Associate Professor Martin Tomitsch, Head of Design at the University of Sydney and Board Member of the Media Architecture Institute.

Media Architecture Biennale 2016 (MAB16) is an interactive forum exchanging ideas and outlining the media architecture of the future in digital materiality of contemporary architecture, which will be held in Sydney between June 1-4, 2016. MAB16 will host a series of workshops, symposia and events designed to explore the existing and future impact of digital technologies on urban planning within global cities. This interactive forum will run four days under the theme of 'Digital Placemaking' with leading experts, architects, designers, artists, academia, government and industry. Media Architecture Biennale 2016 investigates new vision and ideas on how technology and digital media can become a part of ‘Smart Cities’ and this approach can lead to more livable city environments.

MAB16 is held for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere, in conjunction with Vivid Sydney, the largest festival of light art, music and ideas, and the International Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS’16) in Brisbane. 

''Digital placemaking refers to the process of using digital media for shaping urban experiences that are citizen-centric, both in their conception and implementation'' Martin told WA.  'The use of digital media communicates with real-time information about public transport services or about road traffic conditions'', proving that how digital technologies affect our built environment directly with real-time information. 

Martin Tomitsch sees 'digital media' as material component of architecture. Tomitsch comments that ''digital technology is employed to shape the experience of people passing through the environment.''

Media Architecture Biennale 2016 program consists of very prestigious guests from interdisciplinary fields including; Ethan Kent (Projects for public Spaces New York), Prof. Carlo Ratti (MIT Senseable City Lab, Carlo Ratti Associati), Leni Schwendinger (Arup), Matt Jones (Federation Square), Susanne Seitinger (Philips), Ignatius Jones (Vivd Sydney). 

Martin Tomitsch, head of Design at the University of Sydney, is also a member of the Media Architecture Institute, and chair of the Media Architecture Biennale 2016, together with Dr M. Hank Haeusler. In this exclusive interview, Martin Tomitsch explains how new digital materiality shapes our built environment through human-centric experiences and discusses the details of the Media Architecture Biennale 2016.

Image courtesy of Media Architecture Biennale 2016

Berrin Chatzi Chousein: How do you exactly define ‘Digital Placemaking’, not only for the Media Architecture Biennale 2016, I mean in general?

Martin Tomitsch: Digital placemaking refers to the process of using digital media for shaping urban experiences that are citizen-centric, both in their conception and implementation. There are three approaches to digital placemaking that all have the same end goal but employ digital media at various points in the process. The first approach, community placemaking, involves the use of digital technologies to gather input from local communities on ongoing and new city making initiatives. The second approach, which I refer to as spectacle placemaking, integrates digital media with the built environment, to create new urban experiences. Often these are of temporary nature and take place for example in the context of light festivals. The third approach, infrastructure placemaking, refers to the use of digital technologies for improving the existing infrastructure and services in cities. A familar example here is the use of digital media to communicate real-time information about public transport services or about road traffic conditions. Ultimately, the objective of all approaches is to improve the quality of life in cities.

Berrin Chatzi Chousein: Could you please tell us about yourself?

Martin Tomitsch: I’m board member of the Media Architecture Institute, and chair of the Media Architecture Biennale 2016, together with Dr M. Hank Haeusler. I have a background in informatics and interaction design, and work as academic in the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney. A strong focus in my research is the integration of digital media and architecture, which involves developing a better understanding of how to create human-centred interactive experiences in the built environment enabled through digital technologies.

Image courtesy of Media Architecture Biennale 2016

Berrin Chatzi Chousein: We know that digital media has a direct impact on our built environment or participation in the new design methodologies via these human interacted designs. Do you think that new digital media or new technologies will change the way we produce architecture or how would you define this kind of architecture evolving with the new digital tools?

Martin Tomitsch: There are to two answers to this question, which reflect the two ways for how digital technologies are intersecting with architecture. Firstly, the availability of new digital technologies is changing the way how architecture is produced. We can think of this as computationally driven design. This process involves more than the use of digital software tools to generate parametric architectural designs. Research in architecture is starting to investigate the use of robotics for producing architecture, both for designing architecture and for constructing architecture or building components. We’ve seen videos of robots building bricks, bridges and high-rise towers. But, an equally important advancement is the use of artificial intelligence to help us identify and explore possible design solutions. The rapid progress in 3D fabrication technologies is further supporting this trend.

