Living Architecture Spring 2009 Columbia

A project that I found to be very interesting is called “Duality” – it was created for a new development site in Tokyo. It is meant to play with the idea of studying the boundaries between “real” physical ripple effect and “virtual” ripple effect. This project is made up of 6x6 meter LED planes covered with translucent glass that are on the edge of water. As people walk over the panels virtual waves/ripples, calculated in real time, appear on the LED plane. As the virtual waves ripple out to the edge of the LED planes and hit the water they create real actual ripples in the water. I like that this project combines a mapping of human action in both virtual and physical space and that the two feed off of each other. The real physical steps create the virtual ripples, which in turn create the physical ripple.
The Input in this case is the footsteps of the people picked up by load cells. The output is the light, which takes the form of a ripple. I believe there is a secondary input in this case – the light as it hits the edge of the plane triggers something mechanical, which then creates the output of a physical ripple.
I like the chain effects that take place in this project, and I would like to see the chain be carried even further. For instance, to somehow have the physical environment be impacted back again in a way that is going to reengage the human – not just visually, but physically. This would truly bring the cycle full circle.