Designed Objects

Shadow Pavilion (project)

2009-09-20T08:03:00.003-04:00

"Shadow Pavilion is a temporary experimental installation by University of Michigan Taubman College professor Karl Daubmann in collaboration with John Marshall. The project is an extension from a graduate studio course. It utilizes computer-generated architectural forms inspired by organic models to design site-specific structures that maximize utility while minimizing material and waste. This botanical-inspired structure was designed for this overlook on the Sam Graham Trees Trail. It frames the vista for visitors while providing both shade and a visual destination that orients people to the view point."

"Construction was assisted by graduate students Ngoc Thy Phan and Alex Timmer with construction volunteers Craig Borum, Peggy Chong, Jen Maigret, Jessica Mattson, Katie Santer, Dwight Song and Alex Watanabe. This project was made possible by a Research-through-Making grant from Taubman College at the University of Michigan and the U-M Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum."

http://www.lsa.umich.edu/mbg/happening/shadowpavilion.asp

Smartsurfaces

2009-09-11T06:11:00.003-04:00

University of Michigan's Smartsurfaces course offers a collaborative, project-based learning experience in which artists, designers, architects and engineers come together to build physical systems and structural surfaces that have the capability to adapt to information and environmental conditions.

The course will operate as a multidisciplinary, hands-on think-tank where participants will pool their knowledge and skill sets to work together to produce environmentally sound and socially responsible projects. Public exhibition of these funded projects will provide an opportunity for participants to present their work to a wider audience and to review their achievements.

Projects will make use of the resources available to all participating university units, such as:

parametric modeling
digital fabrication
networked sensors
microcontroller programming
energy harvesting

The course begins September 11, 2009.

Shadow Pavilion (installed)

2009-08-26T07:09:00.005-04:00

Major elements of the Shadow Pavilion completed (designed for a site at the University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Garden). Minor tweaking still required.

BioLogic Video

2009-08-21T18:08:00.003-04:00

Images from SIGGRAPH 2009 here.

Shadow Pavilion (in progress)

2009-08-13T15:29:00.005-04:00

The Shadow Pavilion explores the paradox of cutting holes in a structure because the removal of material makes a structure weaker but also lighter. The Shadow Pavilion, designed for a site at the University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Garden, is both a structure and a space made entirely of holes. The pavilion surface is made with almost 100 aluminum cones that vary in size. Beyond testing the limits of sheet aluminum, the cones will act to funnel light and sound to the interior space, offering visitors a space to take in the views and sounds of the surrounding landscape.

By Karl Daubmann & John Marshall. Assisted by: Ngoc Thy Phan & Alex Timmer

This project was made possible by a Research-through-Making grant from Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan.

Generative Fabrication (exhibition)

2009-08-12T02:05:00.004-04:00

Generative Fabrication

The SIGGRAPH 2009 Design & Computation Gallery explores non-linear and biological processes in design and digital fabrication through selected works of art, architecture, and design. The work's inherently generative nature encourages many lines of investigation along two main paths:

Generative design - algorithm and process, explorations of phase space and path-dependent emergent phenomena, form-making versus form-finding, and iterative design such as simulation, analysis, and optimization.
Digital fabrication - the interplay between digital representation and the crafting of physical objects; formation of structures by aggregation, weaving, and layered manufacturing; and exploitation of organic and composite material properties.

Monumental Nets
Janet Echelman and Buro Happold Consulting Engineers
Sculpture that synthesizes traditional fabrication methods with digital form-finding to create monumental public sculptures.

Schiara Lantern
Greg Lynn/FORM and Kreysler & Associates
A large, volumetric lantern made of translucent fiberglass composite panels formed on CNC-milled molds.

Complex Form in Timber
Fabian Scheurer
designtoproduction
Constructing free-form architecture in timber using parametric design and computer-controlled fabrication tools.

Assemblages
Chris Lasch & Benjamin Aranda
Architects pursuing design ideas based on Quasicrystals, forms that are rigorously modular yet grow wild.

