The document discusses several ways that digital technology and media are influencing architecture and urban spaces. It begins by looking at how large LCD screens and LED billboards have become integrated into the architectural landscape of cities. It then provides examples of how media technologies can be applied in urban spaces for entertainment, business, art installations, recreation, and more. Some specific projects discussed include the Nasdaq building display, a media facade in Rotterdam, the Crown Fountain in Chicago, and an interactive light sculpture called Aviary. The document also examines advantages and disadvantages of media facades, and how digital technology is affecting the relationship between art and architecture.

1. CONTEMPORARY
PROCESSES IN
ARCHITECTURE
Ar. Priya Dharshini MS
Rathinam school of Architecture 1
AR6014
Semester : 8

2. To investigate various theories of media and its influence
on the perception of space. To study the various aspects of
Digital Architecture and its exploration through emerging
phenomena that relies on abstraction of ideas. To study
the works of contemporary architects who have illustrated
the influence of the digital media in evolving architecture
2
OBJECTIVES:

3. INTRODUCTION
UNIT : 1
3

4. I N T R O D U C T I O N
Investigation of contemporary theories of
media and their influence on the perception
of space and architecture.
Technology and Art
Technology and Architecture
Technology as Rhetoric
Digital Technology and Architecture
24.02.2022
AR. MS
4
(Re)Thinking the Brick
1

5. MEDIA IN SPACE & ARCHITECTURE.
Over the last decade, the architectural landscape in cities like New York, Tokyo and
London has been undergoing a major change. Large LCD screens and LED
Billboards are appearing as part of the city architectural landscape.
 the environment is the immediate vicinity-
 the actual content that is being communicated, and
 the carrier that supports the display medium. (e.g. a building, a
square, a facade or ornament) that fulfill a supporting role in
sustaining the broadcast medium, be it for structural, functional,
or aesthetic reasons.
5
24.02.2022
AR. MS

6. SOLUTION
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urna.
 Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.
 Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada
fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et
orci.
 Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.
 Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada
fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et
orci.
6

7. Media Technologies In Urban Spaces
Categories of potential applications of media technologies in urban spaces
1
Entertainment
2
Business
3
Art and entertainment
7

8. Media Technologies In Urban Spaces
Categories of potential applications of media technologies in urban spaces
4
Recreation & Entertainment
5
Puzzle Façade
6
Digital Water Curtain - DWC
8

9. Media Technologies In Urban Spaces
Categories of potential applications of media technologies in urban spaces
7
Dry fountain
8
Aviary
9

10. Entertainment
In Las vegas,U.S, the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)screens
dominate the strip skyline- mainly driven by commercial
advertising, appearing in various shapes, sizes and
orientation.
10

11. Business
One of the application of media façade in a dense
urban context on a big scale is the headquarters of
the technology stock market NASDAQ in
Manhattan.
It is housing the NASDAQ ticker and the high-tech
LED (light emitting diode) display which wraps
around the cylindrical corner of the building.
The NASDAQ displays broadcasts up-to-the minute
financial news driven by events, market highlights,
and advertisements
11

12. Art and entertainment
The headquarters of the in Rotterdam is an example of using
the media screen Dutch telecommunication company KPN to
cover the entire façade.
But the major drawback here was the screen faces the
residential areas and hence has raised light pollution issues.
The façade is facing the city and change every day, with the
season, activities, festivals, animations and graphics or just
show KNP-logos.
12

13. Recreation & Entertainment
The Crown Fountain , in Chicago, features a shallow
pool with two glass block towers one at each end.
It does not broadcast a pre-programmed commercial
advertising but rather displays the faces of one
thousand Chicago people one at a time.
During the final minute of the display, the lips purse
and spout of water shoots from their mouths.
This low level of action attracts people attention and
makes them feel engaged and aware of their presence
with the fountains setting.
13

14. Advantages and disadvantages of
media façade in architectural
space
• Relationship of elements and narrative - In order to achieve a real integration on an
urban scale, we need to consider the design of space as a meaningful whole considering the
urban space, the dynamic visual information, and the social interaction space. Proper
proportions of the graphic elements and their relative size is important to create a balance
and to achieve real integration on the urban level.
• Social interactivity vs. commercial monologue. -unlike the typical use of new technologies
to perform a pre-programmed commercial monologue, the participants input and feedback
thru projections, robotics, sound and local sensors- should become an integral part of the
public space, and the outcome is influenced by participants action.
• Location and mobility. – the location of the animated screens or signs should not distract
the public and cause light pollution-hence their location, orientation of surfaces, size ,
resolution and image refresh rate matters. The signs designed to attract public on different
levels – on an eye level, on a car level or to be seen from a highway or to make a distinct
landscape of symbols and light.
• Obsolescence vs. flexibility: - one relevant concern is the durability of the architectural
material and the rapid obsolescence of technology standards. By using temporary
projection on exterior or interior walls, will allow flexibility in terms of materials and space
for future re-use and conversion
• Privacy concern and light pollution – there should be proper regulations to regulate the
amount of light-intensive signages and the massive light displays and its effect..

