Editor’s preface, Brad Koerner: This spring and summer I had the privilege of mentoring Yasaman Mavvaj, a graduate thesis student at TU Delft’s Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. For the past several years, I’ve guest lectured at Professor Sylvia Pont’s … Continue reading ambient communications: research by Yasaman Mavvaj of TU Delft
The investment conglomerate Investindustrial created a massive 4,000 sqm presence for its newly organized Design Holding portfolio of companies, including Flos, B&B Italia, and Louis Poulsen. Most impressive was a beautiful interactive entryway installation. Depicting fun caricatures of the famous … Continue reading milan 2019: design holding – interactive installation
Microsoft has injected new life into its Kinect system, a sophisticated camera vision platform. They’ve shrunk the hardware, improved the specs and now tie it to the Azure computing platform to augment it with a lot of computational horsepower on-demand. … Continue reading microsoft kinect dk
“Data-driven” architectural lighting and digital media? “Ambient communications” for architectural spaces? What does that all mean and how will it drive future concepts of lighting and A/V design? Thanks to everyone who attended my presentation at the #ise2019 Smart Building Conference exploring … Continue reading smart building conference 2019: ambient communications
Wiliot is a spin-out tech startup based in San Diego and Israel that has developed a small Bluetooth chip that can power itself by harvesting energy from common wireless signals. The chip can be connected directly to certain types of … Continue reading wiliot
We live in a time where many people feel trapped by digital screens. With our mobile devices, every new app fights for a precious slice of our attention bandwidth. Out and about, digital signage screams for our attention in every store, bus … Continue reading wrap your spaces in social media
Boston-based interactive design firm Sosolimited recently installed a public art piece at the Charleston Navy Yard on the tip of Constitution Wharf. According to their press release: ● Custom software collects data in real time from National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration … Continue reading sosolimited – tidal light
In 2016, Nike created a brand activation in Manila that temporarily erected a 200-meter “figure 8” running track the size of city block. The “stadium” featured a running track lined with LED screens, where up to 30 runners at a … Continue reading nike unlimited stadium
Revr Studios is a Madrid-based rendering studio and VR software that was spun-out of Lighting Design Collective. Check out this video demonstrating the capabilities of live rendering + VR visualization for exploring architectural lighting design. Continue reading revr studios – interactive VR
Seeper is a British studio that specializes in experience creation. Check out their very interesting work ranging from attractions to events to digital experience R&D. I love their catch-line: “Our mission is to create awe + wonder by designing and … Continue reading seeper
Check out these visually arresting interactive walls by New York artist Daniel Rozin. Rozin constructs of rotating matrices of creative objects like pieces of wood, pieces of rusty metal, even troll dolls – that rotate to create digital patterns of light … Continue reading daniel rozin
DeepEyes produces video-based A.I. systems for a variety of people detection, tracking and counting applications. DeepEyes’ systems can detect general emotions, gestures, identify specific people, etc. An couple examples: According to one section of their site: In surveillance settings with … Continue reading deepeyes
Via Designboom: Researchers from Disney and Carnegie Mellon University have developed wall++, a low-cost sensing approach that allows walls to become a smart infrastructure. A simple to apply treatment, wall++ challenges the inactivity of walls, turning them into a large … Continue reading cmu researchers transform walls into giant touchpads
Skandal Technologies have updated their website with their new “Poet” system for controlling ambient information in architectural environments. The Poet system unifies sensors, online data harvesting, generative content engines, servers, lighting solutions, and content management into one solution. According to … Continue reading skandal technologies: update
Advertima is startup combining machine learning with digital signage. According to their site: Artificial intelligence teams up with digital out of home experiences. As the world’s first experience management system (EMS) Advertima combines machine learning, computer vision and big data … Continue reading advertima
A very fun use of projection mapping and augmented reality technologies, Tablemation Studios uses overhead projections to animate the place settings at dinner services with clever forced-perspective visual effects and character animations. Sadly, they only have a Facebook page – meaning … Continue reading tablemation studios
Soso Limited is a Boston-based firm developing interactive lighting experiences and data visualization projects. Founded by a few MIT kids, they have a pretty cool portfolio of projects with various methods of social media interaction, for example some novel ways … Continue reading soso
XYZT: Abstract Landscapes is a digital art installation by Lyon-based designers Adrien M & Claire B. The exhibition fuses together some spectacular interactive digital animations with well-executed projection and sensing technologies with a beautiful minimalist black and white color palette. The … Continue reading xyzt: abstract landscapes
Via Core77 (and thanks Joshua), a luminous “ambient information” concept called Blink consists of two glowing orbs that are touch- and motion-sensitive, color-changing, and equipped with 3G for seamless operation. The project was developed in this case for sick children … Continue reading blink: a language of love
The Industrial Design department at TU/Delft now has an entire minor dedicated to Interactive Environments. Although relatively new, the program has promise – check out the Veroni installation as an example. Continue reading interactive environments minor at TU/Delft