MyLight.MGX
Materialise.MGX
A family of lamp designs that are unique for each customer, made with rapid manufacturing techniques.

Holy Ghost
Lionel Theodore Dean
A chair designed using genetic algorithms to determine modifications to the iconic Louis Ghost chair by Philippe Starck.

Ground Substance
Sabin+Jones LabStudio
A hybrid architectural design and biological research unit that demonstrates new modes of thinking in design and material construction.

Pluripotent Structures
Ferda Kolatan+Erich Schoenenberger
su11 architecture+design
An investigation into adaptive and variable formal and structural organizations that have more than one possible outcome yet maintain coherence.

BioLogic (New Orleans)

2009-08-12T01:39:00.004-04:00

BioLogic: A Natural History of Digital Life

The artworks chosen for the SIGGRAPH 2009 juried art exhibition explore what can happen when nature and technology combine. Recent projects by 11 artists representing 10 countries offer both serious and playful scenarios in which biological forms and life processes are grafted together with digital code and devices. All of the projects are kinetic, most are interactive, and many are large installations that immerse the viewer in fantastic environments of shivering tendrils, singing strands of hair, and fuzzy, cloud-like surfaces that respond when stroked. The complex technologies and intriguing topics encountered in the exhibition offer viewers a compelling survey of ideas and issues that characterize contemporary life - a tangle of digital devices, natural processes, and us.

A Special Issue of Leonardo, The Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Sciences and Technology will feature the artists and projects included in BioLogic along with SIGGRAPH 2009 Art Papers.

Artifacts from a Parallel Universe: Tentative Architecture of Other Earth_Coastline Inhabitants
Xárene Eskandar, UCLA Design | Media Arts, Architecture
Artifacts from a Parallel Universe is a garment that emulates the breathing of its wearer, and its form is inspired by marine coral. Using sensors and shape-memory alloys embedded in hand-knitted and felted wool, this garment blurs the boundaries between garment, technology, environment, and wearer. Eskandar is an artist and architect. This piece was produced by Grant Davis in collaboration with Joshua Hernandez (electronics) and Christopher O'Leary (photography).

Biological Instrumentation
Nina Tommasi
Biological Instrumentation is a time-based spatial installation of mimosa plants, each connected by a series of tubes to an air compressor and wired with audio speakers and other electronic equipment. Algorithmically triggered compressed air forces the plants to contract. As the plants begin to open their leaves again, sound signals play from the audio speakers. This work explores the poetics involved in creating new relationships between machines and plant life. Nina Tommasi is an Austrian-born media artist and architect.

Electric Eigen-Portraits
Face Shift
Arthur Elsenaar, Nottingham Trent University
Electric Eigen-Portraits and Face Shift are original performances of algorithmic facial choreography exhibited as two video works. These works turn a computer-controlled human face into a medium for kinetic art. Arthur Elsenaar is an artist and an electrical engineer, finishing his PhD work investigating the choreographic capabilities of the computer-controlled human face. He collaborated with Remko Scha, artist, programmer, and professor of computational linguistics at the University of Amsterdam.

Fur-Fly
Kumiko Kushiyama, Tokyo Metropolitan University
Shinji Sasada and Soichiro Takeyama, Japan Electronics College
Fur-Fly is a tactile display composed of individual pieces of faux fur that uses sensor-driven computer technology to control the movement of the components in response to the user and to transform the visual effects projected onto the surface. The texture of the display surface encourages interaction. Kumiko Kushiyama is an artist, interaction designer, and professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University. Shinji Sasada is an artist and advanced computer graphics designer. Soichiro Takeyama is studying advanced technology and computer graphics at Japan Electronics College.

Growth Rendering Device
David Bowen, University of Minnesota Duluth
Growth Rendering Device is a kinetic installation that records the growth of a pea plant over a 24-hour period. It displays a dialog among plant, environment, machine, and maker all working to thrive, to grow. David Bowen is an artist and assistant professor of sculpture and physical computing at the University of Minnesota Duluth. His work has been featured in exhibitions nationally and internationally.