Secondly, digital media itself can be seen as material component in architecture. We already see implementations of this trend around the world through the close integration of media and architecture, for example in the form of media facades. Here, digital technology is employed to shape the experience of people passing through the environment. The idea of digital placemaking provides a framework to truly develop citizen-centric experiences, rather than using digital technology just because it is possible to do so. This is also the theme that we aim to explore at the Media Architecture Biennale. 

Media Architecture Workshop: The MAW will have a duration of 1 full day and will take place on June 1, 2016 at the Michael Crouch Innovation Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Image courtesy of Media Architecture Biennale 2016.

Berrin Chatzi Chousein: What do you exactly want to show/discuss through Media Architecture Biennale 2016?  I mean, exploring new urban innovations, understanding how participatory design strategies are evolving, a general framework of how smart cities are working or maybe defining new urban policies via intersection of other fields (academia, authorities, architects etc..) What is your special focus for the MAB16?

Martin Tomitsch: One of the main objectives of the Media Architecture Biennale is to facilitate a shared discussion of key issues around the integration of digital media and the built environment. We do this by bring people together from various disciplines and professions. This year the theme of the Biennale, and therefore its focus, is ‘digital placemaking’. This theme will be explored through a range of events, from exhibitions, to awards showcasing outstanding examples of media architecture, to industry-focused symposia, and invited keynote talks. We hope that by bringing people from academia, industry and government together, the Biennale will be able to shape future policy and industry developments. The City Leaders Summit will play a key role in this respect as it will bring together leaders from cities across Australia with national and international academics and practitioners. It’s a reality check, to see where everyone is up to, and to identify opportunities for connecting different fields.

Berrin Chatzi Chousein: What is the role of academia for this in order to create more livable cities? When you evalute some academic institutions or programs in general, how does academia deal with digital media/technology to implement more radical solutions?

Martin Tomitsch: The role of academia is to explore future applications, ideally in close alignment with the industry. Academia provides a great, low-risk environment to test out new ideas. In many ways it is easier for academic institutions to implement more radical solutions as they operate under different conditions compared to industry and government institutions. In particular for academic research programs that take an artist-led approach, it is possible to really push the boundaries. Once a solution has been tested in an academic context, it then becomes more manageable to implement it in other contexts, since there is a case study that shows what is possible and how it works. For example, in one of our own research projects, we wrapped a custom-made LED display around city bins, turning them into game-like interfaces: passers-by were able to play Tetris by putting rubbish into the bin. We are not necessarily suggesting that all bins should have an LED display, but through this study we were able to explore how digitally augmented urban furniture changes the dynamics of the built environment and its social fabric. In another study we used digital fabrication techniques to design a one-to-one model of a future bus stop, which not only challenged what the physical structure of a bus stop could look like but also evaluated the integration of various digital surfaces into the bus stop. Since such research-based interventions are typically prototypes, academic research is able to employ technologies that are not yet available on the mass consumer market. Ideally this research can consequently influence what’s happening in the consumer market.

Digitally Engaging Urban Environments: The main aim of the workshop is to outline and discuss different ways that screens and similar devices around the city, can be used to engage people, in active or passive way, in the comprehension and discussion about the places where they are living. Image courtesy of Media Architecture Biennale 2016.

Berrin Chatzi Chousein: How does media architecture trigger new forms of participation in architecture or creating public spaces?

Martin Tomitsch: Participation ranges from allowing citizens to be part of a dialogue, to have a voice in decision making processes, as is the case in community placemaking, to enabling on-the-spot interaction. Much of what see currently in media architecture projects, and what is also reflected in this year’s Media Architecture Award entries, are early protagonists of what is possible. For example, people can use a smartphone app or wave in front of a motion sensor to control the content on a media façade. There is still a long way to go for these interactions to become completely intuitive and, more importantly, meaningful. In our own research we distinguish between ubiquitous and performative interaction. Ubiquitous interaction might occur without passers-by realising at first that they are participating in an interactive experience. For example, you might walk through a space, which lights up as you are walking through. Performative interaction is much more explicit, and the public space almost becomes like a stage for an interactive performance. We have used this form of interaction for example for a community placemaking process involving a large urban screen: people can enter the stage and submit their responses by waving at the screen.

