Monday, November 1, 2010

The Final Weeks


This is our final week of Interactivating the City, where we will present our final design proposal to Bert, George and the other groups. The image above shows our interactive shelter with the DJ Booth and projections. We feel as though our concept will create a safe interactive passage for people wishing to leave the Cross.

While we were unable to install our projections in the Cross, we experimented with our proposal in Bert's Interactivation Studio and below are some pictures of other group members playing with our Dj Booth- 





Monday, October 18, 2010

Our Future World – Trends, Risks and Scenarios: Stefan Hajkowicz

How will our children, grand children and great grand children be living? What policies, research and investments do they need us to make today to make their lives better tomorrow? A megatrend is a pattern of environmental, social and/or economic activity with profound implications for how we live. Mega shocks are sudden, hard to predict, single events. Scenarios are a mix of science fiction and science fact and explore how the trends and shocks might play out into an uncertain future.’

Stefan's lecture explored in depth the concept of the megaworld, which is made up of...iworld, more or less, a personal touch and divergent demographics. What i took away from this lecture is that the megaworld and future will eventually cross over and become the same thing.


Group Work

We decided to begin our work on MAX MSP and Jitter as soon as possible, to ensure the final concept satisfies our initial aim, as well as our tutor's expectations. Below are some photos to show our work in progress.

Jo and I proposed our idea of Llankelly to the rest of the group this week--
  • ‘Llankelly place is an already existing passage/walkway, which connects Darlinghurst rd to Orwell st- which then connects back onto Victoria st. The passageway consists of little restaurants and cafes and is located in the heart of Kings Cross- right near the police station and the fountain.
  • We thought this could become an interactive passageway which would connect the ‘strip’ to the transport hub- drawing people away from the drama of the cross to a slightly different atmosphere behind the busy nightlife- to create a transition area between the travellers crazy night out and the cab/ transport home.’
The rest of the group agreed with the location for our transport hub. As we work to complete the DJ booth, we began to work on our A1 board and presentations.


Structure of Presentation:
  • Slide one/concept: Interactive Playground
-  Desire to create an outdoor play escape in a urban setting. Design structures and incorporation of interactive technology specifically focuses on minimising antisocial behaviour, educate users on the effects of alcohol, improve safety in high activity environment and promote recreational environment.
At the semester break we proposed the introduction of projections into King’s Cross to minimise antisocial behaviour. During our research we found antisocial behaviour to be the result of alcohol fuelled violence and crime, however we were unable to find any academic research that projections could or would minimise the prevailing issues.

We used Designing Out Crime as the building blocks for our project, and since then we have developed an interactive transport hub which improves traffic flow and congestion of people and transport. The hub provides a safer route to transport for people entering and leaving the Cross.
We have proposed projections throughout the transport hub. In order of making these projections interactive, we developed the concept of a dj booth- – incorporating the same controls on a dj pad to allow the user to trigger and influence the projected images.
The camera facing the dj booth and audience are the basis of the projections, and the various effects triggered by the dj pad cause different effects on the image, i.e. blur, rotate etc. By having the camera facing them, the projections relate directly to the user’s physical state.

Design phase

Design phase- process, testing and development
-       Include location, physical development
  • 3.design proposal
  •   -Original intention for design
  •   -Evolution of ideas

  • 4. Location and connection to previous research on the stakeholders
Location- comparison between what we first outlined to the final decision, Dan’s imagery- jo’s development mapĂ  final map outlying flow etc-Revised map of location [Alex’s mapping] and how it relates to the design proposal.
Why have we chosen this location?- Limited interference/ change to existing landscape

  • Evolution of physical process, influence of MAX msp, sensors
  • Include photos, diagrams, screen grabs and videos of progress
  • Documentation of playing with projector in the cross at night- video footage and pictures etc

A3 Board:


  • 3 images required- final design in action- main image
  • Map of area – small [Alex’s creation] with key?
  • Transport hub idea- small


Project name:  escape kings cross, escapade, and the strip, exit the strip, exit red-Llankelly Place
Pitch line: your tunnel to transport, the safer way to leave, your interactive departure,The interactive way to get home?