Hylozoic Soil
Philip Beesley, University of Waterloo
Hylozoic Soil is a visually striking and multifaceted installation. Made up of a network of micro-controllers, proximity sensors, and shape-memory alloy actuators, this interactive environment draws the viewer into its shimmering depths. Philip Beesley is an artist, architect, and professor of architecture at the University of Waterloo. Hylozoic Soil was recently awarded first-prize honors at VIDA 11.0.

Mr. Lee Experiment
Sanghun Lee, Jayoung Kim, Hyomi Mun, Jungmi Kim, and Junghwan Sung, Soongsil University
Mr. Lee Experiment is an interactive installation that allows the viewer to move human experimental subjects between different environments that can then be observed. In this work, humans have been reduced to the same status as other species, that of experimental subjects. Sanghun Lee, Jayoung Kim, Hyomi Mun, Jungmi Kim, and Junghwan Sung, all from the Media Department at SoongSil University, have created this work drawing on expertise across interactive media art, sound art, filmmaking, hardware and software design, and electronics.

MSOrgm (Motivational Sensitive Organism)
Scottie Chih-Chieh Huang and Shen-Guan Shih, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
MSOrgm (Motivational Sensitive Organism) is a robot designed to interact with the viewer in a more personal and subtle way. This robot plant presents the viewer with restrained and graceful gestures, and collaborates with viewers' movements using cameras and facial recognition software. Scottie Huang is an artist and architect interested in tangible human-computer interfaces. Shen-Guan Shih is an associate professor in the Department of Architecture at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.

One
Yoon Chung Han, UCLA Design | Media Arts
Gautam Rangan, UCLA Design | Media Arts
Erick Oh, UCLA Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media
Mubbasir Kapadia, UCLA Computer Science Department
One is an interactive piece consisting of a single drop of ink in a suspended Petri dish and a large projection of the same drop. Viewer interaction with the suspended dish is the means of evolution for the animated ink blot. Yoon Chung Han is an artist and designer specializing in interactive media design. Gautam Rangan is an artist and designer creating animations for the Discovery Science channel. Erick Oh is an award-winning animation artist based in Los Angeles.

TRANSDUCERS
Verena Friedrich, University of Art and Design Offenbach
TRANSDUCERS is an installation composed of several glass tubes, each encasing a single human hair collected from different individuals. Triggered by the machinery, the human hair is stimulated to react, and the reaction is transduced into an audible output. Every audible result provides a technological interpretation of identity. Verena Friedrich is a German artist with a deep interest in science and technology. Shown internationally, her work has also been granted the \international\media\award\2005 for science and art from ZKM Karlsruhe.

Post Global Warming Survival Kit
Petko Dourmana
Post Global Warming Survival Kit is an installation that can only be experienced in infrared. In this post-apocalyptic world, viewers are invited to experience something that is at once bleak and beautiful, at a coastal outpost at land's end. Petko Dourmana is a media artist based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Post Global Warming Survival Kit was one of eight works nominated for a Transmediale 2009 Award.

Still kicking...

2009-06-08T11:27:00.003-04:00

I'm working on several projects this summer. Pictured above are some test models for a 30' interactive double curved surface with Karl Daubmann. We are also working on a project for Kyoto, Japan in 2010.

I will also be moderating a panel discussion at Siggraph in New Orleans that is an opportunity to hear a selection of practitioners participating in the BioLogic and Generative Fabrication exhibitions talk about how they have employed computation beyond an assistive role in their work and discuss how technology has influenced their approach to creative practice.

Busy.

Cloud Gate (sculpture)

2009-03-30T09:01:00.004-04:00

The award for best large-scale, permanent, public sculpture goes to... Anish Kapoor.

