Media Architecture Institute

After Sydney in 2016 and Beijing in 2018, the Media Architecture Biennale will return to Europe in 2020. We are very excited to announce that MAB20 will be hosted by the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences in collaboration with Utrecht University 23 to 27 November 2020. 

Originally, media architecture was most concerned with the integration of displays and interactive installations into architectural structures, such as media facades and urban screens. Over the years, the discipline has grown much broader, as new technologies such as digital platforms and smart city technologies have increasingly made their way into the experience, management and design of cities.

None of these technologies brought into the city are neutral enablers, mere decorative structures or just simple market places connecting demand and supply in fields as diverse as energy and transport to commerce and leisure. They are built upon numerous spoken and unspoken assumptions about urban life, each with their own implications for both social relations as well as their effect on the natural ecosystem.It is time therefore for the discipline of media architecture to address the implied futures of new technologies.

MAB20 calls for media architectures that move beyond the mere spectacular; as well as beyond the design of individualized services comforting human customers. MAB20 calls for media architectures and urban interaction that dare to take on a more-than-human approach: aiming at the well-being of the natural ecosystem as a whole; For urban media art and design that bring implicit and explicit bias within technology and culture to light, and provide the means for ongoing discussion, debate, and societal change; For digital platforms that strengthen citizen’s digital rights in democratic societies.

To find out more, visit the Media Architecture Bienalle 2020 website. For updates, follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. 

Calls for participation will be announced soon. 

Since some of our readers have asked for articles about media architecture, we thought it might be useful to share this here on our website. There is a large number of academic articles available through our Media Architecture Biennale conference series. The articles are published in the form of poceedings available through the ACM Digital Library. Here are the direct links to all the proceedings published to date: 

• MAB 2018 conference proceedings
• MAB 2016 conference proceedings
• MAB 2014 conference proceedings
• MAB 2012 conference proceedings 

The proceedings include a table of content and free access to all article titles and abstracts. Downloading the full article as a PDF requires a subscription to the ACM Digital Library, which is available through most universities and some libraries. Sometimes, authors also make “author versions” of their article available, which can be found e.g. through Google Scholar. 

We proudly present our newest book by the Media Architecture Institute, now available via av edition, the Media Architecture Compendium.

Since the first publication on media architecture Media Facades – History, Technology, Content in 2009 and its sequel New Media Facades – A Global Survey in 2012, the field of media architecture has reached global relevance. Media architecture is now acknowledged as a framework and a way of thinking for transforming public space by embedding digital media into the built environment. Thus, digital placemaking is arguably the new frontier for media architecture.

This compendium explores how digital media is shaping cities today and in the years to come. It illustrates ground breaking use of light and media in urban environments through 36 projects that were finalists for the Media Architecture Biennale awards in 2014 and 2016. The projects span five categories: Animated Architecture; Money Architecture; Participatory Architecture & Urban Interaction; Spatial Media Art; and Future Trends & Prototypes. The projects range from autonomous drones by Ars Electronica, shopping centres in China by UNStudio, art installations visualising climate change by Roosegaard Studio, to many more temporary and contemporary media architecture interventions.

The projects are supplemented by essays from leading thinkers in the fields of media architecture and digital placemaking, sharing their insights and visions on how new paradigms such as the internet of things, big data and responsive environments will transform our cities. The book is the third publication of the Media Architecture Institute, which holds offices in Vienna, Sydney, Beijing and Toronto and summarises the research and findings of the Media Architecture Biennale events 2014 in Aarhus and 2016 in Sydney.

Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia, which is known globally for its urban screen program, has announced an upgrade of their iconic digital screen. The current digital screen will be replaced with a wall of interactive LED panels that complement the form of Fed Square’ s unique architecture. At the centre is a 5k resolution, high-definition event screen with a 6mm pitch, which ensures high-quality display from a distance.

From the official announcement:

The additional electricity required to power the screens has been factored into Fed Square’s overall environmental sustainability management plan and will not negatively affect the carbon neutrality of the city precinct.

There will also be a number of interactive touchscreens constructed and located throughout Fed Square.They are currently in the design phase.

The Digital Experience Initiative is a $5.4 million investment funded by Fed Square Pty Ltd. It will be driven by a program of user-generated content, commissioned artwork and community engagement, whilst retaining the capacity to broadcast live sport, current affairs and films.