15. Puzzle Façade
The Ars Electronica Center’s Luminous Puzzle Façade, in Linz, Austria Can be “Solved” With a Rubik’s Cube
15
Artist Javier Lloert created an interactive Puzzle
Façade that is controlled via a Rubik’s cube. He
connected the facade of the Ars Electronica Center in
Linz, Austria to a white 3D-printed cube that controls
the building’s lights. Passers-by are invited to engage
with the interactive experience and take part in
shaping the night time cityscape.
He designed a special interface cube that features
electronic components which keep track of its
movements and orientation. The data is sent over
Bluetooth to a computer that runs the Puzzle Façade
software.
Because of the building’s surroundings, the player can
see only two sides at the same time. However, the
player is able to rotate and flip the interface cube in
order to work on all four sides.

16. Puzzle Façade
16

17. Digital Water Curtain - DWC
Using the digital water curtain, we can print letters
and symbols on a dynamic water wall, formed by
multiple, vertical water jets. Using the included
software and computer equipment, this interactive
water curtain is able to represent both symbols and
letters, as the user desires.
The digital water curtain is available in prefabricated
modules of 2 or 3 meters that include 32
programmable nozzles per linear meter. The included
software is user-friendly, converting simple
keystrokes into signals to open and close the electro
valves, thus printing letters and symbols in the water.
This type of digital, interactive water curtain is the
ideal decorative complement for shopping malls and
public spaces open to tourism, as well as hotel and
airport lobbies.
17

18. Digital Water
Curtain - DWC
18

20. Dry Fountain
The Waterboy dry fountain kits are easy to install and
adapt to a wide range of designs for this type of
installation. They are found in public squares and
shopping centers, since they provide playful water
displays in a minimum of space, while the dry
fountain is running, yet allow for a dry walking
environment when the fountain is turned off.
The Waterboy is a dry and walkable fountain kit, made
of stainless steel and especially designed to be installed
in pavement and resist vandalism, since its grid is
durable and shock-resistant, protecting the kit. 20

21. Dry Fountain

22. Aviary
Aviary is an interactive environment designed in collaboration
with Parallel Development, with a sound composition by Erik
Carlson.
The playful audio-visual sculpture responds to touch through
displays of light and sounds that evoke the effects of a bird in
flight or their natural habitat.
Like a shared musical instrument, Aviary can be “played” by
one or many users. Each pole has a unique series of sounds
that form a family of sounds. A casual touch creates a vertical
burst of light, while a sustained hold slowly fills the column
with light.
Depending on where the pole is touched, the sound response
is unique, with bird calls near the top of the pole, and abstract
bird-like sounds near the bottom.
Sliding up and down the pole causes the sounds to be blended
in a unique and real-time sound effect. A quick slide up the
pole, causes a burst of light to float up to the top and a then
migrate to adjacent poles.
The gesture is like the releasing of a bird, allowing it to fly up
and to circle around. The light and sounds of the bird calls
migrate up the spiral if it was an upward gesture, and down
the spiral if it was a downward gesture. 22

23. 23
Aviary

24. TECHNOLOGYAND ART
Technology is redefining art in strange, new ways. Till,
over the past few decades, art and tech have become more
intertwined than ever before, whether it’s through
providing new ways to mix different types of media,
allowing more human interaction or simply making the
process of creating it easier.
How technology affects art?
Artists started transitioning from being painters and
sculptures that used paint and cement into digital artists
and 3D artists, using imaging software and different
materials to create works of art.
Art influences technology as much as technology affects
art as art gets more innovative with years of new
multimedia technology.

25. THE BEAUTY OF
DIRTY AIR
1
A Russian artist Dmitry Morozov devised a way to make pollution
beautiful.
• First, he built a device, complete with a little plastic nose, that uses sensors
which can measure dust and other typical pollutants, including carbon
monoxide, formaldehyde and methane. Then, he headed out to the streets of
Moscow.
• The sensors translate the data they gather into volts and a computing
platform called Arduino translates those volts into shapes and colors, creating
a movie of pollution.
• Morozov’s device then grabs still images from the movie and prints them
out. • As irony would have it, the dirtier the air, the brighter the image.
Exhaust smoke can look particularly vibrant.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/7-ways-
technology-is-changing-how-art-ismade-
180952472/

