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Agents of Transformation and the "Death" of Urbanism Preeminence of the Decorated Shed Staging Uncertainty |
[2S1] THE FOURTH SKIN.
Current conceptualizations of the internet and digital cities are pure and metaphorical. Like the first, widely popular GUI distributed by Apple in the form of the Macintosh computer, which used virtual representations of physical tools and organizational systems we are all familiar with – desktops, file folders, paintbrushes, erasers, etc. – the world wide web is often portrayed as a virtual representation of a city, in which networks are roads, and bandwidth is prime real estate. The companies, institutions, and individuals that maintain homepages frequently use urban metaphors, such as the chat room or forum, the market or shopping mall, the newsstand or library, the CBD or financial center, and even the red light district. The appropriation of physical metaphors allows the electronic world to become more understandable and accessible. It is odd that in the spaceless world of digital communications, we feel the strong urge to apply spatial attributes. However, the physical world is obviously our first realm of experience, and will always remain so. Today, reality is seen in opposition to virtuality; the strong duality between the world of atoms and the world of bits simply strengthens the notion that cyberspace is a surrogate for space. In the future, however, this strong distinction will fade, as molecular and digital worlds coalesce and hybridize. As we see the internet assuming the shape of the city, we will also see the inverse occur. Currently, however, the personal computer is an incredibly limited threshold between the two worlds, endowed in most cases with one-way access (you see the world wide web but it does not see you). Educated as an architect, Nicholas Negroponte says, "I have found many valuable concepts of architecture feed directly into computer design, but so far very little in the reverse, aside from populating our environment with smarter devices, in or behind the scenes. Thinking of buildings as enormous electromechanical devices has so far yielded few inspired applications."91 He suggests that "buildings of the future will be like the backplanes of computers: ‘smart ready’ (a term coined by the AMP Corporation for their Smart House program). Smart ready is a combination of prewiring and ubiquitous connectors for (future) signal sharing among appliances."92 I would add that buildings of the future will also take on qualities of the frontplanes of computers, projecting virtual space into physical space with large video displays and holographic imaging technologies. In any case, the concept of the interface will expand and become more complex. What is now confined to the realm of the laptop will one day be manifest in the body, clothing, and architecture. A fourth skin will penetrate the first three.
In City of Bits, William Mitchell says that "Rooms and buildings will henceforth be seen as sites where bits meet the body – where digital information is translated into visual, auditory, tactile, or otherwise perceptible form, and, conversely, where bodily actions are sensed and converted into digital information."93 At first, buildings will simply be wired for power and communications, but eventually "keyboards and mouse pads will cease to be the only bit-collection zones; sensors will be everywhere. Displays and effectors will multiply. In the end, buildings will become computer interfaces and computer interfaces will become buildings."94 Mitchell goes on to suggest the future role of architects: Architects of the twenty-first century will still shape, arrange, and connect spaces (both real and virtual) to satisfy human needs. They will still care about the qualities of visual and ambient environments. They will still seek commodity, firmness, and delight. But commodity will be as much a matter of software functions and interface design as it is of floor plans and construction materials. Firmness will entail not only the physical integrity of structural systems, but also the logical integrity of computer systems. And delight? Delight will have unimagined new dimensions.95 91Negroponte, Nicholas, Being Digital (New York: Vintage Books, 1995) p. 211 92Ibid. p. 211-212 93Mitchell, William J., City of Bits (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1995) p. 105 94Ibid., p. 105 95Ibid., p. 105 Images: 1. Immersion, 2. John Warwicker, Tomato |
A Master's Thesis in Architecture at Rice University by Blaine Brownell. Copyright © 1998 by Blaine Brownell. All rights reserved. |
