Urban Screens

URBAN SCREENS

"Human and City Connections"

"Every architectural form, every building or group of buildings, regardless of the practical purpose or expressive need that formed it- stability. comfort, economy, or symbolic meaning - is a visible form built from differences of light qualities, created by different hues, textures, opacities, and transparencies of its materials. Without our perception of these patterns of light, our distance sense, our appreciation of the qualities of our wider space would completely disappear and our space would shrink to the reach of our fingertips."

Gyorgy Kepes - Design and Light

From the use of daylighting through architectural design, to the development of the LED screen, light has been an essential part of our lives since the beginning of time. As technology has progressed, so too has our use for light, with screens becoming a fundamental part of society, as Will Straw explains “that public screens are part of a history of light, and in particular, of the illumination of cities”. Used to ignite our public spaces, Sean Cubitt also describes public screens as ‘‘part of the history of advertising, of the seductions of commodity.”

Through the use of large urban screens in public spaces, we have begun to disconnect ourselves from the cities we reside. We’ve look to find peace within the small screens in our pockets to avoid the pervasiveness of the advertisement.

This project represents not only a discovery of light, but also the solution-finding involved in recovering from this issue. With a wide range of research and precedence, multiple design proposals were developed. Then, with the ideation of key strategies and recommendations that can be presented to local councils and government bodies, policies can be redesigned for the benefit of the public.

Initial research began by understanding the medium that I was working with, being light. I delved into academic papers, looking to understand how light is utilised in a number of areas, from industrial design to architecture. This led to me understanding different technologies utilised for lighting, which included curtain wall systems for daylighting. Further research was done to observe the use of urban screens within different public environments.

Auto-ethnographic research was completed to understand light within the city. Described as a 'lightwalk', I purposefully wandered through the city looking at how light, specifically screens, were being utilised and how I interacted with them.