Oculus - Winter 2015 - (Page 30)
©Ennead Architects in collaboration with Jones Studio and Unified Field; rendering by Atchain
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Architecture at the Digital Edge
Technology is both transforming and becoming part of architectural design
B Y e L i Ku s L A n s K Y
W
hether you imagine the digital edge of architecture to be
a razor-thin or a wide amorphous boundary between the
physical and virtual worlds, there is no doubt that digital technologies have changed architecture forever. In the mid-1970s,
architects started using digital tools predominantly for computer-aided drafting. Forty-five years later, digital technologies are
the primary means that architects use for creating whole new
languages of spatial design.
The digital edge of architecture is now a transitive verb in
the design language of the built environment, acting as a grand
"connector" eliminating boundaries between language, space,
orientation, and time. Buildings enhanced with digital technology
help people curate their journeys by intelligently tagging space
with relevant and timely information. Social media, another factor, is influencing architectural design, where knowledge and data
about a building and people's activities are not only stored, but
also shared, distributed, and visualized in novel actionable ways.
Integrating media into the built environment
A case in point is the new Arizona Center for Law and Society
(ACLS) at Arizona State University (ASU) in Phoenix. As the
public perception of the legal system evolves, law schools are
struggling with decreasing enrollments and fewer job prospects
for graduates. At the ASU Sandra Day O'Connor College of
30
Oculus Winter 2015
Law, scheduled to open in 2016, Dean Douglas Sylvester had
a bold vision - reinvent the traditional law school experience
with a new modern facility designed with an openness aimed
at celebrating the convergence of law and society. Through the
seamless integration of innovative technology, the building's
design aspires to facilitate interaction between students, faculty,
the downtown community, and Phoenix's legal and criminal
justice system.
This new six-story, 260,000-square-foot complex, designed
by Ennead Architects, used a parallel design process to fulfill
Dean Sylvester's vision by bringing in Unified Field to develop
the interactive media and content strategy in tandem with the
architectural design. Unified Field came up with a flexible and
responsive platform called the Pulse.
The Pulse paints a real-time, dynamic, interactive picture
of the user community as it moves through the building. It is
accessed through a mobile app, interactive media walls, and
large-scale outdoor displays, and tied together with an RFID
tagging system and strategically-placed proximity sensors. These
components constitute a digital wayfinding knowledge mapping
system that will offer real value to users.
The Pulse sends content to mobile devices to update schedules, guide navigation, and link people together filtered by their
profiles. The Pulse is fed by sources such as expert profiles,
Reinventing Architecture: Design in a Digital World
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Oculus - Winter 2015
First Words Letter from Two Presidents
Letter from the Editor
Center for Architecture
One Block Over
Opener: Practical Attitudes
ICE in the River: Cornell Tech’s Center of Connectivity
Restoring – At Least Virtually – One of England’s Greatest Lost Buildings
At the Corner of Past and Present
The Design-Fabrication Dynamic
How Big Data is Reshaping Architecture
Architecture at the Digital Edge
3D for the Defense
Thinking Beyond the Flat Page
In Print
51-Year Watch
Last Words
Index to Advertisers
Oculus - Winter 2015
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