ex_3 Case Study | RE: Fashion Lab

"The exploration of architectural space, its conception and articulation is so far mostly modeled on a static understanding of structure and material, in relation to its inhabitation and use. Contemporary buildings are mostly frozen entities, enveloping organization and activities of its inhabitants through physical mass and form.

Interactive Media embedded in architectural settings can create new forms and organizations of mixed reality environments: enjoyment of the immediate physical nature of our built environments can be blended with the ephemeral nature of animated and interactive digital context."

_Tobi Schneidler in The ReFashion Lab: Building Digital Matter and Hybrid Space, ISEA 2002 conference in Nagoya, Japan Nov_02


Project info| Architect: Tobi Schneidler

Project team: Magnus Jonsson, Jonte Bjorklund, Oskar Ronnberg, Stefanie Schneidler, Sabina Kasper
Start: January_01
End: December_01

Associations: Interactive Institute SMART Studio
Partners: Christiane Posch, Nokia Research: Juha Kaario, Scanner: Robin Rimbaud, Tomato Interactive: Tom Roope

The ReFashion Lab is a prototype fashion store created as a means to exhibit the use of interactive media in architectural spaces to evoke unique interactions between individual users and the space they occupy. The goal of the project is to provide a new understanding of the hybrid between an underlying digital infrastructure and the physical structure itself. In this experiment, the team strived to fully integrate the media into the physical structure, organization and ambience of a physical space. The notion of “ubiquitous computing” suggests that media is the force in the background that surfaces to augment real life situations.

The realm of the ReFashion Lab is a hybrid between tangible things, such as fashion artifacts, and the effects of the digital media as the two come together in real life situations. The fashion store scenario was chosen as a thematic context to represent this type of thinking since its environment is infused with personal desire, big business and artistic sensibilities.

_where media and physical organizations come together_Interactive Architecture dot Org


_finding the physical space within a digital context_The ReFashion Lab: Building Digital Matter and Hybrid Space, ISEA Conferance in Nagoya, Japan Nov_02

RE: Fashion Lab | metaMIRRORS

Infrastructure

In order to allow for an interaction between user and space to occur naturally, small gadgets and devices commonly used to hold digital information were eliminated. The intent was to place an invisible electronic infrastructure map onto the physical space itself. The system features a standard Ethernet network, a server, sensors, and output devices.

As visitors browse through fashion artifacts and pick them up, they are labeled with discreet radio frequency chips which are embedded into the fashion items. Their movements and actions are monitored as the sensors for the chips are invisibly distributed throughout the space, triggering one of several “active zones” found throughout the store. The space reacts to the individual with a variety of output media tracing back to a central server. This concept of a spatially distributed interface can be referred to as “interspace”.

Interaction

The installation of metaMirrors is one form of creating unique experiences among users. When it is inactive, a large animation is back-projected on the surface. This contributes to the constantly changing space in terms of its ambience, lighting and feel. As a visitor approaches with a fashion item, the animation transitions into a display of information specific to the item and user.

The code of the item is relayed to the server to the source of information from the network in real time. The reflection of the visitor’s protons in the mirror results in an overlay of digital content. In this sense, a new relationship between body and information is formed while the surrounding environment acts as the enabling surface.

_customized interaction between each individual user and specific space_The ReFashion Lab: Building Digital Matter and Hybrid Space, ISEA Conference in Nagoya, Japan Nov_02

_item information displayed on metaMirror_Interactive Institute SMART Studio

RE: Fashion Lab | delayMIRRORS

The technology of delayMirrors allows users to make an impression on the environment, even if only for a short while. It captures individuals in action and reciprocates the still image. However, it is not instantaneous as to resemble an ordinary mirror.

_delayMirror_Interactive Institute SMART Studio_space containing delayMirror and metaMirror _Interactive Institute SMART Studio

_catwalk and delayMirror_Interactive Institute SMART Studio

RE: Fashion Lab | AudioScape

Evoking the senses

Aside from visual interactivity and personalization, the ReFashion Lab also introduces sound to the experience. AudioScape compiles layers of a uniquely composed music piece which are activated by different visitors. Certain layers are turned on in active zones and are dependent on the presence and movement of the user in their specific fashion artifact. There are four active zones of the AudioScape and as visitors traverse through different zones, a “synchronized and spatial acoustic experience is created that is unique to each moment.”

_information architecture for the AudioScape_The ReFashion Lab: Building Digital Matter and Hybrid Space, ISEA 2002 conference in Nagoya, Japan Nov_02

The fundamental objective of the ReFashion Lab is to trigger multi-sensual interactions specific to users and the environments they occupy through a hybrid space of digital media and architectural space. These occurrences are not as direct, but they result from a person’s natural exploration of a place.

auraLux | telekinetic pavilion

Glass footbridge supported by two London residential buildings. As users traverse through the space, their brain activity is monitored by a technology called EEG feedback, which is utilized by NASA to track the brain activity of their pilots. Sensors that are integrated into the structure signal the fluidic muscle controller, which then results in the expansion and contraction of the sphere. Individual stress levels have a direct impact on the responsive environment...encouraging users to attempt to alter their moods. This project seems to suggests that the architecture has the possibility of changing an individual's mood in real time._more photos from omnispace

animation. 3D

formation. DEFAULT

deformation.

rendering. CLOSEUP

2D PATTERN in deformation

ex_2 MISSION AYLA

ex_1 PATTERN RECOGNITION

2D imagery compilation.

NATURE_spider web.

MACHINERY_clocks.

FILM_eye.