The designer and collaborator is sound and light firm, Ramus (ramus.com.au), whose digital works range from rock concert lighting for U2 and David Bowie to public precinct redevelopment in several Australian capital cities.

The free on-site Wi-Fi will be dramatically improved as part of the initiative, which will help enable real-time, user-generated content and interaction with the screens.

The construction of the new screens will commence in October 2017 and are expected to be finished in late April 2018.

Alessandro Aurigi, Professor of Urban Design at the University of Plymouth, and Nancy Odendaal, Associate Professor in City and Regional Planning at the University of Cape Town, are putting together an edited book publication, titled “Designing Smart for Improving Place”:

This book will challenge scholars, practitioners and thinkers to look at smart from the point of view of the inhabitable, and inhabited, culturally-informed, digitally-enhanced place. We propose a contextually grounded approach that examines the notion of the ongoing (co)production of the localized smart city: innovative, emergent and situated initiatives that substantively connect to the specifics of place. As such, the book aims at the difficult but necessary target of allowing a joined-up approach on smart, with the permanent improvement of place in mind. This means informing the present and future shaping of smart place by architects, designers and urban planners.

Extended abstracts are due Friday 27 October 2017. More details are available on their book website.

It is with great pleasure to announce that the 2018 Media Architecture Biennale (MAB18) will be held in Beijing, China. MAB18 will be hosted by the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) and the Beijing Visual Arts Innovation Institute (BVAII) in collaboration with the Media Architecture Institute.

MAB18 will again run over four days, from 13-16 November 2018, and include workshops, symposia, industry keynotes, academic talks and an exhibition.

The theme of MAB18 will be “Media Architecture – Digital Infrastructure at the Scale of the Hybrid City”. Media architecture is involved in placemaking and smart city initiatives through infrastructure large and small. While connected information displays and mobile phones might inform tenants about energy efficiency, coordinated large-scale facades and screens can influence the identities of entire cities. How can the various scales that media architecture operates in be connected to support social structures within the territory of a city? The goal of MAB18 is to bring together top researchers, academics, designers, and city builders to investigate the many connected uses and scales of media architecture in their local and global contexts.

The MAB18 website and call for participation will be launched shortly.

Photo: Water Cube, Olympic Park, Beijing by Flickr user inkelv1122

The Media Architecture Awards are given to outstanding projects at the intersection of architecture, media and interaction design. Three projects are nominated in each of the five categories – Animated Architecture; Money Architecture; Participatory Architecture and Urban Interaction; Spatial Media Art and Future Trends and Prototypes. The winners in each category will be announced during the Media Architecture Biennale award ceremony in Sydney on the evening of June 3rd, 2016.

The nominees are:

ANIMATED ARCHITECTURE
LED Frieze
Train Station Falkenberg
The Wings

MONEY ARCHITECTURE
Klubhaus St. Pauli
LAX — Tom Bradley International Terminal
Morgan Stanley — Times Square Headquarters

PARTICIPATORY ARCHITECTURE & URBAN INTERACTION
In the Air, Tonight
The Sentiment Cocoon
Le Circuit De Bachelard

SPATIAL MEDIA ART
Star
Waterlicht
Field of Light

FUTURE TRENDS AND PROTOTYPES
City Lights Orchestra
Drone 100
Fluidic

For more details visit the Media Architecture Biennale awards page. Tickets to the awards show are on sale via Ticketek.

We are pleased to confirm the remarkably talented and highly respected Carlo Ratti, as keynote speaker and panelist for the 2016 Media Architecture Biennale (MAB16) closing ceremony on June 4th.

“Carlo Ratti is a pioneer in media architecture and smart city developments, with an illustrious, celebrated career. His inventions, idea’s and designs are ahead of our time. It is a privilege to have Prof Ratti participating in our official closing ceremony for the MAB16.” said Dr M. Hank Haeusler, General Chair of The Media Architecture Biennale 2016 (UNSW Australia).
Prof Ratti is an architect, an engineer, a designer, an inventor and educator. He is at the forefront of connecting technology and the built environment. His Digital Water Pavilion at the 2008 World Expo was hailed by Time Magazine as “One of the Best Inventions of the Year.” He has been included in Esquire Magazine’s “Best and Brightest list,” in Blueprint Magazine’s “25 People who will Change the World of Design” and in Forbes Magazine’s “People you need to know” in 2011.