26. Let’s start with lasers, the brush stroke of so much digital art.
One of the more popular exhibits in the London show is called
“Assemblance,” and it’s designed to encourage visitors to
create light structures and floor drawings by moving through
colored laser beams and smoke. The inclination for most
people is to work alone, but the shapes they produce tend to be
more fragile. If a person nearby bumps into their structure, for
instance, it’s likely to fall apart. But those who collaborate
with others—even if it’s through an act as simple as holding
hands—discover that the light structures they create are both
more resilient and more sophisticated. “Assemblance,” says
Usman Haque, one of the founders of Umbrellium, the
London art collective that designed it, has a sand castle quality
to it—like a rogue wave, one overly aggressive person can
wreck everything.
ASSEMBLANCE :

27. If Rising Colorspace, an abstract artwork painted on the wall of a Berlin gallery,
doesn’t seem so fabulous at first glance, just give it a little time. Come back the next
day and it will look at least a little different. That’s because the painting is always
changing, thanks to a wall-climbing robot called a Vertwalker armed with a paint
pen and a software program instructing it to follow a certain pattern.
The creation of artists Julian Adenauer and Michael Haas, the Vertwalker—which
looks like a flattened iRobot Roomba—is constantly overwriting its own work,
cycling through eight colors as it glides up vertical walls for two to three hours at a
time before it needs a battery change.
“The process of creation is ideally endless,” Haas explains.
RISING
COLORSPACE

28. “Treachery of the Sanctuary,” it’s meant to explore the creative process through
interactions with digital birds.
• The gallery visitors are requested to stand in front of each of the screens. In the first,
the person’s shadow reflected on the screen disintegrates into a flock of birds. That,
according to Milk, represents the moment of creative inspiration.
• In the second, the shadow is pecked away by virtual birds diving from above. That
symbolizes critical response, he explains.
• In the third screen, things get better—you see how you’d look with a majestic set of
giant wings that flap as you move. And that, says Milk, captures the instant when a
creative thought transforms into something larger than the original idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e
hjklqL6g84
FINDING OF
INNER BIRDS

29. It let children color in a paper outline of a car, then it is scanned,
converted into 3-D, and inserted into a dynamic animated city.
There, the children can move their digital cars—and other
children’s as well—with their hands. They can even print a paper
version of their car and fold it into a toy.
This project aims to encourage children to become aware of what
the child next to them is drawing or creating. And they may come
to think it would be more fun to build something together.
SKETCH TOWN

30. Architectural technology, or building technology, is the application of technology to the design of buildings. It is a component
of architecture and building engineering and is sometimes viewed as a distinct discipline or sub-category. New materials and
technologies generated new design challenges and construction methods throughout the evolution of building, especially since
the advent of industrialisation in the 19th century. Architectural technology can be summarised as the "technical design and
expertise used in the application and integration of construction technologies in the building design process.” n overview of the
role and influence of digital technology on architecture design The invasion of digital technology into our daily lives in the age
of modern technology, especially computers, is an essential irresistible matter. Therefore, it has become necessary to review its
use and examine its effects on the human mind and body. The use of such technologies in the designing process adds a new
dimension to the architectural product, which enables us to materialize our ideas that are not fully expressed. However, the
challenge enables us to hold on to our human identity and not allow the technology to distance the architect from performing
his/her original role.
The ambition and creativity of the designer would not lead anywhere without the animation means capable of expressing it in
an efficient way. The animation means cannot be considered separate from the content of the design; it rather greatly and
directly affects it. When the architect uses the computer in the process of design and representation, he connects to it creating a
coupled cognitive system, where the man and the machine exchange ideas and information. Thus, any change that occurs on
the computer or the designer leads to a change in the outcome of the design.
TECHNOLOGY AND
ARCHITECTURE

31. Definition:
Rhetoric is the art of using speech to convince or persuade. It is the study of the way of using language
effectively. Just as we elaborate your concepts in design.
Architecture uses signs to communicate its function and meaning.
• Rhetoric Architecture
• Digital Rhetoric
• Technology As Rhetoric
Rhetoric Architecture:
Rhetoric is defined as ‘an art possessed with the power of persuasion’. Sometimes spaces can function as a non-
human agent that speaks on behalf of organizational actors to a large number of people. For example Jewish
Museum by Daniel Libeskind.
TECHNOLOGY AS
RHETORIC IN
ARCHITECTURE.

32. Digital Rhetoric Architecture:
• The invasion of digital technology into our lives in the age of modern technology, especially computers, is an
essential irresistible matter.
• Because of this shift in rhetoric, the relationship between writers and readers has changed in form,
communication, style and effectiveness. Example : Design Boom, Arch Daily, Pinterest etc. From Notebooks to
IPad and paintbrush to smart pens.
• Digital rhetoric is advancing and changing how people choose to communicate their ideas with broader
audiences. As the power of technology grows so too do the uses and scope of digital rhetoric too.
• This includes schools offering online classes and test taking, online news sources and people prefer online
searching than encyclopedia. Online journals allow for information to be more accessible due to the use of
digital rhetoric. Writers also have more opportunities to write in various formats instead of traditional linear
format.