Smart Cities And Urban Innovation: Industry Workshop: The industry workshop will take place at the new MCIC, (Michael Crouch Innovation Centre) UNSW, and involve a hands-on workshop run by smart cities experts in the morning and presentations on new cutting edge smart cities research will follow in the afternoon. Image courtesy of Media Architecture Biennale 2016.

Berrin Chatzi Chousein: One of the key component of the discussions of the Media Architecture Biennale 2016 is ‘smart cities’. What do we need to create smart cities on a global scale, what are the basic principles of smart cities that need to be determined at first? Especially, in Sydney, what are the new technological developments that will be implemented? Is there any concrete agenda for this from the government, city leaders, architects or public?

Martin Tomitsch: There is still a lack of clarity about what the key components for a smart city are and we hope that the Media Architecture Biennale will be able to contribute to coming up with answers to this question. It’s certainly more than offering free public WiFi. In Australia, there are a number of interesting initiatives, and cities and councils around the country are currently in the progress of developing their own smart city strategic plans. For example, Melbourne is currently trialing bins that have sensors, which means that the city will know exactly when and where they need to send garbage trucks to, therefore reducing road congestion caused by cycling garbage trucks. Melbourne has also installed pedestrian counting systems at a number of intersections of its Central Business District, which collect data that can later be used in modelling pedestrian flow and informing future interventions at a street level. However, we also need research that helps us to understand better how all this data can be made available to help citizens make better informed decisions. As the Lord Mayor of Melbourne said at a recent Future Cities event, organised by Australia’s Outdoor Media Association, we need to remember that cities are built for people. That’s sometimes forgotten with all the excitement around new technologies. At the Biennale we will discuss these themes in the City Leaders Summit and the Smart Cities and Urban Innovation forum, as well as through keynotes and other talks and panels during the conference days.

Reimagining Public Media in Public Spaces: In this workshop you’ll be re-imagining media experiences in smart cities; sharing knowledge, uncovering opportunities, highlighting challenges and tackling issues associated with media in public spaces. Image courtesy of Media Architecture Biennale 2016.

Berrin Chatzi Chousein: How do you evaluate the future of media architecture in this sense? How will new digital materiality affect the 21^st Century architecture? Will we live in a more virtual environment that we can’t feel, touch, control or autonomous?

Martin Tomitsch: Most likely we will live the same lives that we live today. But there will be more technology integrated into the built environment around us that will support us in our day-to-day activities. But technology will certainly shape the forms and use of architecture in the future. Some of this future might be autonomous. For instance self-driving cars will have a huge impact on the physical infrastructure of cities as well as the way we will experience and use the built environment. As Alan Kay, a pioneering interface designer put it, the best way to invent the future is to create it. Architects and designers will play a major role in defining the future of cities, while ensuring that they will be equitable and sustainable.

Berrin Chatzi Chousein: I think MAB16 will publish a book about the Biennale. What will the book contain- a report about the event or discussions held at Biennale?

Martin Tomitsch: Indeed, we will be publishing a Media Architecture Compendium with av edition. The book will feature key media architecture projects from the Media Architecture Biennale 2014, which was held in Aarhus, and the upcoming Biennale held in Sydney, along with a number of text contributions that explore the various interpretations of digital placemaking and its role for shaping the future of cities.

Urban Prototyping and DIY Media Architecture: The session includes discussion on technological and social impact and potential of Media Architecture as well as live demos and rapid prototyping activities. Participants are expected to bring their own laptops. All other necessary materials will be provided. Image courtesy of Media Architecture Biennale 2016.

Berrin Chatzi Chousein: Finally, how does a successful ‘digital placemaking’ work? (engaging closely with civic communities, collaboration with city leaders or government or defining the rules and strategies to get more conscious action etc..)

Martin Tomitsch: All of the above. There are no strict rules, and we are only just beginning to define the key principles. We will need to continue to test the various approaches and their effectiveness in different contexts. The Media Architecture Biennale and the accompanying book publication will play a major role in this.

WAC is Media Partner of the Media Architecture Biennale 2016. 

Top image courtesy of The University of Sydney, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning.

> via Media Architecture Biennale