BioLogic (exhibition)

2009-03-30T08:19:00.008-04:00

Siggraph 2009 - BioLogic Jurors

Marcia Tanner - independent curator and writer based in Berkeley and former director of San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art

Sabrina Raaf - artist working in experimental sculptural media and Asst. Prof. in the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago

Suzanne Anker - artist and theorist, co-author of The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age, and Chair of Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts in NYC

Cezanne Charles - artist, curator, Creative Industries Director for ArtServe Michigan, and former Executive Director of New Media Scotland

Sascha Pohflepp - artist, designer, contributing writer for we-make-money-not-art, and member of Design Interactions at RCA, London

John Marshall - artist, designer, curator, and Asst. Prof. in the School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan

BioLogic: A Natural History of Digital Life

Design Fiction - Reading Material

2009-03-25T22:41:00.005-04:00

Design Fiction: A Short Essay on Design, Science, Fact and Fiction by Julian Bleecker.

Excellent! As someone who uses examples from 'The Matrix' and 'The Empire Strikes Back' in my class syllabus, I think this is required reading. Julian will be speaking at the European Academy of Design Conference in Aberdeen.

Smartsurfaces (course)

2009-03-22T20:58:00.003-04:00

"In order to prepare for a life of productive endeavor in the 21st century, undergraduates at the University of Michigan must learn problem solving across disciplines and launch inquiries in uncharted territories of knowledge and practice. They must examine the assumptions that inhere in a disciplinary perspective and integrate material outside of patterns they are taught. They must locate issues within larger frameworks of thought, negotiate multiple perspectives, and develop habits of critical questioning and creative problem solving. In addition, they must learn how to find their way through disconnected bodies of information and perspectives and create their own path to a coherent education. We believe that the major problems of our time, from the environment to poverty, from human rights to terrorism, from religious movements to health issues, cannot be studied effectively within any single discipline; all involve integrative, cross-disciplinary thinking."

Smartsurfaces - a multidisciplinary, hands-on think-tank

Karl Daubmann ARCH 409
John Marshall ARTDES 300
Max Shtein MSE 489, 490, 493

University of Michigan
Fall 2009
3 Credits
Fridays, 11am-5pm
Design Lab 1, Duderstadt Center

Smartsurfaces offers a collaborative, project-based learning experience in which artists, designers, architects and engineers come together to build physical systems and structural surfaces that have the capability to adapt to information and environmental conditions.

The course will operate as a multidisciplinary, hands-on think-tank where participants will pool their knowledge and skill sets to work together to produce environmentally sound and socially responsible projects. Public exhibition of these funded projects will provide an opportunity for participants to present their work to a wider audience and to review their achievements.

Projects will make use of the resources available to all participating university units, such as:

parametric modeling
digital fabrication
networked sensors
micro-controller programming
energy harvesting using solar cells and nanostructured materials

The course is a collaborative endeavor led by three professors who will advise and contribute to all team projects. Teams will make use of visiting lecturers, specialists, site visits and relevant stakeholder organizations.

We have been awarded a grant from the Multidisciplinary Learning and Team Teaching (MLTT) Initiative to support this new undergraduate, multidisciplinary, team-taught course.

inter_multi_trans_actions preview (book)

2009-03-08T14:23:00.010-04:00

inter_multi_trans_actions

Creative Practice at the Boundaries of Architecture, Design and Art

Edited by Paul Rodgers and Michael Smyth

[EDIT - the book is now called 'Digital Blur: Stories from the Edge of Creative Design Practice'.]

This book brings together ten of the world’s leading practitioners and thinkers from the fields of art, architecture and design who all share a common desire to exploit the latest computing technologies in their creative practice. The book reveals, for the first time, the working processes of these major practitioners’ work that breaks down traditional creative disciplinary boundaries. inter_multi_trans_actions provides a rich picture, both visually and textually, of the following ten leaders in the field – Jason Bruges Studio, Lucy Bullivant, Greyworld, HeHe, Crispin Jones, the Owl Project, the Pooch (BigDog Interactive), Bengt Sjolen, Troika, and Moritz Waldemeyer.

