Growing Archives – Design through digital surface manipulation
In the project Growing Archives I speculate about the role of a surface as an information medium. The gallery Niche is a window located in the entrance of a metro station. Motion sensors and cameras installed in the window collect information about the movement of people in the entrance hall. This information is reproduced via 3d programs and CNC machines as a three-dimensional deformation of the surface, located in the window. By scanning the deformed surface we can obtain back the information about the movement of people. The types of deformations, applied to the surface, correspond to the position of the paths of people, while the intensity of the deformation corresponds with the number of people passed. The deformations are based on the repeating process of division of the surface, which together with a shift of a division axis, gives the required result. While the outcome seems to be less readable than a conventional timetable, its aesthetic qualities help to re-think the role of the surface or facade in the contemporary architecture.
