Media Architecture Institute

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. 

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.

Dr M. Hank Haeusler, General Chair of the Media Architecture Biennale 2016 and Director of Computational Design at UNSW Australia shares Top 5 Things you didn’t know about Digital Placemaking…

Digital Placemaking is defined as the use of digital technology within a dedicated public urban space, designed specifically for the purpose of communicating with the public. More often than not, it is associated with images on public buildings. These are only a part of the picture that makes up the world of digital placemaking.

Here, Dr Haeusler, de-bunks some common myths and introduces us to world of digital placemaking:

1. Digital Placemaking IS energy efficient.
Dr Haeusler explains this is because it optimises the use of resources by providing better data and accurate information. Also, the LED lights used in projects are the most energy efficient available.

2. The World’s BIGGEST placemaking project is…
The transformation of Times Square, New York. MAB16, Keynote speaker, Ethan Kent worked on this project with the aim of creating an interactive, digital plaza.

3. Digital Placemaking is critical to the creation of future cities.
Digital Placemaking and Smart Cities will transform the use of our cities in the same way the smart phone has transformed the way we communicate with each other.

4. More and more people are studying Digital Placemaking.
The Bachelor Degree of Design Computing at the University of Sydney and the Bachelor of Computational Design at UNSW are two “one-of-a-kind” degrees where future digital placemakers are educated.

5. Digital Placemaking projects come from everywhere.
… and bring people together as Vivid Sydney does each year – what digital placemaking aims is bringing the buzz of Vivid Sydney into a city and using the connectivness and interaction to address problems in our cities such as public transport.

Call for Participation
CHI 2011 Workshop on Large Displays in Urban Life – from Exhibition Halls to Media Facades
Submission DL 14th of January 2011
http://largedisplaysinurbanlife.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/

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The movie „Luminous walls: From clerestory windows to pixelated planes“, is a shortened version of the lecture that was presented at the Cornell University in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis in Ithaca/USA (Oct. 18th, 2010) and at the Columbia University in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in New York (Oct. 26th, 2010).

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

via: Thomas Schielke – arclighting.de

Dieses Buch von Christoph Kronhagel richtet sich an Architekten, Designer, Kommunikationsspezialisten und engagierte Bauherren – kurz an alle, die sich dafür interessieren, wie sich physische Lebensräume konkret und sinnvoll mit medialen Lebenswelten verbinden lassen. Hauptthema ist die Gestaltung von:

Medienfassaden und medial gestaltete Räume.

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

via: Thomas Schielke – arclighting.de

From the image of heaven to dynamic light Luminous ceilings provide spacious room impressions and can provide different types of lighting. Besides this, they are, however, also metaphors of the natural sky and a mirror of an aesthetic and architectural debate. The historical observation of ceilings reveals that the image of heaven, which reached a theological culmination in the luminous Renaissance stucco techniques, turned into large-scale light emanating surfaces. Even if the luminance of contemporary LED screens has increased intensely and thereby creates a point of attraction, designers still look to establish a pictorial language for an impressive appearance.

via/by: Thomas Schielke – arclighting.de

The International Lighting Design Index collects the innovators and leading heads together with their current projects to present the contemporary technology-driven trends.

via: luminapolis.com
Click for Registration Form

This interview was given to Scott Johnson and Ashlen Williams, graduate students from the University of Kansas currently developing a research project on “Communicative Architecture: An Analysis of How Digital Infrastructure Shapes Human Interaction in the Built Environment.”

1. How does the interactive, animated nature of the newest forms of media facades redefine public space?

Well, I think we all must admit that we simply don’t know. Always when a new technology emerges there are some prophets that predict salvation and the dawn of a new era of communication and there are others that warn against negative effects like light pollution or excessive advertising. In a sense both sides are true but one has to develop more differentiated points of view. In other words: an emotional but also rational discourse is needed in order to tame the chances and risks of this new field. The discussion has to be as public as possible and is to involve different stakeholders. – That’s a main reason for organising the Media Facades Festival in Berlin (http://www.mediaarchitecture.org/mediafacades2008/)

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