Invasion of the body snatchers: architecture and virtual space

Architecture, in one sense, has become part of the media: it has an aspect which is symbolic and semiotic, which is as ‘real’ in photography, film, television, advertising, computer games and literature as it is in our experience of landscapes, buildings and machines. But, I shall argue that the media, in one sense, have also become part of architecture, they have an aspect which we perceive as continuous with Cartesian space, and through this pseudo-physical presence they help shape and programme the space of habitation

Negotiating Reality

Our understanding of research through design is demonstrated by a close examination of the methods used in the project lifeClipper2. This design research project investigates the applicability of immersive outdoor Augmented Reality (AR). lifeClipper2 offers an audiovisual walking experience in a virtually extended public space and focuses on audiovisual perception as well as on the development of the appropriate technology. The project involves contributions of partners from different fields of research. Thus, lifeClipper2 is able to test the potential of AR for visualizing architecture and archaeological information and to challenge our understanding of perception and interaction. Using examples from our research, the paper reflects on how scenario design contributes to the production of design knowledge and explores the possibilities and variations of AR. Finally, the paper drafts our approach to design research. The three tenets of our work are: the use of scenarios as a tool of interdisciplinary research, the experimental exploration of media and the intention to make design knowledge explicit. Keywords: augmented reality; locative media; hybrid environment; immersion; perception; experience design; research through design; scenario design</p

Interactive Environments: redefining sense of place in the ‘noosphere’

The rapid growth of the internet and the far-reaching ubiquity of our virtual networks within the last decade have spurred an entirely new generation of interactive devices and technologies; these include the technologies seen in cell phones, video games, televisions and computers. Furthermore, online social networks such as Facebook and our portable Internet devices, mainly the iPhone, have begun to redefine our sense of time and place in a world of global connectivity and instant-access. This phenomenon results in a constant flow of communication and information that blankets the globe and marks a cultural paradigm shift to a much more pervasive and personalized “climate” of technology. As a result of this paradigm shift, contemporary modes of conceiving our interactions with our surroundings have made a distinct shift from traditional architectural modes of place making. Architecture should no longer rely on the repetition of static, mass-produced components, but should be like a “second skin” that adapts and responds to its inner workings—a network made up of people interacting with each other and with their physical environments, all while being mediated by technology. Diller + Scofidio explain the user’s consciousness of the body in its relationship to space and the possibilities that exist for architecture as a living body: The first task architecture ought to assume, therefore, is that of defining and imagining an environment not just for “natural” bodies but for bodies projected outside themselves, absent and ecstatic, by means of their technologically extended senses. Far from assimilating the tool with the body according to the mechanistic tradition of Cartesian dualism, we must conceive tool and instrument like a second sort of body, incorporated into and extending our corporal powers. It then becomes possible and even necessary to logically invert the terms of our proposition on the role of architecture. The incorporation of technology is not effected by “imagining” a new environment, but by reconfiguring the body itself, pushing outward to where its artificial extremities encounter “the world.”[1] In this way, the architecture becomes not only a building, but a body that expresses a “post-spatial” notion of a globally networked, soft architecture or what Francois Roche referred to as a “habitable organism.” [2] Space is a manifestation of human behavior and interaction. Traditionally, people have always been expected to adapt to their spaces. But what if our spaces could adapt to us? Architecture would then shape our experience and play a more active role in suggesting new ways for inhabitants to interact with and perceive their environment. A greater consciousness and self-awareness would be the result. The goal becomes to design adaptive behavior and architecture that is integral to the interactivity and inner-activity of the users within the space. It is important that the project’s intervention not only respond to those interactions as a kind of cause-and-effect relationship but that it initiates a dialogue and participation between people and the environment it creates. By questioning the outdated concepts of space and time, contemporary relationships between the users, the environment and a global network can emerge. [1] Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, and Georges Teyssot, Flesh: Architectural Probes. (New York: Princeton Architectural, 1994), 16. [2] Neil Leach, “Digital Cities” Architectural Design 79.4, (2009), 8-9

Visualyzart Project – The role in education

The VisualYzARt project intends to develop research on mobile platforms, web and social scenarios in order to bring augmented reality and natural interaction for the general public, aiming to study and validate the adequacy of YVision platform in various fields of activity such as digital arts, design, education, culture and leisure. The VisualYzARt project members analysed the components available in YVision platform and are defining new ones that allow the creation of applications to a chosen activity, effectively adding a new language to the domain YVision. In this paper we will present the role of the InstitutoPolitécnico de Santarém which falls into the field of education.VisualYzART is funded by QREN – Sistema de Incentivos à Investigação e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico (SI I&DT), Project n. º 23201 - VisualYzARt (from January 2013 to December 2014). Partners: YDreams Portugal; Instituto Politécnico de Santarém - Gabinete de e-Learning; Universidade de Coimbra - Centro de Informática e Sistemas; Instituto Politécnico de Leiria - Centro de Investigação em Informática e Comunicações; Universidade Católica do Porto - Centro de Investigação em Ciência e Tecnologia das Artes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Rites of Intent: The Participatory Dimension of the City

This paper disseminates from a keynote lecture I delivered at an international conference, Cityscapes in History: Creating the Urban Experience, held at the Centre for Advanced Studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich in July 2010. The theme of the paper, on architecture and ritual, was in response to a specific request by the conference organisers, and is based on my earlier research interests, particularly relating to pilgrimage and conversion during the period of Early Christianity. This chapter, however, brings this background historical knowledge of architecture and ritual to the contemporary situation, arguing that we have much to learn from the ancient and medieval worlds. Highlighting particular contemporary examples, I argue that the absence of conspicuous ritualized spaces in our cities is largely the result of architects no longer being able to understand certain kinds of spatial language that can facilitate mediation between built form and modes of corporate participation – whether formal or informal. At the same time, the chapter highlights how the use of such terms as ‘ritualised space’ in contemporary architectural discourse is problematic, given that ritual – as an ‘obligatory’ form of participation - is assumed by many to conflict with the expectations of unhindered freedom that has become the mantra of much contemporary architecture. This chapter challenges this preconception by arguing that notions of ritual space in the contemporary world are at one level materially different from those of the past, given the absence of systems of politico/religious hierarchy and authority. At the same time, however, implicit in the everyday events of contemporary urban life is the raw material of richer forms of repeated action than those simply of routine. The cases presented here reveal how a hermeneutical perspective of the historic past provides a productive and creative channel for reinterpreting ritual in the contemporary city

Creative Economy, Cultural Industries and Local Development

The purpose of this paper is to draw a clear picture of creative and cultural industries and of the creative economy, as driving factors of economic growth and local development. To this aim, the paper analyzes some recent data on the significance of the creative economies, reflecting on the concepts of creative and cultural industries. In the text, attention is paid to the links between creative economy and local development on one hand, and the concepts of territorial capital and social capital on the other side. In the end, the work focuses on presenting the results of an in-progress study, about the recent literature on the mentioned issues, presenting a brief overview of some significant works

Mixed-methods research: a new approach to evaluating the motivation and satisfaction of university students using advanced visual technologies

The final publication is available at link.springer.comA mixed-methods study evaluating the motivation and satisfaction of Architecture degree students using interactive visualization methods is presented in this paper. New technology implementations in the teaching field have been largely extended to all types of levels and educational frameworks. However, these innovations require approval validation and evaluation by the final users, the students. In this paper, the advantages and disadvantages of applying mixed evaluation technology are discussed in a case study of the use of interactive and collaborative tools for the visualization of 3D architectonical models. The main objective was to evaluate Architecture and Building Science students’ the motivation to use and satisfaction with this type of technology and to obtain adequate feedback that allows for the optimization of this type of experiment in future iterations.Postprint (author’s final draft

Towards an understanding of corporate web identity

No abstract available