface wasn’t limited to the design of a screen interface: it was extended to the design of an entire pavilion to cope with the scale of the urban context. The pavilion embodies three parts: the first fold allows people to interact on a multi-touch-screen, the second fold directly displays the user interaction finger drawing - on a projection screen and the third fold frames the user’s vision towards the tower. In this manner the station not only establishes a direct relation to the visual and luminous construct of the tower but also displays to the passers-by the ongoing process of user interaction. The pavilion thus became an interface by itself between the city and the tower. The project thus uses interactivity not as being a control system but rather as a catalyst to establish a link in between the citizens, the citizen and the building, the building and the city. Country

Belgium

City

Brussels

Year

2006

Owner

Dexia S.A.

Architect

Philippe Samyn & Partners, M & J.M. Jaspers - J. Eyers & Partners

Light Design

Barbara Hediger

Display Content

Touch by LAb[au]

LED Hardware

Space Cannon

Facade Type and Geometry

Straight glass facade

Kind of Light Creation

12 (LED) light bulbs are horizontally mounted behind the first glass layer on the bottom line of the windows. Computer controlled blinds are being used as a diffusion layer. When the illumination system is working, all the sun-blinds close automatically.

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Low resolution - the hole building has 6.000 windows - 4200 of them work as a pixel with fading characteristics.

Luminance

The facade is being operated at dawn. It is not bright enough for daylight.

Urban Situation

In the middle of the Rogier Square this splendid building shines like a beacon over the town. The Tower is visible from several major traffic arteries in the capital and is situated in the North-South axis.

Showreel

Different artists have been working with the Dexia Tower since its inauguration. Touch, Who’s afraid of Red, Green and Blue and spectr:a:um have been created by LAb[au].

Photo Credits

LAb[au]

Link 1

www.lab-au.com

Link 2

www.spacecannon.it

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The Cloud, London 2012

London, 2012 The principal effects of the Cloud are generated from their context – from the aerial sea of swarming data, from the diverse populations of London, the UK and the wider string of global villages, and from the seamless stretch of weather that unites us all. A cloud that tweets Proposed monument for London 2012 Olympics - The lightweight transparent tower, composed of a “cloud” of inflatable, light-emitting spheres, would create a spatial, three-dimensional display in the skies of London, fed by real time information from all over the world. The structure is “a new form of collective expression and experience and an updated symbol of our dawning age: code rather than carbon,” said Carlo Ratti, head of the MIT SENSEable City Laboratory and one of the project leaders. The size of the Cloud will not be set in advance, but it will evolve based on the level of contributions received. The global “cloudraising” effort (fundraising through crowd-sourcing online) will be supported by platforms such as Facebook and Twitter; Google will provide advertising on YouTube and in search results. The LEDs in the Cloud, fed by real time information, will be viewable from all over London - something which was of particular interest to Google. “When Carlo Ratti approached our founder Larry Page, we chose to collaborate because of his bold and visionary concept, and because the project fit with Google’s mission of organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful,” explained Obi Felten and Matt Brittin, Managing Director of Google UK. “We particularly like the idea of the Cloud in the sky above London displaying information to the city and beyond - a powerful symbol for the openness and diversity of London, befitting the first truly digital Olympics.”

116

Country

Great Britain

City

London

Year

2012

Architect

Carlo Ratti, Walter Nicolino, Alex Haw

Landscape Architects

Agence Ter

Structural engineering

Schlaich Bergermann und Partner

Artist

Tomas Saraceno

Light Design, Technical Layout

Arup

Graphic Designers

Studio FM Milano

Visualizations

GMU

Supported by

Obi Felten, Head of Consumer Marketing at Google

Structure

The structure is comprised of a filigree central array of columns – serving as circulation systems dropping from the sky like the tendrils of a banyan tree system.

Elements

The inflatable spheres are saturated with an LED information system which densifies locally into lightweight info-screen hotspots where visitors can interact with information from the immediate surroundings. The luminosity and air pressure of each sphere is independently controlled –– giving rise to the networked, self-organizing Cloud.

Urban Situation

A monument in the Olympic Park during the Olympic Games in London 2012

Photo Credits

www.raisethecloud.org

Link 1

www.raisethecloud.org

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

Solar Collector - www.solarcollector.ca

Waterloo, 2008 A solar-powered, web-connected, interactive sculpture. Angled shafts combine solar energy and online expression to create a performance in light each night. A collaboration between the community and the sun. Contribute online to a sculpture In an industrial setting, twelve aluminum shafts rise at surprising angles from a grassy hill. They hang over the landscape, a graceful curve that unfolds for passing motorists. Each shaft holds three solar panels and three sets of lights. The panels collect the sun’s energy into batteries within each shaft. While they charge, Solar Collector also gathers human expression. Using a simple online tool, people create light compositions to become part of a nightly performance. At dusk, a performance begins of all the compositions collected that day: quick, flashing pulses; slow flowing waves… the submitted patterns link together to create each evening’s show. The shaft angles make visible the graceful geometry of solar energy, reflecting the sun’s angles through the year. The longest shaft faces the low sun at winter solstice, the shortest faces the high sun in summer. Wielding the sun’s energy, participants combine the power of nature and the potential of technology in inspired expressions of global belonging and concern, reaching halfway around the world and create a pattern to flash across the Canadian sky. Country

Canada

City

Waterloo

Year

2008

Owner

Regional Municipality of Waterloo

Concept and Design

Gorbet Design, Inc. – commissioned sculpture

Light Design

Gorbet Design, Inc.

