The Hyperconnected City

 

Nowadays, with the integration of computer technology, human become more integrated with their life and lifestyle with computers. At the same time, the technology become more and more invasive and intimate with our bodies. Some people now define human as ‘cyborgs’ as our unbreakable lifestyle with our mobile phones, our electronic ‘organ’ for information and communication. For more literal meaning, prosthetic that involves machines and computer software are getting more advanced and in the progress to surpass our biological ones with more function and strength.

Under this situation, the concept of human would be re-defined. For thousand years, we think about our body part function pretty much the same. For example, eyes to see, ears to hear, legs to walk. However, with prosthetics showing potential of extra capabilities, will this new robotic ‘body’ will have much more function than we perceived?

Will architecture change with this condition? As we always say architecture as an extension of the body, with this technology emerging, the meaning does become literal. But will it spawn new opportunities and typologies, under the change of how human percepting the environment due to the bodily ‘evolution’? With the addition of our electronic organ, as a gateway to step into the digital world that becoming more physical,  maybe a kind of architecture that is more immersive and covering, rather than just a building itself? In some ways, architecture would not necessary be totally physical structure.

Referring to the book Me++ by William J. Mitchell, it talks about city, or human become hyper connected. Based on the advances on current technology, it has stated that people will be more connected by devices like phones and computer. Data will be feed into people in real time, and this will change our relationship to the surroundings.

Events in physical space would reflect events in cyberspace, or vice versa, which means the relationship between the physical and digital realm would become more dynamic. The most current example is to control aircraft such as drones from distance away. Architecturally, examples exist in which space changes dynamically from digital and physical response.

The most analogue example is responsive architecture, which involves façade that changes it form according to the temperature or other climate situation. The physical realm, which is the weather, detected by computer software with sensor (digital), and the response is performed to change the physical form to maintain environmental control. Although this example could not be put into a wider context that involves the network, and also the input is from the environment, not human.

A more recent example is the light installation by Studio Nick Verstand, which generates pattern based on emotions detected from people, visitors to the Aura installation were equipped with multiple biosensors that register brainwaves, heart-rate variability, and galvanic skin response.

The visitors’ emotional “data” was then analysed and metamorphosed into different forms, colours and intensities of light that were beamed from above. Surrounding the visitors like a curtain, the light made each person’s emotional responses visible to others.

Although it is simple in form, this example has shown the mechanism in how human emotion can play its place in architecture through digital processing. The digital part which requires physical world input like brain waves will require equipment, which can be counted as a cyborg body part. The emotion will turn into data then affect the outcome of the light, therefore a feedback to physical world can be formed. With the VR and AR technology, which the digital cyberspace becoming more actual space like and would overlap with the real world, the digital part could become more responsive than the physical counterpart, thus archiving the dynamics. In a wider context, how will the digital world would become if it is networked with human emotions, accumulating into a gigantic digital realm.

Another fact that Me++ explore is the effects of wireless linkage and global interconnection on one’s body, architecture and the use of space and time. The inescapable network interconnectivity make the world govern less and less by boundaries but more on connections, thus there is need to reimagine and reconstruct the environment, and also the ethical foundations of design, engineering and planning practice.

Another example regarding the hyperconnectivity is the project ‘Cyborgian Interface’ by Marcos Cruz. In the project, there are walls that are inhabitable by people with connection points attached in it.

 

 

Based on Mitchell’s argument, the project is built on the vision of different meaning of a human inhabitation, rather than resting one’s body in a defined physical architecture space, it is more about connect one’s nervous system to electronic ‘organs’, and one will become part of the room, and the room will become part of the person. It is a place of hyperconnectivity, in which the surrounding wall will be used as a communicating device. Traditional architecture spaces are turned into inhabitable walls.

 

 

With our increasing reliance on technology, it becomes an essential part of life, and will eventually become our body parts. The essence of the cyborg, therefore not only in the empowerment of human by physical strength and endurance, but also in the spirit of connecting the physical and the digital realm, making the two worlds to become one. The biological part, will interact with the physical environment, while our digital or robotic organ, will percept the digital space and allow us the power to interact with it.

 

To design with Time

With the expansion of the digital realm to become more invasive into the physical world, it opens up the opportunities for thinking about designing with time with the plasticity of the virtual material, combining with data input. Since data is the engine that drive the digital realm, with the physical environment become more data driven and more data is available, the more dynamics between the two can be happened. To become cyborg, in some ways it means human life is becoming more data oriented, and human life will become data itself. Since this action is in real time and is highly dynamic, it opens up a lot of opportunities for thinking about architecture that can change with time, under the interplay between the virtual and physical materials.

Hyper-reality is one example of changing the perception of space based on real time data feed. Although mostly imaginary at this stage, technology about it is emerging. Examples are like Microsoft hololens, which was covered earlier. A possible vision of hyper reality example is shown in the following video:

The key is that the digital data is becoming more linked to the physical realm. The data itself, become more physical in the form of holographic output. However, if thinking from the point of architecture, if the text and the pattern from the video are replaced with 3d objects that manifest the physical space, how hyper reality will give an additional meaning of architecture?

I can imagine a situation where crowd control is needed. By responding to the number of people in a certain space, hyper reality can change the pattern of the circulation, either by digital means or physical. For digital, simply generates patterns and project to people, while for physical, to control barriers that response to people density.

