Media Architecture Institute

The installation Digital Fountain forms a landmark in the new Westfield development in London. It captures the essence of water both visually and acoustically, relaying the effect digitally through a unique combination of glass, aluminium and LCD technology.

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A radical design in both architecture and lighting. The iconic double-looped shape, a spiralling exhibition space, biking lanes, a pool of water with the famous Little Mermaid, and a beautiful dynamic illumination of both inner spaces and outer façades. During nighttime the façade displayed a vibrant, but stylish show of patterns and animations that made the building come to life. (more…)

The European Urban Media Network Connecting Cities is a network with the aim of creating an exchange between urban activists, creatives, passers-by and city inhabitants from all over the world via media façades and large digital screens. As an interdisciplinary network, Connecting Cities unites political, economic and artistic interests. The initiator of the project is Public Art Lab (Berlin) in cooperation with Ars Electronica Futurelab Linz, BIS (Body Process Arts Association) Istanbul, FACT Liverpool, iMAL Brussels, m-cult Helsinki, Medialab Prado Madrid, Media Architecture Institute Vienna, Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Riga 2014 and Videospread Marseille. Other partners include the Aarhus University, Marseille-Provence 2013, MUTEK Montréal and Quartier des spectacles Montréal. (more…)

The workshop on interactive city lighting held at the international conference on human factors in computing systems (CHI) in Paris aims at exploring the topic form various perspectives. The workshop goal is to bring together a community of researchers, designer and practitioners to better understand the capabilities, contexts of use and possibilities for user participation of this emerging technology. Selected contributions will be invited to present and share their approach with the community. The workshop aims to: identify key opportunities for new forms of interactive lighting systems in urban context, explore interaction paradigms that can be (re-) used for interactive urban lighting, and examine adequate ways of prototyping and evaluating interactive lighting systems.

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As one of the major outdoor installations the City Hall Tower was lit up during and after the Media Architecture Biennale 2012 which happened in Aarhus-Denmark.

The project was realized as a cooperation of the MAI and Aarhus Univeristy / PIT / CAVI with generous support trough AHL Mediafacades who were sponsoring the hardware. (more…)

This year, for the first, time the World’s most outstanding media architecture was awarded during the Media Architecture Biennale. A jury of international representatives of the field chose six winning projects from five categories based on their ability to integrate media and architecture – and the profound impact on their urban surroundings.

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Exhibition and Awards: The call is open – see here for submission details. Conference: The call for papers is closed.

Building on the successful event in Vienna 2010, The Media Architecture Biennale 2012 brings together artists, academia and industry in the continued exploration of the meeting between architecture and digital media.

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Vivid Sydney, the largest festival of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, came to an end recently. With its 60 light sculptures, which span large-scale projections to grassroots LED installations, the festival represents an important contributor to the media architecture movement. For the first time this year, the Media Architecture Institute was one of the supporters for a centerpiece installation that used a range of lighting and interactive sensor technologies to create a unique visitor experience. The installation with the title Chromapollination is an interactive light sculpture that reclaims a neglected urban space in Sydney’s Central Business District transforming it into a playful and inviting city organism. Giant glowing dandelions are sprawling from cracks in the concrete to project colour and motion onto and around passersby and festival participants. The dandelions react to their environment – passersby generate a digital wind that gently caresses the tops of the flowers. As force builds, the ‘seeds’ break off and transverse across a light ceiling.

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The Oskar-von-Miller tower is used by the world-renowned Technische Universität München to obtain precise weather data and conduct meteorological research. In October 2010, a team of top architects and lighting designers were hired to develop a solution to transform the soaring tower into a signature landmark and communication tool. When the originally-planned illumination systems were unable to meet the demands and challenges presented by the Oskar-von-Miller Tower transformation, the team turned to Traxon & e:cue for a dynamic lighting solution. 25 Traxon Dot XL-3 RGB systems and 23 Traxon String RGB systems, resulting in a total of more than 5,000 pixels of light, were paired with 16 e:cue Butlers and a Lighting Control Engine (LCE) to successfully solve the visibility, precision, budgetary, and timeline challenges posed by the project.

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The media architecture compendium is a collection of about 46 unique projects exhibited at the Media Architecture Biennale 2010 in Vienna, Austria. The collection is updated on a regular basis. The compendium features stunning photos and videos, that give a vivid impression of the architectural and artistic impact of the projects.

Projects by: UNStudio, realities:united, aether architecture, Asymptote Architecture, Arup, Treusch architecture, Peter Cook, Herzog & de Meuron, Gramazio&Kohler Architecture, Rogier van der Heide, Manfred Wuits, MIT Massachusetts, Renzo Piano, Simone Giostra and Partner, magic monkey, ETH Zurich – horao, LAb[au], Traxon e:cue, Zumtobel, Citiled, ag4 media facade gmbh / GKD, and many, many more.

Introductory texts by the exhibition curators Gernot Tscherteu and Martin Tomitsch.

Now available for free in the AppStore.

Located on the east side of Huangpu River, near the Lujiazuei International Financial District and a striking contrast to the neo-classical buildings along the Bund on the opposite river bank, Shanghai Pearl TV Tower is not only the most remarkable building in Shanghai, but has become the symbolic icon that illuminating the energetic and cultural image of Shanghai City that continuously showcases her beauty to the world.

Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower was built and completed on 1 October, 1994. Though twenty years have come and gone, this iconic Tower has seen an influx of thousands and upon thousands of visitors from all over the world, coming together to embrace the beauty of this Pearl Tower.

As planned, the outdoor lighting system has been re-designed and renovated every decade in order to usher in a new era that shows the best of her beauty to the world. This year, 2014, marks Phase 2 of the renovation, which stands for the most advanced outdoor lighting design and technology. It is expected to attain the world-class level as well as showing the culture, technology, innovation, romance and irresistible charm that surprises all visitors all over the world not only to behold but to gain an amazing experience. StrongLED, as the responsible company for the execution of phase 2 of the project, has achieved an outstanding work.

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