LED Hardware

Gorbet Design, Inc.

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

Gorbet Design, Inc.

Elements

12 6”x6” aluminium shafts, angles and length determined by solar geometry

Kind of Light Creation

LED lighting, independently controlled (12x9 = 108 channels)

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Synchronized sine-wave patterns generated online by visitors to the sculpture’s website: www.solarcollector.ca

Urban Situation

Part of government complex in industrial area, part of fast-growing regional municipality.

Photo Credits

Gorbet Design, Inc.

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MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Polymedia Pixel - 3d display

Prototype developed in Sydney The Polymedia Pixel can be integrated into various physical surroundings as an active media facade, including embedded sensory equipment functions as an interface, allowing audio, visual and interactive response to dynamic situations. Actively engages with users Media facades come often with limitations of architectural integration, need additional components to interact with their environment, their interaction is often limited to visual interaction and require the user to act first. They are not autonomous, through independent response in environment changes (situational awareness) and depend on data and power cables. The Polymedia Pixel can overcome these limitations and enables designers to create media facades capable of being integrated into variations of physical shape and surroundings reconfigurable or even distributed pixel arrays and allows combinations of content, software and hardware in such manner that all three enhance and augment each other is possible. Through the embedded equipment (audio, visual, sensory), it functions as an interface that can actively engage with users while a constant response to shifting and altering situations can be achieved.

118

Country

Australia

City

Sydney

Year

2009-2010

Owner

UrbanAid group and SenseAware Lab / University of Technology, Sydney

Architect

UrbanAid group and SenseAware Lab / University of Technology, Sydney

Light Design

UrbanAid group and SenseAware Lab / University of Technology, Sydney

LED Hardware

UrbanAid group and SenseAware Lab / University of Technology, Sydney

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

UrbanAid group and SenseAware Lab / University of Technology, Sydney

Facade Type and Geometry

Polymedia Pixel allows: Flat or planar or curved screen; voxel screen, anamorphic or complex curved screen.

Kind of Light Creation

BlinkM LED MaxM (I2C controlled RGB LED) are combined with audio, video and sensory equipment and controlled via a computer on module embedded in a translucent Icosidodecahedron shaped casing.

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Low Resolution, allowing audio Stereo-out and line-in for spatial sound, recording of surrounding via inbuilt camera and data collection through sensors.

Luminance

Very high: BlinkM LED MaxM include a 445,000 mcd RGB LED cluster

Urban Situation

Prototype, the Icosidodecahedron shaped casing contains 30 vertices each functioning as a connection point providing a maximum of flexibility for different urban situations.

Photo Credits

Frank Maguire, Tom Barker, M. Hank Haeusler, Ron Zhirnov

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

GreenPix - Zero Energy Media Wall

Beijing, 2008 “It’s not easy to be green.” Greenpix behaves like an organic system, absorbing solar energy during the day and generating light from the same power in the evening. The project promotes the uncompromising integration of sustainable technology in new Chinese architecture, responding to the aggressive and unregulated economic development currently undertaken by the industry, often at the expense of the environment. A sustainable media facade GreenPix - Zero Energy Media Wall - is a ground-breaking project applying sustainable and digital media technology to the curtain-wall of Xicui entertainment complex in Beijing. Featuring the first photovoltaic system integrated into a glass curtain-wall in China, the building performs as a self-sufficient organic system, harvesting solar energy by day and using it to illuminate the screen after dark. The building was open to the public in May 2008, with a specially commissioned program of video installations and live performances by artists from China, Europe and the USA. The project was designed and implemented by Simone Giostra & Partners, a New York-based office with a solid reputation for its innovative curtain-walls in Europe and the USA, with lighting design and facade engineering by Arup in London and Beijing. Content manager Luisa Gui coordinated the opening program with software development by New York-based media artist Jeremy Rotsztain. With the support of leading German manufacturers Schueco and SunWays, the architect Simone Giostra with Arup developed a new technology for laminating photovoltaic cells in a glass curtain-wall. The polycrystalline photovoltaic cells are laminated within the glass of the curtain-wall and placed with changing density on the entire building’s skin. The density pattern increases the building’s performance, allowing natural light when required by interior program, while reducing heat gain and transforming excessive solar radiation into energy for the media wall. Country

China

City

Beijing

Year

2008

Owner

Jingya Corporation

Architect

Simone Giostra & Partners

Facade Design

Simone Giostra & Partners

Light Design, Technical Layout

Arup

Solar Technology

Schüco International KG, Sunways AG

LED Hardware

Thorn

Facade Type and Geometry

Curtain-wall glass facade (ca. 2.200m²)

Kind of Light Creation

LED fixtures behind translucent glass facade

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

2.292 LED fixtures powered by polycrystalline photovoltaic cells laminated within the translucent glass of the curtain-wall and placed with changing density on the entire building’s skin. The glass works as a diffuser.

