Fall 2020 Special Topics in Architecture (Digital Systems) 2/6 (Waddell & Angola)

urban resurgence

Ji Song Sun | 30070598 Vijul Shah | 30101072 Lilian Wang Huang| 30099601 Assignment #3 ARCH 680_Digital Systems and Responsive Environment Design Prof.: Matthew Waddel & Laura Anzola 11/29/20

concept

parti diagram

Downtown Calgary’s high concentration of office buildings and corporate headquarters has led to the formation of alleyways and dark corners that become part of the residual spaces in the urban fabric.

This intervention aims to revitalise an urban residual space and turn it into a sensory interactive art that stimulates human connections in these empty spaces.

This intervention will allow people to come together for a collective experience, bringing people from all ages and backgrounds in order to create music using their bodies.

As an intuitive game, participants will unlock a series of sensory reactions based on individual and collaborative efforts.

location:

dark alleyways residual spaces

plan view SMALL BUSINESSES

seating areas

seating areas

seating areas

seating areas seating areas

HIGH RISES / OFFICE BUILDINGS

interaction

collective experience

collective experience

technical detail

thank-you.

text description DESCRIPTION:

Downtown Calgary’s high concentration of office buildings and corporate headquarters has led to the formation of alleyways and dark corners that become part of the residual spaces in the urban fabric. In order to aid this issue, our intervention aims to revitalise an urban residual space and turn it into a sensory interactive art that stimulates human connections in these empty spaces. This intervention will allow people to come together for a collective experience, bringing people from all ages and backgrounds in order to create music using their bodies. As an intuitive game, participants will unlock a series of sensory reactions based on individual and collaborative efforts.

The location chosen for this intervention is by the alley behind The Pioneer Gallery at 117 – 8 Avenue SW. This location is an example of a residual space within the downtown core.

Enclosed by a series of high-rises and low rise commercial buildings, the alleyway becomes an undesirable place for people to meet, relax and hang out. Hence, through this intervention, we are embracing this existing urban asset, by amplifying and enhancing the experience of walking through this undesired space.

THE PROJECT

• As the person enters the alleyway and steps on the first row of LED floor panels, an instrument is randomly assigned to the user. A colour code will light up on the square, indicating which instrument is being played. In the case of a sudden increase or decrease of participants, a set of parameters will be used to adjust the number of instruments being allocated.

• As the player proceeds, the musical note will change depending on the speed the person travels. When the person moves, a light trail of the same colour assigned initially will follow him or her on the LED floor panel and begin to fade to a lighter colour after 5 seconds. When this trail is intersected by other players, an instantaneous spark occurs in that intersection and it stays on until the trail begins to fade. All trails left behind will stay for 24 hours, tracking the number of daily movement of people.

• A secondary visual trigger is created by a series of light tubes hanging overhead.

These will move up and down, interacting and giving way to the person .The speed at which these tubes displace will depend on the pitch of the melody created.

• During its inactive state, the faded light trails will remain on the floor as a piece of art/artistic intervention

This is intended to be a permanent structure that will, in time, attract more people and increase traffic flow evidenced by the recorded daily growth in number of paths.

The different sensorial experiences make it a dynamic and interesting intervention for all ages. By using different instruments and engaging people from different demographics and cultural background, we are encouraging diversity and unity by creating a melody through teamwork.

Just as the intervention is used to change the perception of space, we want music to become a medium in which perceptions and judgements are eliminated when collaboration occurs.

There are no urging ethical issues at stake in this intervention. However, some people might feel uncomfortable leaving a trace of themselves behind that will remain visible in the floor canvas for 24 hours and eventually recorded forever in the system.

TECHINCAL DETAILS:

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Material of the structure: -Steel brackets -Steel beams spanning between buildings -Weatherproof acoustic panels -Thin steel grid (holding the hanging led lights) -Cylindrical foam pipe insulation

- https://www.eventdecordirect.com/catalog/led-3ddance-floor-28ft-x-28ft-free-shipping-p-11666.html?pcc_ keyword=&gclid=CjwKCAiA5IL-BRAzEiwA0lcWYvg1yVPQA8E pQkhfLWps6enAuqOfhxgfzxn52uSMW0YEOSfPMwUAeBoC1 i4QAvD_BwE

Equipment list: -Mounted surround sound- outdoor weather resistant speakers -LED pendant lights wrapped with thin foam pipe insulation -Passive Infrared (PRI) Motion sensors -Arduino (setting sensitivity up to 7m and delay time 0.3 (ARDUINO KINETIC SENSOR) -LED floor panels 61cmx61cmx6.5cm Placement: Above floor level at approximately 10m, a series of steel beams sitting on steel brackets span across the alley. These brackets are attached to the adjacent buildings, providing the necessary support for the transparent acrylic canopy and the thin steel grid in which all the cables run through. This grid will also support the LED pendant lights (wrapped with thin foam pipe), motion sensors, arduinos and speakers.

On the floor level, 61cmx61cmx6.5cm LED floor panels will be spanning across the alley.

On the edges of the panels, aluminum trims will lock into the panels easily by pushing them together. This will allow a smooth finish, avoiding tripping hazards and making it accessible to everyone. The panels will have a power out & in on every panel, allowing it to daisy chain them together and the 1st one is the one that is plugged to an external power supply- once again, minimising external elements that could become tripping hazards.

Weather proofing: In the case of snow and rainy days, the canopy will provide shelter to the users and the structure of the intervention.

- http://yourhomewizards.com/the-ins-and-outs-of-outdoorspeakers/ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fdrr_1guok