Situated Technology : Electrically savvy?

I have graduated from State University of New York, Buffalo (SUNY, Buffalo) with Master of Architecture title. To tell the truth, being a graduate student does not make me as proud as stating that I was a part of Situated Technology Research Group! Just to keep every one of us in the same page, I would like to briefly explain the research group’s intent. “Situated Technology” is a jargon developed in this specific university. It refers to the technology advancements used in architectural spaces at situated locations to make the space interactive and dynamic. The technology dealt in this research is specific to computers and electrical techniques. Though the huge topic was summarized very shortly in the previous few lines, the course totally deals with all the different history milestones, movements which advanced the computerized environments, the theories which gave good fundamental studies for the research group like the theory of cybernetics by Norbert Wiener to the ubiquitous computing by Mark Weiser. It educates the students to a level where they can propose interesting interactive spaces and can also make scaled mock up interactive models using different softwares and techniques.

I am sure there are many different softwares and sources which can be used to create the same effect, but we were introduced with softwares like Grasshopper, Processing, Arduino, Python coupled with open source hardware (micro-controller) Arduino board with an Atmel AVR processor and on-board I/O support. The research group gives different introductory to intermediate classes for the students to program and create interactive models. Though I am starting to sound a bit nerdy and technical, I would say now comes the interesting part. All the procedures taught are totally optional for a student to use in is proposal / research. The main intent of the course is to produce dynamic spaces which can have set of influences or actuators and space eventually becomes interesting for the occupant.

Now that we are on the same page, I would like to point to the assumption I had when I started new in the group.

“Situated Technology research group is a new approach to design and it was not attempted in past”.

I was partly correct with that assumption. Though it is a new approach to design, it was attempted by many visionaries in the past. In most cases the situated technology tries to propose a space interactive, interesting and inferring. The type of technology used to make this space interesting becomes questionable. Technology itself is defined by dictionary as “the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science”. This states that the situated technology can be from many different subjects mainly related to the knowledge of different sciences. Since technology is present at any period of time, the situated technology development was relative to the time of that period. Maybe few examples can help you understand my point more clearly. I will try to put forward two different contemporary situated technology projects and show similar olden situated technology projects.

First illustration is the Piano Staircase project where staircase is replaced with piano keys which sound when stepped on. Please view the video for more information.

To compare with olden technology, I am choosing the Hampi temple in India constructed in 16th century AD. Its very famous for the musical columns. The following video demonstrates a visitor trying the musical sounds produced by tapping the column.

The second illustration is the LED wall in the city of Leeds. This project tries to develop a space with lighting features. I am sure there are many others of this sort but this project was the first to hit my mind. The basic concept is to have a lighting features which many create the space interactive with the user's movements.

As a comparison, there is a temple of deity "Chaya Someshwara" in Panagal village near Nalgonda town, Andra Pradesh, India. This temple is very famous for the mysterious shadows created in the inner sanctum of the temple. A shadow (of unknown located column) is created over the deity throughout the day. The interesting part is that the shadow does not move according to time as all other shadows do.

These illustrations infer an important point : Architects / building industry tried to implement the specific time period's technological features / advancements which made the proposal interactive with the users.

Technology advancements can be in different fields and most importantly situated technology projects can be produced with natural scientific explorations and they can be non electrical. This can also be extended that these projects can be made such that the outcome is also sustainable. Although this brings another topic into discussion I would like to cover that later.

Please leave a comment if you know of any other olden structures around the world which can be listed in the similar categories.