Luminance

Medium. The facade works after dark due to the fact that the energy is harvested during daylight by photovoltaic cells.

Urban Situation

The building can be seen from different angles from short to medium distances.

Showreel

A compelling program of videos, installations and performances organized by a diverse team of independent curators, art institutions, galleries, media schools, corporations, collectors and benefactors, all lead by curator and producer Lisa Gui.

Photo Credits

Simone Giostra & Partners, Arup

Link 1

www.greenpix.org

Link 2

www.sgp-architects.com

Link 3

www.arup.com

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One Ocean - Thematic Pavilion Expo 2012

Yeosu, 2012 The bionic principle of the kinetic media façade supports the idea of a “consistent effect”. Geometry, material, movement and light are seamlessly interrelated. The longer the single lamella - the wider the opening angle - the bigger the area affected by light. The bionic approach also underlines the ecological agenda of the EXPO. As a moving, emotional experience the kinetic façade combines the sensation with the sensational while communicating the EXPO’s theme in an innovative and investigative way. One Ocean As a major and permanent facility the Thematic Pavilion embodies the Expo’s theme “The Living Ocean and Coast” in manifold ways. The plain/profound duality of the Ocean motivates the building’s spatial and organisational concept. Continuous surfaces twist from vertical to horizontal orientation and define the significant interior spaces. The vertical cones induce the visitor to immerse into the Thematic Exhibition. They evolve into horizontal levels that cover the foyer and become a flexible stage for the “Best Practice Area”. Continuous transitions between contrasting experiences also define the outer appearance of the pavilion. Towards the sea the pavilion appears as an agglomeration of vertical cones creating a new meandering coastline, that is in constant negotiation between ocean and land. Facing the coast the building develops out of the ground as an artificial walkable roof-landscape with gardens and scenic routes. The roof turns into the lamellas of the kinetic media façade that faces the Expo site. A counter part to the virtual multi-media shows of the Thematic Exhibition, the kinetic façade like the overall architecture of the pavilion evoke sensuous experiences through analogue means. During daytime the lamellas are used to control light conditions in the Best Practice Area. After sunset the analogue visual effect of the moving lamellas is intensified by LEDs.

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Country

South-Korea

City

Yeosu

Year

2009-2012

Owner

The Organizing Committee of Expo 2012 Yeosu, South-Korea

Architect

soma

Local Partner

dmp, Seoul

Engineers Kinematics

Knippers Helbig, Stuttgart

Light Design

podpod, Vienna

Facade Type and Geometry

kinetic lamellas (GFRP) based on bionic principle actuated by a screw spindle which is driven by a servomotor.

Kind of Light Creation

RGB LinearLED (919,9 m). LED bars are located at the inner side of the front edge of the lamella. In opened position the LED can illuminate the neighboring lamella depending on the opening angle.

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

low resolution

Luminance

medium, starts after dawn

Urban Situation

former harbor area, water on both sides

Renderings

isochrom / soma

Link 1

www.soma-architecture.com

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technical appendix

Urban Pixels

Project, 2007-09 Urban Pixels are a wireless network of physical pixels that enables flexible, reconfigurable, unbounded, low-resolution, and responsive urban displays. Interact Urban environments are increasingly filled with digital display systems that are inflexible, flat, bounded, high-resolution, and unresponsive. Urban Pixels explores the potential of physically instantiated pixels that enable flexible, reconfigurable, unbounded, low-resolution, and responsive urban displays. Each unit includes a microcontroller, RF transceiver, LED module (ten bright, white LEDs), rechargeable Li-Ion battery pack, IR sensor and renewable energy source such as photo-voltaic cells. Two acrylic half-spheres (4-inch diameter) protect the components from the elements. No additional wiring is needed for communication and the units can be mounted individually to any surface. A prototypical network of fifty Urban Pixels was displayed on a faรงade of Eden Court Theater in Inverness, Scotland from June 1 - June 7, 2008. The public was encouraged to select among five display patterns via SMS or to interact with individual units directly via flashlights. Country

USA/UK

Year

2007-09

Owner

Eden Court Theater, Inverness, Scotland, UK

Light Design

Susanne Seitinger, Danny Perry (MIT Media Lab) with Richard Wilson (Distance Lab)

LED Hardware

custom electronics, casing and mounting Lighting control software and hardware: custom protocol, centralized single-hop 433 MHz wireless network

Facade Type and Geometry

exterior faรงade, custom black-painted steel fencing, approximately 4.5 meters tall by 10 meters wide

Kind of Light Creation

temporary, light-emitting pixels applied to building faรงade

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

50 pixels total, 42 pixels arranged in an irregular grid of 7 pixels by 6 pixels on an exterior faรงade, additional pixels placed on the ground and terrace above

