Medialab Prado

"In my presentation I address some of the design challenges concerning the design of engaging urban interaction. When designing urban interaction we face a number of challenges concerning physical integration, complexity of content, kinds of social interaction, value and intentions, emerging and unintended use, multiple stakeholders, etc.

The presentation draws on some of the media facades from our research centre Digital Urban Living:

· Aarhus by Light:  A media facades part of the Concert Hall Aarhus, which invites guests and passers-by to encounter and partake in a new dimension of the renowned cultural institution. Luminous creatures live in the facade. As you approach, you enter their world which is it self part of the city. The creatures are social beings like ourselves, and they enjoy our company - most of the time...

· Climate on the Wall: During the climate conference Beyond Kyoto, citizens of Aarhus could engage themselves in the struggle for large-scale climate improvements by using Climate on the Wall, an interactive generator of climate statements that uses Ridehuset, a prominent building in the city centre, as a backdrop.

· Dynamically Transparent Windows: The facade of a major department store on a busy high street has been fitted with so-called electro-chromatic foil that can change from opaque to transparent when an electric current runs through it. By using strips or rectangles of the foil, narrow bands on the façade interactively change and reveal what is on display in the store in order to draw the by-passers." - Kim Halskov