This book aims to inspire and inform any reader with an interest in design, architecture, art and/or technology and provides essential reading for any practitioner, researcher, educator, and/or other stakeholders involved in the creative arts and industries. The book provides a detailed insight into the techniques of these ten significant creative individuals and how they exploit the latest computing technologies in their work and the impact this will have for creative practice in the future.

• paperback
• ISBN: 978 1 904750 69 7
• 264pp
• 264 x 196mm
• £24.95
• Publication date: September 2009

• Middlesex University Press

inter_multi_trans_actions (book)

2009-03-04T07:22:00.004-05:00

Inter_multi_trans_actions: Creative Practice at the Boundaries of Architecture, Design and Art (Paperback) by Paul Rodgers (Editor), Michael Smyth (Editor)

Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Middlesex University Press (1 Sep 2009)
ISBN-10: 1904750699
ISBN-13: 978-1904750697

Available to pre-order here.

Reading Material (books)

2009-02-27T14:25:00.013-05:00

I've recently purchased a couple of books that I've been meaning to get for a while (too busy teaching/making stuff).

First up is the catalog from MoMA's Design and the Elastic Mind that features What's Cooking Grandma - the Human Beans project that we commissioned in 2006 for Perimeters, Boundaries and Borders. It is excellent. However, I was a little disappointed not to see Geoffrey Mann's piece Attracted to Light that was part of the MoMA exhibition (his Flight - Take Off was shown in PBB). I guess MoMA made up for this omission by acquiring the work (I'm quite proud of this, since I helped Geoff to make the Rhino file watertight).

No such oversight on the part of Troika. Their Digital by Design book is sumptious. (Also nice to see PBB mentioned in the section on Simon Blackmore).

This book is beautifully designed and well worth the investment. I'm now looking forward to the publication of the book from the inter_multi_trans_actions symposium (most of whom are included in Digital by Design). Julian Bleecker and I contributed a chapter to it.

Nora and Torvald (exhibition)

2009-02-10T06:03:00.008-05:00

'Nora & Torvald'
By rootoftwo (John Marshall and Cezanne Charles)
Birch plywood, Arduino micro-controllers, sensors, speakers, audio.
'Nora & Torvald' embeds sensor-controlled digital media in custom-designed pieces of furniture. The starting point of this work is a re-reading of Henrik Ibsen's play "A Doll's House" (1879) to explore user-object relationships.

There is a photocell embedded in the seat of the armchair 'Torvald'. This sends a message when it registers darkness (i.e. when someone sits down). This triggers a randomly selected line of dialogue (one of ten) from the play to be played as audio. There is an accelerometer in the rocking stool 'Nora'. When she is rocked this triggers a randomly selected line of her dialogue (also one of ten) to be played as audio.

A&D 5th Annual Faculty Exhibition, Slusser Gallery, 2000 Bonisteel Blvd. 1st floor.

'Nora' and 'Torvald' both use the Adafruit Wave Shield for Arduino Kit.

Sample dialogue (when 2 people are sitting):

T: This time I needn't sit here and be dull all alone. You have just come at a fortunate moment.
N: It's wonderful! Wonderful things don't happen every day. Take this armchair; I will sit here in the rocking-chair.
T: Has anyone been here?
N: What a thoughtless creature I am, chattering away like this.
T: You can depend on me.
N: It will make me so happy to be of some use to you.
T: Don't disturb me. Look straight at me.
N: I am in a silly mood today. Come and sit down here, and I will show you something.
T: How unreasonable and how ungrateful you are. What sort of madness is this! Can you not understand your place in your own home?
N: What do you want of me? Have you been sitting here waiting for me?
T: I may as well tell you plainly, we were once on very intimate terms with one another.
N: You don't understand me, and I have never understood you either.
T: Explain yourself better. I don't understand you. Can I never be anything more than a stranger to you?
N: You must simply listen to what I say. I have existed merely to perform tricks for you.
T: You are right, it has affected us both. Something ugly has come between us. Where are you going?
N: Isn't there one thing that strikes you as strange in our sitting here like this.
T: Here you shall stay and give me an explanation.
N: Does it not occur to you that this is the first time we two… have had a serious conversation?
T: On the contrary, I feel extraordinarily lively. And you? You really look both tired and sleepy.