33. Technology As Rhetoric:
• Technology is both techniques and objects that embody and enact techniques.
• Architectural technology can be summarized as the technical design and expertise used in the
building design process.
• The use of such technologies in designing process adds a new dimension to the architectural
product, which enables us to materialize our ideas that are not fully expressed.
• When an architect uses the computer in the process of design and representation, he
connects to it creating a coupled cognitive system, where the man and machine exchange
ideas and information.
• Nowadays, most of the architecture use programs not only to develop ideas but also to draw
and represent them in efficient way.

34. DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND ARCHITECTURE
The Information Age, like the Industrial Age before it, is challenging not only how we design
buildings, but also how we manufacture and construct them- thru digital fabrication.
The generative and creative potential of digital media, together with manufacturing advances already
attained in automotive, aerospace and shipbuilding industries, is opening up new dimensions in
architectural design.
It was only within the last few years that the advances in
• computer-aided design (CAD) and
• computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) technologies
have started to have an impact on building design and construction practices
Digital technology & digital architecture
Digital architecture is to digital society what modern architecture was to industrial society
Digital technology has enabled
• A more fluid, dynamic way to approach design
• Building form to constantly evolve thru motion and transmutation
• Design in a truly constraint less environment

35. Three core aspects of Information Technologies to design practices are as follows:
DIGITAL EXPRESSION OF
BUILDING FORM
The digital expression of building form
concerns ways in which methods of
expression such as conventional
sketching and physical modelling can
be transferred into digital environments.
Digital representation occurs whenever
designers use the medium of computing
environments to produce objects such as
drawings and models that can either be
used for analysis or for presentation
Example: -
Curves of Steel: CATIA and the Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by architect Frank Gehry, makes
extensive use of computer technology. Without the use of CATIA (Computer-
Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Application), construction of the concert hall
would have been impossible. After a physical model is built, the model is scanned
by a laser device that transmits coordinates to the CATIA program. CATIA then
shows a 3D section of the model, which can be viewed as a movie that gives
structural coordinates as well as a time schedule for project completion.
These paperless plans are more easily understood by a contractor and construction
crew and allow Gehry's unconventional forms to take shape. In the future, CATIA
technology will allow exact quantities of materials to be calculated and will even
facilitate work via the internet. CATIA has also been used in the building of other
structures such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and a giant fish
sculpture on the Barcelona waterfront, both also designed by Gehry.

36. Three core aspects of Information Technologies to design practices are as follows:
Curves of Steel: CATIA and the Walt Disney Concert Hall

37. Three core aspects of Information Technologies to design practices are as follows:
Curves of Steel: CATIA and the Walt Disney Concert Hall

38. Three core aspects of Information Technologies to design practices are as follows:
Phoenix International Media Center
Phoenix International Media Center, located at the southwest corner of
Beijing Chaoyang Park, withgross floor area of 65,000 square meters
and building height of 55 meters, was designed by Beijing Institute of
Architectural Design.
The overall design logic is to wrap the main, independently-
maintainable space with an ecologically functional shell, rendering a
building-in-building form. There is some interesting shared and public
space in between, so as to meet the purpose of public involvement and
experience and environmental protection.
In addition to media office and studio production facilities, there is also
lots of interactive experience space open to the public, so as to reflect
the unique open business concept of Phoenix Media.
To show the uniqueness, culture, and rationality of technology and
cost, the architects creatively proposed for the outer surface of the
center a flake-type, unit-combined façade fabrication of which either
two of the 5,180 units are different from each other.

39. Three core aspects of Information Technologies to design practices are as follows:
Phoenix International Media Center

40. BIM is an intelligent model-based process that provides insight to help you plan, design, construct, and manage buildings and
infrastructure. BIM creates a single platform for AECArchitecture, Engineering and Construction.
Advantages of BIM
• Reduces waste and rework
• Manage greater project complexity
• Work with compressed project schedule
• IPD – integrated project delivery.
BUILDING
INFORMATION
MODELING (BIM)
According to the NBS National BIM Report 2015, the most popular
drawing tools are:
• Nemetschek Vectorworks
• Autodesk Revit (Architecture/Structures/MEP)
• Autodesk AutoCAD
• Primevera
• Tetla
• Stadpro
• Robotstructure
• Ecoteln
• Clash detection
• Catia
• Naviswork
• Trimble Sketchup (formerly Google Sketchup)