Students:
Catherine Barnes, Rebecca Glaser, Alexandra Hackett, Johanna Lark, and Daniel Mazic.

Brief:
to provide Kings Cross commuters with a transportation hub, which engages exiting visitors with interactive urban graffiti. The design will aim to assist in minimising antisocial behaviour, congestion issues and to provide a direct and safe passageway for departing commuters to their desired mode of transport.


Situation- physical and social context of area:The Kings Cross precinct is an inner city locality that borders the CBD. In its social context, Darlinghurst Rd or ‘the strip’ is known as Sydney’s red light district and prominent entertainment quarter. High-density traffic, a thoroughly built up area and a high volume of activity characterize the district.


Problems

  • Anti-social behaviour
  • Lack of transport
  • Safety concerns
  • High alcohol and drug consumption in a confined space
  • High fluctuation of visitors/ stakeholders, especially between Fridays through to Monday mornings.

Solution: To create an interactive passageway and transportation hub which will engage exiting visitors through an interactive projection experience. The proposed DJ booth with live camera feeds of the audience, will engage, entertain and distract the departing visitors. Our primary aim is to draw individuals away from the high social activity environment of kings cross and work towards managing and decreasing congestion through the implementation of the proposed transport hub and passageway. We have chosen to place this interactive environment in Llankelly Place, Kings Cross, because the space is pre-existing, is in close proximity to the police station and there is minimal change required for infrastructure.

Benefits
  • Will contribute towards minimising congestion.
  • Will provide a safer route for commuters to leave the Cross.
  • The interactive projection will entertain and engage visitors to distract from possible participation in anti social behaviour.

Will encourage movement of people from ‘the Strip’ into an easily accessible transport area

Monday, October 11, 2010

Week 10 9 Meals From Anarchy: Nick Ritar

Permaculture: Goal to create a permanent culture.

Milkwood Permaculture-
www.milkwood.net
Ritar's lecture was based around the concept of 'whole system design', following permaculture ideals such as; How can we design truly resilient cities? Why aren't we designing urban food production as a fundamental facet of any urban design? Why is the inclusion of food growing in urban planning still largely only seen from a point of view of increasing the design's 'green' credentials or increasing its energy efficiency?


3 Core Values
  1. care for the earth
  2. care for each other
  3. setting limits on consumption of population 
‘Australia’s cities and urban centre’s are hubs for many human needs, but not for food production. Our cities create massive organic waste streams which could be converted into excellent growing mediums, which in turn could produce a large percentage of that city’s food needs, thereby increasing food security, general nutrition and truly sustainable systems.’- Ritar. Ritar believes that it is a large scale not a small scale problem, and there are currently not enough cycles. At the moment our resources aren't moving through a cycle, instead they are in one direction...growth, consumption, waste...Ritar said that we need to complete the cycle and make use of the waste in terms of nutrition during growth of agricultural resources.


In regards to our group's design proposal idea, I found it difficult to draw parallels between it and Ritar's lecture. However, the problem space we are dealing with is part of the built environment and currently is suffering from a poor system from growth to waste, and therefore we have to be mindful of what changes we make to this environment. It is because of this that our group would like to use the existing infrastructure within Kings Cross.


Later in the week Yos spoke to us about 'Sounds as Interaction Modalities' and 'Sonic Interaction'. I found this lesson quite intriguing, as within the sound scape, what we hear is always changing. Sometimes we don't even pay attention to the sounds used for interactive purposes, for example the microwave's "beep" or typewriter's "ping".


Group Work


Rough sketch of possible design proposal




Our group shared ideas we had come up with over the week, and one idea we all liked and thought was appropriate was the concept of incorporating a DJ Booth into our interactive hub. Our goal is to play around with the idea of public projections and the different ways users/passers by can interact with our product. We aim to incorporate a range of movement sensors which may act as triggers to change the projections etc.





