Alex Haw - LightHive, Interactive Environment 2007

2007 'Luminous Architectural Surveillance'
An interactive, responsive LED installation by Alex Haw (Atmos) at the Architectural Association in April/May 2007 - a form of 3d-cctv, or luminous architectural surveillance - that allowed immediate verification of presence throughout the building.

LightHive is set to transform the Georgian splendour of the AA's Front Members' Room into a dynamic and immersive constellation, a gigantic lighthouse broadcasting the activity of the School through its enormous piano nobile windows to the world beyond.


The geometry of the AA's entire collection of real estate is compressed as a 1:5 model to fit into the exhibition space, the building represented purely by the light sources that enable it to function. The precise position,
intensity, function and colour temperature of each and every fixture is co-located within this single room, the geometries of their original surroundings generating 2,100 unique shapes that are custom designed,
scripted and then lasercut especially for the show by Zumtobel. Each of the 160 cellular zones that compose the building is laced with a range of sensors, from door contacts to seat sensors, infar-red detectors to IP
cameras, which are then wired back across the network to the luminous sky of the exhibition space. Activity triggers a signal to a central processing unit, activating one or more of the 1000 bespoke LED, spilling light into
the room. The space thus operates like a three-dimensional x-ray of the building's activity, a kind of constantly updating surround-light CCTV, a spatial model of the entire School's performance fluctuating over the
course of hours, days and weeks. The lights transgress the boundaries of the windows, shifting the exhibition's location from inside to out, democratising the normal privacy of a gallery. A customised website not
only allows online users to browse a historical log of the school's activity and observe the present situation via webcams, but also the chance, once an hour, to trace a virtual journey through an online three-dimensional
model of the School, which then plays in real-time across the analogue array of lights.

LightHive has been conceived and designed by Alex Haw, Unit Master of Diploma Unit 13 at The Architectural Association. He also runs Atmos, an experimental collaborative practice combining installations, videos, built
private work and speculative public projects.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• space
• architecture
• LED
• time
• flow
• interactive
• climate
• energyrm
• environment
• sustainability
• ephemeral

[coolcatheid]

Nice Video