The digitalization of knowledge/information results in a dwindling need for traditional libraries. The project proposes an addition to the library that serves to complement the foundation of static knowledge with a connection to the flowing datastream that is the “digital library.”

Its physical form is as an intelligent and flexible skin system. The skin serves both as a functional element (canopy, wall, ceiling, floor, marquee) and a physical manifestation of information flow. Behaviors of the skin are determined by the monitored information flow of various online resource banks. It is the embodiment of an invisible source, an information gate between dimensions.

Functionally, it enables students to work on their laptops outside by providing them environmental protection. Thus, it serves as terminus from which the existing library can tap into the data stream. Like working beneath a willow tree, the skin pulses and sways as data courses through it. Its movement results from a response to designed ratios between the amounts of data contained physically in the library’s books, and data accessed virtually from within the school.

The skin extends beyond the physical boundary of the library and attaches itself to the exterior of the building. The skin is a space frame structure consisting of unit cells that are rhombic dodecahedrons (a platonic solid comprised of 12 identical rhombic faces). Flexible joints within and between the shapes allow for deformation of the skins. These are informed by data collected from virtual resource banks (wikipedia, amazon, youtube, etc). The deformation would result in varying levels of shading, movement and permeability.

it was obvious that our project had many inadequacies. below are some of the questions and concerns we were not able to answer:
1. is this thing site-specific? what are the implications if the answer is yes or no?
2. what does it mean to be inside these contained environments? in other words, what is it a separation from?
3. given that we know the answer to question #2, how do these contained environments transform what’s outside of it to what’s contained inside?
4. regarding the discussion on experiential time vs chronological time, there were questions and criticisms on the project currently still operating the same way as a chronological clock, as opposed to the desired experiential time. the experience of the contained environment has thus far remained linear. and the looping circulation does not open up to opportunities and experiences outside of its expected self.
5. the biggest concern expressed by the jury had to do with our limited and superficial understanding of the technologies and media we proposed to use. and how are the different attributes of the characters described through the various mediation? this requires the team to look at the technologies at hand much more critically.

having to start somewhere, i thought going through my mess of bookmarks would be simple and convenient. i will share a few thoughts on some of the things and blog entries i’ve been looking at for thesis research and the mediascapes studio project.

Steam Tunnel Music
tunnels, particularly secret tunnels, is an architectural/urban condition that has interested me for a while now. i am especially intrigued by their transgressive nature in the physical, political, and perhaps philosophical (this one i’m still quite unfamiliar with) senses. one possible proposal for my thesis is finding ways to re-use existing, abandoned secret tunnels while re-connecting/exposing them to both the public and to the ground.

while attempting to exhaust all the tunnel related entries on BLDG BLOG, i came across this particularly interesting article about a steam-tunnel-conducted orchestra in the middle of New York City. according to the quite beautifully written description by BLDG BLOG, “… [the] underground steam infrastructure [was] transformed, temporarily, into a thunderous musical instrument. Somewhere between subterranean calliope and mutant wave organ, steam-powered explosions of sound threatened to deafen everyone…” Geoff Manaugh went on to propose the idea of turning the city into one big orchestra using existing infrastructures as a way to make its residents more aware of how the city operates.

raising awareness is not part of the agenda for my thesis. however, the idea of using existing infrastructure in previously unforeseen ways interests me. and the playfulness of turning a steam tunnel into an instrument is certainly delightful and refreshing.

Mediascapes
lots of ideas have been thrown around in the last couple of weeks for the Mediascapes project. first i looked at slitscan photography for inspiration after having seen works by artists like Ansen Seale due to the technique’s ability to capture and communicate movement through time, and its reversed display of stillness as blur and movement as imagery. yet photography remains photography. a 2-dimensional display of some temporal encoding is hardly relevant, nor is it inspiring, especially after realizing that it has long been a built-in feature of photobooth on macs. before discrediting the idea of slitscan completely, i do find myself becoming attached to the whole notion of the conscious experiencing of time.

to backtrack a bit, i confess to have been weary of this studio project turning out to be a shallow and irrelevant result of my limited knowledge and skills in foreign (to me personally) but dazzling software and technology. so how does one work the temporal aspect of slitscan into a more critical and multidimensional idea. that’s what i’m currently working on. and below are some initial thoughts.

Space – Time – Whaaa…?
the first time JMC introduced me to the idea of space-time continuum during my thesis prep meeting with him, i almost flipped out. it was partly due to the fact that when i googled the lofty term, either Einstein or images from Back to the Future came up. however one thing he said in attempt to explain the concept to me stuck with me ever since; and it was the idea of the ever-expanding/evolving shape/boundary of the universe as we know it, based on our continuous expansion and revision of our knowledge (of the universe). and perhaps it’s because i was able to visualize such explanation in my head, that it became personally meaningful to me.

it occurred to me that, maybe the project could have something to do with the correlation between changes in space and time. and it could be done in a way that forces its participants to visualize and conceptualize space in their own mind, without physical boundaries. so i wanted to device a space with angled floors that forces one’s body to tilt in different directions in different degrees. then using the body as the z-axis to “carve” the (boundary of the) space.

sketch

Bodies carve all sorts of new and unexpected spaces, through fluid or erratic motions… the place your body inhabits is inscribed in your imagination, your unconscious, as a space of possible bliss. Or menace.
Bernard Tschumi, Violence of Architecture

in this sketch, the space is full of hanging sensors activated through contact. the sensors record the path of exploration of each patron, who enters the space one at a time. the sensors touched by the previous patron lights up when touched by the current one. however when a sensor has been touched by the previous two patrons, it makes a sound when touched by the current one. the sketch attempts to create a space that changes and remembers through each exploration.

the sketch does pose many problems both technically and conceptually and is in need of much less technical complexity and much more conceptual complexity. however it is late and i have well exceeded my limit for functionality. good night and to be continued…