Biologic: A Natural History of Digital Life

2008-12-16T11:18:00.002-05:00

Call for papers and artworks - ACM SIGGRAPH 2009/Leonardo
Leonardo/ACM SIGGRAPH
2009 Special Issue Featuring SIGGRAPH 2009 Art Papers and Juried Art Gallery
Guest Editor: Jacquelyn Martino

We are now accepting submissions for a forthcoming special issue of Leonardo. The issue will feature SIGGRAPH 2009 Art Papers and the SIGGRAPH 2009 Juried Art Gallery, “Biologic: A Natural History of Digital Life.”

SIGGRAPH Art Papers present work that illuminates and explores the process of making art and its place in society, helping people understand the changing roles of artists and art-making in our increasingly computerized, networked, multi-sensory, online world. The papers present challenging ideas in accessible ways. They inform artistic disciplines, set standards and stimulate future trends. In addition to the core topics of the digital arts and interactive techniques, Art Papers explore the theme of SIGGRAPH 2009's juried art gallery, BioLogic Art.

The BioLogic exhibition, chaired by Elona Van Gent, will showcase work by artists who engage technology and the natural world in their creative processes. The artworks and installations chosen for the exhibition will demonstrate, celebrate, critique and conjecture about the flux of natural and technological forces. Plants and animals, insects and even the weather have long served as subjects of study and as metaphors for human experience. Technological gadgetry and digital code are amplifying our understanding of organic processes and enhancing our innate capabilities. Grafting these together--things occurring naturally with those altered or modified—offers opportunities for novel expressions of life as we know it or imagine it to be.

BioLogic will focus on projects that graft together biological forms and systems with mechanical equipment, electronic instruments, robotic devices and digital code and networks that amplify our understanding of organic processes and enhance our natural capacities, allowing us to explore expressions of life as we know it or imagine it to be. Artworks selected for the Juried Art Gallery will also appear in the special issue.

Publication of the special issue, Leonardo Volume 42, Issue 4 (August 2009), will coincide with the SIGGRAPH 2009 conference in New Orleans (3-7 August 2009). Submission deadlines are at 22:00 UTC/GMT Art Papers, Thursday, 8 January 2009

BioLogic Art, Wednesday, 18 February 2009

Submission details available online: http://www.siggraph.org/s2009/sessions/art_papers/index.php http://www.siggraph.org/s2009/submissions/art_papers/index.php http://www.siggraph.org/s2009/galleries_experiences/biologic_art/index.php http://www.siggraph.org/s2009/submissions/art_gallery/index.php
Contact information: http://www.siggraph.org/s2009/contact/index.php

Piled Higher and Deeper

2008-12-14T16:03:00.002-05:00

I finally got my piece of paper for 'An exploration of hybrid art & design practice using computer-based design and fabrication tools'.

Sharing Pillow by Rui Mu

2008-12-14T15:25:00.004-05:00

Sharing-Pillow from Rui Mu on Vimeo.

Rui Mu is an MFA student at the University of Michigan's School of Art & Design. She has been exploring how product design can influence the behavior of users. This is what she says of a recent project:

"In 1979, a ‘one child policy’ was introduced to solve the problem of over-population in China. By 2007, there were approximately 100 million only-children in the country. This has had a great effect on Chinese economic reform. However, it has also introduced new problems such as an increase in selfish behavior that children have. This is currently resulting in a highly increased divorce rate in recent Chinese society since many of them are young adults.

Therefore, I have been exploring the didactic potential that product design has in changing selfish behavior by designing products that only function by being shared. I have designed an inflatable two-person pillow, which cannot be used comfortably without a partner. If one partner tries to use it, all the air will be pushed into the other half of the pillow and will provide him/her with no support. This product will not let one partner be lazy while the other one is working to encourage them to share housework fairly. In addition to changing couples’ behaviors, this pillow also improves their relationship by letting them use it together and spending more time with each other."