His work is internationally revered, exhibited at events and venues including: Venice Biennale, the Design Museum Barcelona, the Science Museum in London, GAFTA in San Francisco and The Museum of Modern Art in New York. He has also co-authored over 250 publications.

Prof Ratti currently Chair at the Senseable City Lab which he founded, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is also the head of Carlo Ratti Associati. He is currently serving as Chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Future Cities, and has been selected as Special Adviser to the President and Commissioners of the European Commission, to advise on urban innovation.

Carlo Ratti will take the main stage at The Concourse, Theatre on June 4 from 5pm to 6pm and officiate the MAB16 closing ceremony with a keynote speech, followed by a panel discussion on smart cities.

Tickets are now available for his keynote via Ticketek.

The Media Architecture Biennale 2016 is presented as part of the Vivid Ideas program at Vivid Sydney, the world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas.

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016
BE PART OF THE DIGITAL PLACEMAKING EXPERIENCE

Come June 2016, the prestigious Media Architecture Biennale 2016 will project Sydney into the digital media spotlight. From June 1st, the world’s leading experts in architectural digital technology will arrive in the harbour city to host a series of conferences, seminars and symposia designed to discuss, assess and debate the impact of digital technology in the future design and development of smarter and more liveable cities.

Design and urban planning experts from around the globe will transform The Concourse, on Sydney’s North Shore into technology driven idea’s hub, for the 5th international Media Architecture Biennale 2016, presented as a part of the Vivid Ideas program. From June 1st to June 4th, architectural and design professionals, academics, state and federal government representatives and specialised experts in digital placemaking will host a series of workshops, symposia and events designed to explore the existing and future impact of digital technologies on urban planning within global cities.

“The Media Architecture Biennale 2016 brings together specialists who are passionate about reinventing urban communities and utilising public spaces to communicate. The official buzzword and theme for this year’s event is digital placemaking; the use of digital technology within a dedicated public urban space, designed specifically for the purpose of communicating with the public,” said Dr M. Hank Haeusler, General Chair of The Media Architecture Biennale 2016 (UNSW Australia).

Federation Square, in central Melbourne is currently Australia’s best example of digital placemaking; in 2014 it was named the 6th Best Public Square in the world by Landscape Architects Network. Mr Matt Jones, General Manager of Program & Events at the iconic Australian outdoor gathering space, will be on hand at this year’s event to share knowledge from his own first-hand experience with digital placemaking.

Among the illustrious line-up of over 50 international guests attending The Media Architecture Biennale 2016 is Carlo Ratti. Prof. Ratti is currently Chair at the Senseable City Lab and Ratti Associati. He is at the forefront of connecting technology and the built environment and was included in Blueprint Magazine’s “25 People who will Change the World of Design” list.

Highly regarded in the field of digital placemaking, Ethan Kent, Senior Vice President at Projects for Public Spaces (PPS) in New York City is also supporting The Media Architecture Biennale 2016. Mr Kent has worked on over 200 public space projects including, Times Square in New York.

Locally, MAB16 welcomes Mr Bruce Duyshart, Director of Meld Strategies, who recently developed a Smart City Masterplan for Parramatta (NSW) in collaboration with the City of Parramatta.

The calendar of Media Architecture Biennale 2016 activities commences on June 1st and concludes June 4th, among the events are: symposia, workshops, seminars, an MAB Awards exhibition and a Gala Awards Dinner held on Sydney Harbour. The Media Architecture Awards Exhibition will feature over 100 media architecture projects on display at Artspace, The Concourse from May 27th. The exhibition is a showcase of projects that explore the possibilities of and outcomes of interactions between the built environment with technology and communities. It is free and open to the public.

Industry professionals travelling to Sydney for the MAB16 might take the opportunity to combine the visit with the DIS 2016 (Designing Interactive Systems) conference, which takes place in Brisbane, Queensland from 4-8 June.

The Media Architecture Biennale 2016 is presented as part of the Vivid Ideas program at Vivid Sydney, the world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas.

Both industry enthusiasts and the public alike are welcome to all events, with ticket sales available through Ticketek.

MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2016 (mab16.org)
JUNE 1ST – 4TH
THE CONCOURSE (theconcourse.com.au) AND OTHER LOCATIONS ACROSS SYDNEY
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA