March 07, 2005
Smart Space
Responsive Architecture
At Bloomberg, one is confronted with a space that reacts in real time - "smart space" as it is called today in the new language of architecture. What is means is a constructed object that is sensitive, continually processes information and engages in a form of dialogue. Beneath the surfaces, processors are at work which process and convert the input received from a large number of electronic sensors.
Bloomberg, the international information agency, has created a small but fascinating showroom for its Tokyo business branch: 'Bloomberg ICE'. The name is its official title and stands for 'interactive communicative experience'. The result is a public, electronic-cum-architectural playground, a media folly as it were. [blogged by Martin Rieser on Mobile Audience]
The basic idea underlying the project is simple: the aesthetic and playful use of information. The intention is to translate stock-exchange data into formats that anyone can handle without any difficulty. Here, direct experience is intended to play a major role - information processing that can be experienced physically. In a country where toilets are computerized right up to the seat, where technology has no particular aura and grandmother is not afraid of automatic computer screens, such a concept can work.
For this idea, Klein Dytham and Toshio Iwai found a captivating metaphor: a greenish-white icicle ("ICE"), which is suspended freely from the ceiling in the middle of the showroom and acts as a data collector. The information whirring about in the (data) space condensates on the icicle, is compressed and finally ends up in a kind of "data showcase" at eye level. The swinging icicle, which swings overhead like a baldachin, turns out to be an object that can be experienced and manipulated: a room-sized glass display unit (5.0m x 3.5m), that provides some surprises when touched.
In stand-by mode, the icicle initially appears to be a normal data ticker. Without interruption, columns of numbers march over the surface. Depending on the current share prices, they climb upwards and expand on the LED display or they gradually shrink and disappear from sight altogether. Everyone can understand this: the ups and downs of Wall Street, yet another large investor bites the dust.
The real fun begins when the visitor approaches the glass wall. Infrared sensors underneath the surface detect the presence of the visitor and ask him to participate. "Touch here!" commands the wall but it also reacts without anyone directly touching it. The sensors are activated when the visitor comes within a distance of half a meter. The columns of numbers begin to flutter and fluctuate; a menu appears and offers various games - electronic volleyball, a wave generator or a digital harp, for example. The icicle can be used to play music synesthetically in that the sounds played are replicated on it in the form of brightly lit, colorful tree branches.
Artist:Toshio Iwai
Architects: Klein Dytham architecture
Client: Bloomberg
Completion date: October 2002
Location: 2-4-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo
Posted by jo at March 7, 2005 07:48 AM