Shadow Monsters installation by Phillip Worthington, 2005


>>Our group finds previous work really inspiring when brainstorming possible design proposals.


This week Jo and I took a trip to Kings Cross to explore areas for the installation of our projections. Following on from the Permaculture lecture at the start of the week it has become extremely important to us that we do not distrupt the existing environment or infrastructure.


Below is the area we found and seek to propose to our group over the weekend...


We would like to make some of the central streets of Kings Cross one way to solve congestion issues,
and make our transport hub a more plausible realistic solution.






Area Proposal to present to the rest of the group
Llankelly Place- a pre-existing alleyway connecting Darlinghurst Road to Orwell Street...the perfect setting for our hub!





Orwell Street- the site of our taxi rank/transport hub...takes the people off the main street, through a safe passageway to the transport to take them home.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Week 9 The Australian Time Bomb- Prof. Tom Barker

"Humour is the enemy of authority..."


Barker explored the challenges Australia will face over the coming decades. Globally, Australia was the weathiest country per head from 1900-the early 80s. Barker puts the decline down to australian-ness and poor leadership.


The lecture argued that Australia could be a massive advantage to the Asian production market however the prime ministers from the 70s have ignored the possibility of such a notion. Barker calls this Australian-ness...democracy, the "lucky country" and selfish policies.


The many issues explored include; "Australia's;...isolation, protectionism, indigenous extinction, immigration restrictions, introspection, lack of infrastructure...which all combine to create the Australian timebomb".


For the future generations of designers, Barker suggests E-EVERYTHING... and the Internet is a good start for this. He believes it is important to access and harness the web as there lies many global opportunities.


"What is now proved, was only once imaged"- Blake


Group Work
Our group developed a semi-concrete idea this week which will allow us to go into the interactive lab and start playing with MAX and various sensors. We strengthened the concept of an interactive transport hub, and have begin to explore the relationship between the effects of alcohol on individuals with interactive projections. We are currently thinking along the lines of developing projections which are engaging and entertaining and may lower the amount of alcohol consumption by offering users something else to do.


We have now realised our group needs to focus on what we aim to target with these projections, and how they may solve the prevailing issues with the problem space. We are going to spend the week brainstorming and sharing ideas.








The LightScraper- Victoria, Australia

Featuring real-time 3D graphics and a human motion tracking system, this structure is a vortex of visuals and sound feeding off its surroundings. The LightScraper also serves as a musical instrument, emitting melodies influenced by the people’s locations.
 This is a current example of an interactive system which allows people to interact with it...pretty cool!

References:

Light Scraper: http://nait5.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/eness-lightscraper07.jpg

Monday, September 20, 2010

Week 7 Media Facades: Dr Hank Haeusler

Today's lecture explored creating buildings for digital citys. Design professionals now have to take on new media skills and understanding when proposing certain developments. The lecture was extremely visual, and took us through various footage and animated facades. It spoke about the do's and dont's of designing a media facade. For more information on Dr Hank Haeusler's work, refer to his book "Media Facades: History, Technology and Media Content".


 Some examples of amazing digital facades:
Blade Runner: The first time a facade was shown in a movie format

The Tower of Wind


Shibuya Crossing
I found this lecture very engaging mainly because it linked in so well with our group work. It explained the technical understandings of facades which will be useful when creating our urban media/graffiti proposal. Digital facades are questionable- in regards to the community and their needs. A lot of research is required before installing these projections into the environment. The impact of such projections requires planning in relation to its influence on and development of the wider community.


3 Types of Media Facades
  1. Mechanical facades- Moving physical components
  2. Projection facades
  3. Illuminant facades – Different experience between viewing it from close up compared with far distances
There are many current examples of these around the world- Our group will be able to look at the work of various groups such as Urbanscreen to explore the possibilities and help steer our group in a direction which would be the most benefitical for the target audience and problem space. The below are examples of large screen projections- something our group would like to achieve.


