I often wonder how Mies van der Rohe would have used large-format digital surfaces, if they were available during his era. In addition to the fine stone, polished metals and wood paneling he often used to create sumptuous, visually rich surroundings, how would Mies have used digital content? How would he have employed the fundamental elements of digital displays to enrich a surface, such as luminosity, color, motion and dynamic range?

Mies worked with pioneering lighting designer Richard Kelly, who often called out a concept he called “play of brilliants” as one of 3 foundational aspects of good lighting design.

Kelly stated:
“Play of brilliants is Times Square at night. It is the eighteenth century ballroom of crystal chandeliers and many candle flames. It is sunlight on a fountain or a rippling brook. It is the rose window of Chartres. Play of brilliants excites the optic nerves, and in turn stimulates the body and spirit, quickens the appetite, awakens curiosity, sharpens the wit…”

Kelly’s Play of Brilliants was his balance against Focal Glow and Ambient Luminescence, luminous elements that are required in any competent architectural space but can become stagnant and oppressive if not balanced with the visual dynamics offered by Play of Brilliants.

Kelly also offered his Six Qualities of Light, in which he was addressing the dynamic potential of light:
“… light itself as a physical force can have specific qualities attributed to it by the regular occurrence of effects as does the wind [including]:”
1. Intensity
2. Brightness
3. Diffusion
4. Spectral Color
5. Direction
6. Motion

So I have to imagine that avant-garde Modernist pioneers like Mies van der Rohe and Richard Kelly would have eagerly embraced large format digital displays to add dynamic, immersive visual richness to their designs. They would have embraced digital microLED tiles into their modern material palettes as readily as they did travertine marble, rosewood paneling and polished brass. And they would have used those digital surfaces to explore concepts such as cycles of time, layers of reality or as dynamic digital art canvases.

Has this peeked your curiosity? Please check out my recent conference presentation “The Luxury of Digital Walls” to further explore the new design paradigms of digital surfaces:
https://vimeo.com/megapixelvr/luxuryofvideowalls
Ventana microLED tiles:
https://ventanadesign.com/
#luxury #modern #residential #hospitality #design