Luminance

ten 45 deg viewing angle, 20mA, 8000 mcd, white LEDs

Urban Situation

public plaza of Eden Court Theater on the River Ness in the center of Inverness, Scotland

Photo Credits

Susanne Seitinger, Matthew Karau, Richard Wilson

Link 1

susanne.media.mit.edu

Link 2

www.media.mit.edu

Link 3

www.eden-court.co.uk

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Luma Space 2010

Project, 2010 The experience of light and lighting is multi-sensory: light does not only provide sight, but also enhances texture (that we feel), reveals shape (that we touch) and space (that we are in). Media architecture often is created using “hard” surfaces such as glass and composites, with little attention to the experience of texture and tactility. Luma Space 2010 is the result of an exploration of “soft” materials that are back lit using a pixelated LED grid. Connected fabric Besides its unique tactile appearance, Luma Space is first and foremost a 3-dimensional arrangement of fabric panels that connect to each other. Consistent video media mapped onto the 3-dimensional shape creates a cohesion that seems to dematerialize the physicalinstallation. Media and form make an interplay that disguises the original physical shape, with a fluid, immaterial presence as the result. The projection of light connects the surfaces and while the spatial setup of the panels suggests a coïncidental orchestration in space, the pixelated media seems to be stronger, and provides the overarching gesture, demonstrating how the designer achieves consistency by transforming the immaterial dimension of the installation only. That way a virtual image of the object is being created: waves of light flow across the installation and connect the fabric panels with each other in ways the physical original could never do. The video imagery used on the panels is all hand made by the artist and the student team, who worked with a scale model of the installation that was “unwrapped” and then exposed to colour changing theatre lighting operated live and in real time. By recording the dynamic lighting on video, and mapping the film onto the fabric panels, continuity of the imagery was achieved without the use of any digital post production techniques.

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Year

2010

Concept and Design

Rogier van der Heide with students of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences

Lighting Control Software

Color Kinetics control software

Supported by

Philips

Technology

Fabric Panels with full colour LED light sources behind

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technical appendix

Flyfire

project, 2010 Imagine pixels that could fly out of your computer screen and create an immersive, luminous cloud capable of displaying digital information in three-dimensional space. Remote controlled “micro helicopters” generate unique, free-form display “It’s like when Winnie the Pooh hits a beehive: a swarm of bees comes out and chases him while changing its configuration to resemble a beast,” said E Roon Kang, a research fellow at the SENSEable City Lab who is leading the project. “In Flyfire, each bee is essentially a pixel that emits emits a colored light and reconfigures itself into different forms.” Using the self-stabilizing and precise controlling technology developed by the ARES Lab, the motion of the pixels is adaptable in real time. The Flyfire canvas can transform itself from one shape to another or bring a two-dimensional photographic image into an articulated shape. “Today we are able to simultaneously control a handful of micro helicopters, but with Flyfire we are aiming to scale up and reach very large numbers,” said Emilio Frazzoli, head of the ARES Lab. “Flyfire opens up exciting possibilities: as on a conventional screen, pixels can change color, but now they can also move, creating a transient trace of light in three-dimensional space,” said team member Carnaven Chiu. “Unlike traditional displays that can only be seen from the front, Flyfire becomes a three dimensional immersive display that can be experienced from all directions.” Year

2010

Concept and Design

E Roon Kang, Carnaven Chiu, Caitlin Zacharias, Shaocong Zhou, Assaf Biderman and Carlo Ratti of the SENSEable City Lab in collaboration with Erich Mueller and Emilio Frazzoli of ARES Lab.

Technology

A large number of remotely controlled, self-organizing “micro helicopters”. Each helicopter contains small LEDs and acts as a smart pixel. Through digitally controlled movements, the helicopters perform elaborate and synchronized choreographies, generating a unique free-form display in three-dimensional space.

Urban Situation

A unique visual experience in large public spaces

Photo Credits

MIT’s SENSEable City Lab

Link 1

senseable.mit.edu/flyfire

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FLARE Facade

kinetic ambient reflection membrane 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 creates a dynamic facade The FLARE system consists of a number of tilt-able metal flake bodies supplemented by individually controlled 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. Each metal 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. FLARE turns the building facade into a penetrable kinetic membrane, breaking with all conventions of the building surface as a static skin. Studio WHITEvoid operates at the interface of art, design and technology. It is comprised of specialists in interaction design, media design, product design, interior architecture and electronic engineering. Therefore it can create interactive installations and products for museums, exhibitions, trade fairs, festivals, events, concerts and clubs.

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Concept and Design

WHITEvoid interactive art & design Berlin, Germany

Basic Type of Media-facade

kinetic, shape-shifting, physical media system, daylight-suitable, 3-dimensional, physical display

Technology

metal elements moved by pneumatic pistons

Elements

specially designed reflecting shapes; pixels formed by reflection of ambient light; brightness of reflection controlled by position

Constructive Features

simple construction for high robustness and low maintenance; independent of weather conditions; independent of daytime; outdoor and indoor suitability

Applications

infinite, custom array of elements covering any surface outdoors and indoors. Outdoors it can be used for building facades which are visible all day from a long distance. Indoors small scaled elements can be used with various materials for colored lighting and back illumination. Even projection onto the elements is possible.

