Osservatorio sull'Architettura / Targetti Foundation
present
The Digital Mile: New Concepts of Urban Space, Lighting and Form.
Meeting with Dennis Frenchman
chaired by Giandomenico Amendola and Pino Brugellis
10 october 2006, 5:30 p.m.
Fondazione Targetti, Villa La Sfacciata, Florence
After the meetings with some of the main protagonists of contemporary architecture such as Norman Foster, Yona Friedman, Bernard Tschumi, Peter Eisenman, Thom Mayne and Greg Lynn, the new appointment of the Observatory on Architecture of the Targetti Foundation for the 2006 season shall be held on October 10 at Villa La Sfacciata, and shall be devoted to the most innovative solutions in the digital media within public spaces by the research group of the MIT City Design and Development of Urban Studies and Planning in cooperation with Media Lab.
While working in some European and Asian cities, MIT carried out a series of projects (currently under construction) which incorporate the digital media in all the daily aspects of public spaces with the goal of creating places responding to the needs of the users, places which change in order to host different activities, telling stories, providing information and services, ones which hopefully become more meaningful for the people living and working in them.
Professor Frenchman, director of the City Design and Development research group, will deal with the above-mentioned topic by presenting the group’s recent project for the city of Saragossa, The Digital Mile, currently displayed at the 10th International Exhibition of Architecture of the Venice Biennale.
The assumption on which the project is based is that the digital space is much more sensible regarding the needs of the user rather than the traditional physical one, by incorporating digital skills in common urban elements such as building façades, lighting, tables, curtains, umbrellas, decorations, furnishings and fountains. The quality, the visual and physical content of a space can change during the day, the season or according to the activity taking place within it. For instance, the space where one plays soccer or takes a walk in the afternoon can turn into an outdoor theatre with dynamic lighting, video screens and sounds at night. Giving the users the possibility of influencing and even shaping such changes creates a more dynamic, participative and public space.
The common urban elements are contemplated in order to take advantage of their ability to enhance the use and the experience of the public space. The lighting systems are designed in order to modify their operation according to the different times of day or to the number of users presents, by providing overall lighting when there are a lot of people, a more intimate light for coffee shops patrons and a colored light for special events. Outdoor coffee shops are designed to allow patrons to see the menu on an electronic surface, read reviews on dishes, plan a tour of the city or accessing personal e-mails before food is served. Buildings’ façades are designed so that they change color and content in response to the surrounding activities. Everything will be facilitated in the near future by the advent of radio frequency identification devices (RFDI) which will communicate information about the users and their environmental desires. Professor Frenchman shall illustrate some hardware and software designed by MIT in order to draw advantage from these possibilities.
Dennis Frenchman teaches Practice of Urban Design at MIT, where he also directs the City Design and Development research group and chairs the City Planning Master Program. He is a founding member of ICON architecture from Boston, an international architecture, design and urban planning firm. He has taught and worked a lot in Asia, Europe and South America and was also the advisor on Urban Liveability for the Chairman of the World Bank.
The work and research of Dennis Frenchman are focused on urban transformation. He is a specialist in the application of technology to the urban design media and carried out large scale projects guided by the use of technology (the most renowned are, Seoul Digital Media City in Korea; International Media Avenue in Beijing, China; Sapiens, Florianopolis in Brazil and The Digital Mile, in Saragossa, Spain).
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