Sensory Urbanism Proceedings

2008-12-11T07:25:00.004-05:00

This book contains papers from the January 2008 conference, Sensory Urbanism, held by the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK. This conference was part of the Designing for the 21st Century Initiative project: 'Multimodal Representation of Urban Space'. This project is funded by the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC). I am on the advisory board of this project. Papers deal with issues surrounding the sensory perception of urban design and how to design better for all the senses. The book is illustrated throughout, and contains 26 papers from fields including architecture, urban design, environmental psychology, urban design, planning, sound design and more.

"Representing space is not only a long-standing challenge to the arts but is also a major task in the planning process for buildings, cities, and many other products. This particularly applies to the "Urban Renaissance" of our days with its emphasis on public places.

Space – more than the surrounding objects or buildings – seems to demand to be represented not only visually, as it is not only determined by the visible surrounding objects, but also by sound and smell which are literally "in the air", and by an integrated multimodal body experience which is related to the space itself. Nevertheless, spaces, especially urban spaces in planning processes, are today usually only represented in a visual manner.

The major hypothesis of our project is that much better results for convenient and appealing urban spaces could be achieved if all sensory factors were acknowledged and controlled during the design process. There is no doubt about the multimodal quality of urban space – it always appeals to all senses. For example the most beautifully designed public square is destroyed if a noisy and odorous motorway is nearby, and not much would be left of the special atmosphere of the Piazza della Fontana di Trevi in Rome if the sound and coolness deriving from the running water was missing. All these factors are usually poorly represented (if considered at all) during the design process, but such an appropriate representation could help create better public spaces.

How might such an appropriate representation of the multimodal qualities of urban space be achieved during the design process? Depending on this general question several sub-questions emerge: How can space be represented in general? What means of representing space have already been developed? What kind of design control could be achieved if the multimodal qualities of spaces were also included into the design process? What kind of creativity might be evoked by using methods of multimodal space representation? What affordable and practical technologies might be used in common design processes for spaces?"

For more information contact:

Dr Raymond Lucas
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Department of Architecture
University of Strathclyde
Room G28, Architecture Building
131 Rottenrow
Glasgow, G4 0NG

raymond.lucas@strath.ac.uk

The Sensory Notation Handbook will be available soon, with the first edition detailing the notational system and providing 30 case studies from Rome, Tokyo and Boston. An expanded edition of 50 studies - including Glasgow and Edinburgh will follow.

Fire Extinguished

2008-12-11T07:05:00.003-05:00

'Fire' is no more. There was some will for it to become permanent. However, this was not to be. On reflection, mounting subwoofers on the underside of the office of the building's namesake was unlikely to result in permanence. Karl has installed the 'cones' in his backyard. He's calling this piece 'Ice'.

Kyoto

2008-12-02T07:32:00.007-05:00

I am just back from a week in Kyoto, Japan. I went there to begin the process of producing an exhibition for The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto in 2010. While there I visited OMRON, who will be providing sensing and control technologies for the project. I also met with faculty from Kyoto City University of Arts.

I met many people and saw some amazing things, but I think this roller coaster (below) in Osaka was one of the most striking things I saw.

Fire Getting Some Attention

2008-11-17T13:06:00.007-05:00

Photo by Earl Carlson.

The 'Fire' project was featured in the gallery at the Behance Network site. 666 people have viewed it since yesterday. We have been asked to keep it on site until February and there is talk of making it permanent. We have no idea what the impact of the Michigan weather will be on it. It was never intended to be there that long. So far it has survived the rain and snow...

Fire (project)

2008-11-08T13:41:00.008-05:00

'Fire' from John Marshall on Vimeo.

The 'Fire' project is going well. It survived the rain. Apparently there is some will to make it permanent. There are some great photos of it on Earl Carlson's site.

Fire Installed (project)

2008-11-04T22:42:00.008-05:00

The 'Fire' project is in place and functioning.