Lorch am Rhein: Glanzlicht Hilchen-Haus / Urbanscreen (Bremen)
urbanscreen_glanzstueck_hilchen_haus


Oberwesel: Liquid Memories / Philipp Geist (Berlin)
philipp_geist_550km_liquid_memory_oberwesel


Rheinfels (St.Goar) Skertzò (Paris) www.skertzo.com
tracks_of_the_time_rheinfels


Marksburg (Braubach): Plays of Shadow
marksburg


Koblenz: A Wall is a Screen
592awallisascreen1


As we prepared for our interim presentation on Friday, we collated our research to create our presentation. Our main focus was using projections to change the Kings Cross space.


Check out our presentation below;





slides 1-4


slides 5-8

Slides 9-14


slides 15-20



slides 21-26

Our group plans to use the holidays to refine our design idea and finalise our desired outcome, to ensure we make strong connections to why we have chosen to incorporate interactive projections into the problem space of Kings Cross.



References:

Videos: Refer to link above each video
Shibuya Crossing: http://www.flickr.com/groups/people-in-tokyo/discuss/72157600266633021/
Tower of Wind: http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/eco-architecture-wind-tower-self-sufficient-green-habitat-for-the-future/
Blade Runner Image: http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/category/poll-results/

Monday, September 13, 2010

Week 6 Traces: Bert Bongers


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.


"Paint with your computer...use the projector as your brush...and the world is your canvas"- - Bert Bongers




Bert Bongers our Interactivating the City lab teacher introduced the audience to 'Traces- The City as a Canvas". I thoroughly enjoyed this lecture...the whole concept of digital traces, such as RFID tags, which we have explored extensively during our lab time, and how modes of expression affect how we leave traces and the reasons why we leave them.


There are many different kinds of traces; people and animals leave traces of movement, environmental influences of traces such as snow, visual traces and digital traces.





Bert referred to these traces as, 'lines of desire' - - what people want and their behavioural patterns. These traces also help us explore what people need, for example, large areas on gum on the floor represents the need for bins in the space.

Bert also mentioned Aaron Koblin, an american artist who now works for google. He specialises in data visualisation, and his 'Flight Patterns' explores air traffic around the world.


Aaron Koblin- Flight Patterns

Bert continued the concept of traces during the tutorial later in the week- - using projectors as an instrument to alter environments to fulfill the needs of the user.
We spent the week gathering information for our Interim presentation on Friday, which involves presenting our design research and ideas for the next stage of the design phase. Our group has decided to focus on the Kings Cross Precinct and the issue of transport. We have decided to explore the theme of Urban Graffiti and use interactive projections triggered and altered by the user. We seek to use these projections to solve anti-social behaviour.
The NSW Police have been cracking down on alcohol related violence and the related antisocial behaviour. Our group found a variety of recent new articles relevant to exploring our problem space which is an alcohol infused area.
This research is extremely important as we move into the second half of the semester, in further understanding our problem area and the space we are designing for.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Week 5 Waste: Kerryn Caulfield

Following Vicki Karaminas’ lecture last week on the spaces of consumption, this week we explored one of the consequences of consumption - - WASTE. In this week’s lecture, Kerryn Caulfield, Chief Operating Office of Apical International, spoke to us about textile, technology & waste.
"In today’s environment, sustainability is the persuading factor behind all innovation. Companies throughout Australia – and across the world – are increasingly taking their environmental responsibilities more seriously and are becoming more environmentally astute. Recycling materials, using less energy and reducing emissions are some ways companies are becoming more sustainable, all of which requires innovation across products and internal processes."


Caulfield spoke about the purpose of fabric and textiles in today's society. I found this quite interesting as textiles come in a multitude of forms; for example racing cars, aeroplanes, and cars- - more than 40 automotive parts within the car that are made from either woven, non woven or knitted materials. Since the amount of waste is constant and not dramatically increasing, the Government is in the process of developing a 'National Waste Policy' which will propose strategies to minimise our waste. Check out the Government's new policy at - -http://www.environment.gov.au/wastepolicy/index.html.