Appearance

dynamic building or wall surface; organic structures; 3-dimensional manipulation / animation of surface

Photo Credits

WHITEvoid interactive art & design

Drawing Credits

WHITEvoid interactive art & design

Link 1

www.flare-facade.com

Link 2

www.whitevoid.com

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technical appendix

Neuroled

Germany, 2010 Give your location additional attention with the innovative and interactive NeuroLED modules. Fascinate your clients. They will take photographs and videos of the magic interactive NeuroLED Wall, totally amazed. Catch peoples attention and get them play for a moment. Most elementary and easy to understand. Neuroled - Wilke Technology GmbH Everything is based on these intelligent digital light modules with 24 bit RGB in each point. Sensor technology, Java programmability and free communication between the modules allow endless possibilities for your production. Each modul can be individually addressed through a BUS and each module can communicate with its neighbors. Country

Germany

Year

2010

Owner

Wilke Technology GmbH

Concept and Design

Wilke Technology GmbH

Light Design

Triangular

LED Hardware

Wilke Technology GmbH

Lighting Control Software and Hardware

Wilke Technology GmbH

Facade Type and Geometry

Triangular design case with three LED / sensor points.

Applications

Indoor

Kind of Light Creation

Full color LED fittings behind acryl glass.

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

Low Resolution

Luminance

High: the operation of the module/normal light.

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C4 Espacio de Creación Artística Contemporánea

Cordoba, 2011 The C4 project with a building facade with an integrated light and media installation is far away from the concept of uniform dots of light (pixel) and structured layout. C4 - Building facade with an integrated light and media installation With regards to realities:united’s BIX project Nieto Sobejano architects proposed a light- and media-facade on the C4 building surface facing the Rio Guadalquivir. Realities:united was commissioned to further develop the conception and the design for this media skin. In collaboration with Nieto Sobejano realities:united transformed the facade made from pre-cast glass fibre reinforced concrete panels 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 grey scale system based on fluorescent light will allow the display of moving images at a rate of 20 frames per second.

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Country

Spain

City

Cordoba

Year

2011

Owner

Junta de Andalusia

Architect

Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos, Madrid

Facade Design

Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos in collaboration with realities:united

Light Design, Technical Layout

realities:united, Berlin

Facade Type and Geometry

Complex 3-dimensional topography made of glass fibre reinforced concrete panels. Total surface area: approx. 1.300m²

Kind of Light Creation

1.513 compact fluorescent light tubes assembled into the facade’s panels.

Resolution and Transmitting Behavior

1.314 bowls varying in size and density.

Luminance

Indirect lighting, use at night only.

Urban Situation

Highly visible from historic city centre.

Photo Credits

realities:united, Berlin

Drawing Credits

realities:united, Berlin

Link 1

www.realities-united.de

Link 2

www.nietosobejano.com

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

technical appendix

Electric Signs New York, Hongkong; in progress by Alice Arnold TRT 56:40 | In Progress New screen based sign systems are putting TV-style advertising into the public domain in cities around the globe. These electronic signs are re-shaping urban environments and re-defining areas of public space by intensifying the commercialization of the public sphere. In addition to the explosion of screens in public spaces, screens are ubiquitous in workspaces and in peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s daily life activities. These seamless, illuminated electronic surfaces are becoming the devices through which we frame our experiences. Electric Signs explores this new screen culture as it unfolds in Hong Kong and New York City. Video shown at the exhibtion.

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conference

// MEDIA ARCHITECTURE Conference 2010 «Urban Media Territories; the re-stratification of urban public spaces through digital media.» In examining the transformation of our everyday environments the conference is searching for potentials of digital media in architecture and urban space. Here Public Space is the main field, where the tactics of many are negotiated to form a new urban practice. Tactics are driven by energy distribution and consumption, macro- and micro scale mediatization as well as commercialization of awareness, and the upcoming fusion of digital and green technologies; to name but the most intensive contemporary forces. This year’s conference provides a forum to discuss those forces as manifold potentials for media architecture and media urbanism to contribute to the emergence of a new urban practice.

Speakers include Maria Aiolova, Ludger Hovestadt, Kas Oosterhuis, Marco Poletto; Gregory Beck, Bernd Clauß, Martina Eberle, Tim Edler, Jens Geelhaar, Hans Ullrich Grassmann, Thomas Grechenig, Alex Haw, Stefan Hofmann, Kari Jormakka, Jan Knippers, Barbara Kummler, Jan Lauth, Marc Largent, Marc Maurer, Stefan Mittlböck-Jungwirth-Fohringer, Dietmar Offenhuber, Daan Roosegaarde, Kristina Schinegger, Marilena Skavara, Adam Somlai-Fischer, Norbert Streitz, Adrian Velicescu, Els Vermang, Stephan Wittekind, Pietro Zennaro and many more.

Offices, Institutions, Ateliers include ecoLogicStudio, ETH Zürich, OLN - Oosterhuis_Lénárd, Terreform ONE + Terrefuge; ag4 media facade GmbH/GKD, ARS Electronica Futurelab, atmosstudio, baumschlager eberle Architekten, Bauhaus Universität Weimar, CAVI - University of Aarhus, ESBA Le Mans, Fluid Interface Group - MIT Media Lab, GSD Havard, horao GmbH, Interaction Lab University of Sydney, IUAV, Kitchen Budapest, Knippers Helbig GesmbH, Kunstuniversität Linz, LAb[au], Lichtwerke, Magic Monkey Maurer United Architects, MESO Digital Interiors, microhappy, realities:united, MIT SENSEableCity Laboratory, Smart Future Initiative, soma.architecture, StandardVision, Studio Roosegaarde, Traxon Technologies, United Visual Artists, UrbanAid group - UTS Sydney, Yuan Ze University, Zumtobel and many more.

Conference and Workshops Team Gerda Palmetshofer Brigitta Miron Sonia Madtha Maxime Reckmann Erfan Momken

Curator Oliver Schürer

Conference 7 – 9 October 2010 Workshops 8 – 9 October 2010

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organisation profiles

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:: organisations involved in projects exhibited

TRAXON About Traxon Traxon Technologies Ltd. is a global leader in LED lighting systems offering sophisticated RGB and White solutions for the architectural and hospitality/retail industries. Together with its lighting control brand “e:cue”, Traxon provides its customers full turnkey solutions, reaching from the cutting-edge LED lighting systems to the sophisticated large scale control solutions. In March 2009, Traxon Technologies entered into a joint venture partnership with OSRAM, strengthening its position in the market by combining know-how in technology and building on synergies with OSRAM’s global presence. With over 3000 worldwide installations Traxon covers various market segments and has the knowledge and experience to improve and illuminate environments of various size and complexity. About e:cue lighting control e:cue lighting control develops state-of-the-art control and automation solutions, and works with lighting professionals and partners around the world to deliver dynamic lighting experiences. An industry leader with anintegrated software and hardware portfolio, e:cue provides reliable control solutions for any dynamic lightingproject. e:cue, as part of “Traxon Technologies – An OSRAM Company”, is headquartered in Paderborn, Germany with regional offices in Europe, North America, South America, Asia and the Middle East. Distribution and support is managed through e:cue’s extensive worldwide partner network.

ZUMTOBEL We want to use light to create worlds of experience, make work easier and improve communications and safety while remaining fully aware of our responsibility to the environment. Zumtobel is the internationally leading supplier of integral lighting solutions for a wide variety of applications in professional interior lighting. We provide unique customer benefit by integrating technology, design, emotion and energy efficiency. Under the Humanergy Balance concept, we combine the best possible ergonomic lighting quality for people’s well-being with the responsible use of energy resources.

CITILED Citiled is a French company whose founders come from the LED video industry and have more than 18 years of experience with LED technology. Headquartered in Paris, Citiled also has offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Beirut and Riyadh. With a team of 25 highly qualified designers, engineers and technicians, Citiled ensures the most cutting-edge and qualitative customized LED Lighting

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organisation profiles

and Video Systems for an optimal integration into the architecture. Citiled specializes in the design, engineering, supply and installation of LED MediaFacade for architectural applications. The LED light becomes a new architectural material and allows infinite possibilities for building facades creativity and animation. Citiled study each project with a unique approach and creates custom-made systems that allow greater integration into the architecture. From concept design to final handover, our team coordinates the integration into architecture of video and dynamic lighting managed altogether by a single system. Citiled’s expertise helps maximize the return for the developer by delivering state of the art architectural projects.

ag4 media facade GmbH Simply Mediatecture ag4 mediatecture company®, Cologne, Germany has realized projects merging architecture, media and design since 1991. As a prime contractor, ag4 is responsible for the complete conceptual, design, construction and technical development, production and realization of projects in the areas of media facades, installations (exhibitions, scenography) and technical systems. ag4 has been a defining voice in the discourse involving the concept of mediatecture in recent years. ag4 built the world’s first transparent media facade at the headquarters of T-Mobile in Bonn, Germany. Since 2005, ag4 media facade GmbH has become responsible for the area of media facades, together with GKD – Gebr. Kufferath AG the systems Illumesh® and Mediamesh® has been developed. ag4 received several awards but also the highest award in the area of design: the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany 2009. ag4 has also developed a generic media display system for media facades, named Interactive Media Pool Platform or IMPP® for short.

GKD – Gebr. Kufferath AG Creative inspiration and technical innovation Woven metallic architectural and design fabrics of the brand CreativeWEAVE provide virtually unlimited scope for industrial architectural visions. A combination of state-of-the-art weaving technology and cross-sector problem-solving competence makes GKD – Gebr. Kufferath AG the world’s leading manufacturer of innovative meshes for architectural and design projects. A wide range of materials and technologies forms a fascinating portfolio of means of expression for both functionally and aesthetically outstanding architecture. GKD developed in a close cooperative development with ag4 media façade GmbH the two award-winning medialized stainless steel mesh systems – Illumesh® and Mediamesh®. With six production facilities, including its headquarters in Germany and others in the USA, the United Kingdom, Spain, South Africa and China, as well as branches in Dubai and Qatar and agents around the world, GKD is always close to the market and ensures that the high level of quality is maintained globally.