Kerryn then went on to speak to us about the amount of textile waste which ends up in landfill- a staggering 4.5% of landfill is textile waste. The lecture explored product stewardship and how it will be a big part of the future. Waste is a huge issue, "Billions of tonnes of waste is generated in Australia every year".


This figure made me realise how much society unknowingly contributes to this number. Caulfield has written a discussion paper entitled, Sources of Textile Waste in Australia. Check it out at- -
 http://www.ttna.com.au/TEXTILE%20WASTE%20PAPER%20March%202009.pdf.


Throughout the lecture Caulfield presented us with many graphs- one in particular I found quite entertaining, the rate of waste was growing faster than the population itself!! As Caulfield put it, we were going to be "drowning in our own waste". There are 3 major forms of textile waste causing majoriy of our problems,
  • Pre-consumer textile waste
  • Post consumer textile waste
  • Industrial textile waste

According to Caulfield, ‘businesses created this problem so businesses have the power to solve it!’. Instead of looking at waste as just that – ‘waste’ – we must look at is as ‘textile recovery resources’.
We are able to:
1.        Recycle/reuse
2.        Regenerate
3.        Create energy from waste (although this is not currently used in Australia)

- - -Moving on to our group work, it has been a bit difficult to draw connections from the lecture. However in terms of ever evolving technology and production, there is no doubt that technological devices are contributing to this waste. Therefore, it is important to design for the environment and always consider the influence of our proposed designs on the environment throughout their life span.

During the tutorial, we spoke about personas for our group project and came up with 3 personas to better understand our problem space and possible project proposals.  Creating personas was a very helpful exercise as they allowed us to imagine real life scenarios and experiences different people face and deal with. By considering these personas we were able to further develop our interview questions. We have decided to interview the Kings Cross station staff/station master, The Waverton Council, visitors to the Cross, Security, Police and the Ambulance.






During Bert's lecture we spoke about the 'active modes of perception' which are vital to interactivation and how senses are based on change. In terms of perception, I found this topic really interesting as we explored how the eye sees what it chooses to see...gosh thats a mouthful! I love optical illusions and they came straight to mind...
Persona 1Persona 2Persona 3
BILLY
  • 23 y.o
  • Lives in St.Ives
  • Regular to ‘The Cross
  • Meets friend at Gordon station and trains into Kings Cross
  • Takes $300 with him in cash
  • He is a real estate agent and has ‘the gift of the gab’
  • He is a consumerist, is trendy, fit, good looking, slightly arrogant
  • He’s single
  • Goes clubbing
  • Australian 2nd generation
  • Confident
TERRI
  • school leaver
  • visits The Cross once a month
  • lives in the Hills District so she drives because it’s too difficult to use public transport
  • but then, she has a drink and so she decides to leave her car in  The Cross
  • She then plans to make her way home with friends
  • She’s her on her red p’s so she has to drive in to The Cross before 11
ADAM
  • 34
  • Lives with his partner
  • Lives in the inner west – Annandale
  • Likes to go to Newtown for drinks
  • Likes the pub culture more than clubbing
  • Uses the bus both ways
  • Often has work drinks and sometimes goes for dinner
  • He enjoys dining out but not hard clubbing




These personas will help us make informed decisions when choosing our target audience for our interviews and what questions we should focus on asking. 




How many legs does this elephant have?
How many legs?

Short-Circuit Your Brain
Look at the chart above and say the COLOR of the word,
not the word itself.

Why is it so difficult? Because the right half of your brain
is trying to say the color, while the left side of your brain
is trying to say the word.

Young Lady or Old Lady?




Our group is considering using projections as entertainment within The Cross, and therefore the notion of perception is extremely important as we need to ensure the users see what we intend them to see.




References:
Government Policy: http://www.environment.gov.au/wastepolicy/index.html
Caulfield's Paper: http://www.ttna.com.au/TEXTILE%20WASTE%20PAPER%20March%202009.pdf
Awesome Optical Illusion website: http:/www.optillusions.com/