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ETH ZÜRICH UND HORAO The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) was founded in 1855 as a university dedicated to technology and natural sciences. Today ETH Zurich has more than 15,000 students from approximately 80 countries, 3,400 of whom are doctoral candidates. ETH Zurich consists of 16 departments to date offering 23 Bachelor’s degree and 39 Master’s degree programs. ETH Zurich regularly appears at the top of international rankings as one of the best universities in the world. 21 Nobel Laureates have studied, taught or conducted research at ETH Zurich, underlining the excellent reputation of the institute. Transferring its knowledge to the private sector and society at large is one of ETH Zurich’s primary concerns. It has succeeded in this, as borne out by the 80 new patent applications each year and the 195 spin-off companies that were created out of the institute between 1996 and 2009. Beyond transferring knowledge to the private sector the university is pursuing a new kind of partnership aiming at creating know-how in joint effort with the private sector for shared use. A recent collaboration of that kind was established with the Walt Disney Corporation in April 2010 in the form of Disney Research Zurich. DRZ is developing new technologies for all areas of the Walt Disney Corporation with its 130’000 employees covering television, games, theme parks and merchandising. Horao GmbH is an ETH spin-off company focusing on the development and deployment of real 3D imaging solutions covering hardware and software development. Horao GmbH is the exclusive licensee of ETH Zurich’s know-how in this field of research for which a patent has been filed internationally. Horao’s main focus lies in developing novel solutions allowing to address individual voxels (volumetric pixels) of any kind in space and to display any kind of content in a physical three-dimensional imaging space. The NOVA installation at Zurich central station is so far the largest interactive installation (25’000 voxels) of this kind serving as the main tool to test and deploy new 3d imaging applications which are developed in close collaboration with ETH Zurich. New means of interactivity are explored in show and exhibition contexts using a small mobile NOVA system consisting of 1’000 voxels offering an immediate experience to a broad variety of users.

departure An economically sustainable basis for Vienna’s creative professionals The objectives of departure are manifold: the development of an economically sustainable basis for Vienna’s creative professionals, which shall promote economic growth, the increase of the employ-

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organisation profiles

ment rate and the establishment of new companies. This requires the strengthening of entrepreneurial know-how and the cooperation between creative professionals and the economy. departure furthermore supports individual creative and entrepreneurial top performances as well as the establishment of creative services such as design as a completely “natural“ service for classic companies. For departure “supporting” also means “challenging”, since it’s a matter of bringing the creative world and the business world closer together in a sensitive way and to encourage their fruitful cooperation.

ZIT - Zentrum für Innovation und Technologie We promote the best minds - Innovation promotion for Vienna 2008 - 2011. Technology and innovation promotion is more than just simple project or corporate financing. ZIT has developed a comprehensive program of promotion and funding measures which takes into account the special characteristics of the Viennese economy as well as the specific requirements of innovative companies which conduct research.

realitylab.at Realitylab was set up by Dr. Gernot Tscherteu in 1999 as an innovative media design lab. Coming from the Austrian Academy of Science and having worked for a number of industry clients Mr. Tscherteu together with a small team started to design and develop his own software applications mainly for the Internet. Based on experiences in the EC funded project “web4groups” (1996 – 1998) realitylab developed a series of web-based tools for project collaboration and group communication. (e.g. parq.at) In 2002 realitylab started to focus on Weblogs and other Web 2.0 technologies. In recent years realitylab realised a series of projects that combined research (mainly on social networks in the Internet) with relevant software development aiming at network visualisation and visual people search. (e.g. mememapper.com). As a second line of development realitylab started in 2002 to deal with large scale displays in public spaces - at first in cooperation with University for Applied Arts in Vienna. In 2007 realitylab started off the industry consortium mediafacade.net with leading industry and scientific partners. The consortium developed a prototype for a building integrated display (an LED media façade). In parallel the very popular Weblog mediaarchitcture.org was launched and Mr. Tscherteu coorganised the first international conference on Media Architecture in London 2007 and the Media Facades Festival Berlin 2008 where he curated an internationally acknowledged exhibition on media facades (mediaarchitecture.org). In its present realitylab aims at linking online communication (via cell phones and web-based social networks) with media facades and other media architectures, thus searching for interfaces between digital media and public space in an urban environment. The currently developed media architecture toolbox will provide a set of applications for movement tracking, mobile communication and social games that take place on media facades in public space.

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Leistungsstarke LED-Produkte von Zumtobel faszinieren durch hohe Effizienz, hervorragende Farbwiedergabe, Wartungsfreiheit und anspruchsvolles Design.

Im Zusammenspiel mit intelligenten Lichtsteuerungen entstehen dynamische Lösungen, die Lichtqualität und Energieeffizienz optimal verbinden.

Intelligente Lichtlösungen von Zumtobel sind in perfekter Balance von Lichtqualität und Energieeffizienz – in HUMANERGY BALANCE.

LED-Lichtlösungen von Zumtobel setzen Maßstäbe in der Gestaltungsfreiheit und geben dem Licht neue Brillanz. Zumtobel bietet für jeden Anwendungsbereich die optimale LED-Lichtlösung.

www.zumtobel.com/LED

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MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Technik für Menschen

Durch unsere Forschung entwickeln wir wissenschaftliche Exzellenz, durch die Lehre vermitteln wir umfassende Kompetenz. Die Technische Universität Wien – kurz: TU Wien - liegt im Herzen Europas, an einem Ort kultureller Vielfalt und gelebter Internationalität. Hier wird seit fast 200 Jahren im Dienste des Fortschritts geforscht, gelehrt und gelernt. Die TU Wien zählt zu den erfolgreichsten Technischen Universitäten in Europa und ist mit über 23.000 Studierenden und rund 3.000 WissenschafterInnen Österreichs größte naturwissenschaftlich-technische Forschungs- und Bildungseinrichtung.

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King’s Road Tower Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia SEPTEMBER 2010

Integrated into Architecture

Custom-Made System

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE VIENNA 2010

Traxon Technologies Ltd. is a global leader in LED lighting systems, offering sophisticated RGB and White solutions for the architectural, hospitality, retail, and high-end residential industries. Together with e:cue, its lighting control brand, Traxon provides its customers full turnkey solutions, spanning from cutting-edge LED lighting systems, to sophisticated, large-scale control solutions. In March 2009, Traxon Technologies entered into a joint venture with OSRAM. This joint venture strengthened its position in the market, combining experience, innovation, experÂ tise and building on synergies with OSRAMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s global presence. With over 3000 installations worldwide, including the famous Guggenheim Museum and WorldWide Plaza, New York, the International Commercial Center, Hong Kong; as well as retail interiors for Biotherm, Louis Vuitton, Diesel, and many other prestigious projects, Traxon covers various market segments and has the knowledge and experience to illuminate and enhance environments of various size and complexity.

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credits

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credits Curators Gernot Tscherteu, Martin Tomitsch

Research Petra Hendrich, Wolfgang Leeb

Content Management Petra Hendrich, Tobi Schäfer

Art Direction Katrin Schoof, Dorothee Guther

Showreel on BoxLEDs Catherine Ludwig

Technical Team Tobi Schäfer (technical concept and realisation) Martin Tomitsch (coordination iPad guide) Wolfgang Leeb (led-display control) Christoph Pacher (tracking and game development) Petra Hendrich

iPad Designers and Programmers Bernard Bucalon, Josh McInerheney, Loan Myers, Oliver Dawson

Design of Poster Hanging Martin Püspök

Poster Prints M8 Labor für Gestaltung

Exhibition Construction Thomas Reiter and Alex

A big Thank You! to Wolfgang Krivanek for WLAN setup Simon Newton for libartnet Vinzenz-Emanuel Weber for iPad Programming ohDisco! for the 30 sec iPad stand DI Berthold for structural engineering of boxLEDs. Tesa for the „LED hooks“ HELMA for managing the content Katharina and Peter Loetscher for translation The exhibition was held in close cooperation with the Media Architecture Biennale Conference

Curator Oliver Schürer Research and Organisation

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Gerda Palmetshofer

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Advisory Board Stijn Broker (Barco) Bernd Clauss (Zumtobel) Karel Dudesek (Illuminati / Beijing) Martina Eberle (Horao – ETH Zürich) Jan und Tim Edler (realities:united) Adam Somlai Fischer (aether architecture) Rogier van der Heide (Philips) Kari Jormakka (Technical University of Vienna) Thomas Schwed (Archconsult Vienna) Stephan Wittekind (Traxon) Prof. Andrew Vande Moere (University of Sydney / K.U.Leuven ) Alexander Walchowsky (A1 Telekom Austria)

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About the editors Dr. Gernot Tscherteu Founding member of the Media Architecture Institute. Gernot studied political science at the University of Vienna. Since 1991 he has worked as a interaction designer and researcher. Between 2002 and 2005 he worked as coordinator for the LED project â&#x20AC;&#x17E;Leuchtathletikâ&#x20AC;&#x153; at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna. Co-organiser of Media Architecture Conference 2007, manager of research consortium mediafacade.net, a group comprising design consultancies and major architectural and manufacturing companies and research institutions, which aims to develop standardised state-ofthe-art technology for media facades. 2008 curator of Media Facades Exhibition Berlin 2008 and co-curator of Media Facades Festival 2008. Organiser of the Media Facades Summit 2010 and Co-organiser of Media Architecture Biennale 2010.

Dr. Martin Tomitsch Martin Tomitsch is a lecturer at the Design Lab, an interdisciplinary research group within the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney. He is founding member of the Media Architecture Institute and one of the curators of the Media Architecture Biennale. He has a background in informatics with a focus on interaction design. His research involves the design of interactive experiences and the exploration of new forms of interaction to elicit user engagement and social interaction in everyday environments.

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