To inform the project, will the creation of 3d architectural objects of one’s data, such as interest, emotions (Nick Verstand), wishes, will bring us closer and creates a world that is more dynamic and interesting? Human itself, will become a part to contribute to the architecture as well, rather than just merely users, and will shape the space in a larger contribution. Also, Will it allow an openness of architecture that is more immersive rather than institutional?

Refering back to through levithians eye, ‘I can see the buildings, not the city’ by not wearing the lens, what is mean by city there, is a place where people interact better as well.

 

Social Impact of Hyperconnectivity

As the world become less and less separated with physical barrier and distances, but more on the connection of nervous system through our electronic organ, hyperconnectivity has become the new worlds realm and it allows us much greater freedom to communicate with each other. Under these, new type of society is formed. In the video, it has stated that communication be easier through hyperconnectivity as it eliminates the limitation of physical distance and barrier. An interesting statement from the video is about people did not get more friends by hyperconnectivity, based on the comparison with the past. The reason is due to time, as people still have to work and have similar lifestyle, time spent on the other people remains much the same. Other factors also include emotion energy and attention span people have in a day.

Another changes that hyperconnectivity brings is the change of business mode. Customer services have become more important as hyperconnectivity allows easy search of the details of a company. It is very easy to find reviews about a company thus the record is better to keep clean. A lot of people will be very sensitive on negative customer reviews and therefore this becomes very important for business companies to maintain positive images.

However, I do not think that only limited to business companies. This concept of marketing and public relations has extended into personal life. A lot of people create an avatar image of themselves by putting photos into Facebook. In many ways, this has created a different image from their real life. The situation is always end up people put only positive contents into social media to create the image that the person desires, while in real life  is not as ideal.

Another thing is that hyperconnectivity allows people to comment without the regard of people’s feeling. If refer to youtube, it is not hard to spot furious arguments among people with unpleasant languages. It could be also the same time, as a place to release pressure or stress by defecting negative feeling to someone that users might not know. The internet is therefore, also a place for people to express themselves without any regard of other people’s feeling.

The last thing covered in the video is about the developing countries, which hyperconnectivity has enormous impact on it. As historically developing countries have less sophisticated communication infrastructure, the availability of mobile phones that allows them to talk anywhere anytime can have profound impact. Following earlier entries, with the emerging drone technology in mobile communication, it can potentially become a solution for developing country to develop communication infrastructure as drones can have more flexibility in places that they serve.

Real Life Cyborg/Bionic Human

Real life people with mechanical augmentation do exist. Although many of them are amputees who lose their body parts with accidents happened or suffering from born body condition, this has provide some valuable examples of how human capabilities can be restored or extended through technology.

 

Kevin Warwick

The deputy vice-chancellor at Coventry University, back in the 1998 he installed a silicon chip under his skin, which granted him the ability to open doors and switch on lights automatically as he moved through the department.

He also made a ‘Braingate’ implant that involved hundreds of electrodes tapping into his nervous system and transferring signals across the internet, enabled him to control a robotic hand from a far distance. It also allowed him to connect directly and “communicate” with his wife, who had a Braingate as well.

The Braingate system is now being explored in America to help some patients suffering paralysis, but Warwick’s DIY work has not been widely taken up by mainstream medicine, academia or tech companies. The speed of the communication is also very slow, as it can take up to six weeks for the receiver to get the signal.

Although Warwick’s work is not largely recognized, his concept however, fits more appropriately to the realm of hyperconnectivity. The ‘direct’ communication, and the control of electronic devices, serves as the mediator of environmental change. Therefore, the relationship between the bionic enhancement and architecture lies on the change of our abilities to interact with the environment with our extended capabilities.

 

Neil Harbisson

He is one of the most famous real life cyborg, being born with a rare condition that he could not perceive any colour and can only see the world in black and white. Under the curiosity to perceive colour, he had an antenna implanted in his skull in 2004. The antenna translates the colour spectrum into different vibrations, and this allows Harbisson to perceive colour as sound waves.

This ability extend the ability of Harbisson to perceive colour. He claimed that he can now also perceive infrared and ultraviolet, waves that normal human cannot see. At the beginning of using the implant, he said the signal was very chaotic as large amount of data is filled to him. But as he is getting more used to the signals, it becomes information that he could understand and become a perception. If what he claims to be true, that means human brain could have the plasticsity to cope with different kinds of information which originally human cannot perceive, that is in potential, the visualization of the digital world. In this sense, architecture could have a place in extending the perception of normal human, or an environment that can cope with these extended perception, as architecture always need users perception, how can it be if our perception is expanded?

 

Rob Spence

Rob Spence is a documentary film maker who lost his eye in childhood, now has a prosthetic eye with a wireless video camera embedded in it. Although technically he is not a true cyborg as the eye does not connected to any of his nerves, but it does provide the world’s first literal point of view including glancing around and blinking, also record and transmitting video.

A lot of concern about his eye whether it is invading one’s privacy, in which it is disguised as a body part and can record something with ease. However, I do not think this is a very significant concern and in some ways, this is already happening in current world with smartphones. If someone has the urge to record someone’s life without the acknowledgement of the person who is being recorded, it will not be hard to disguise or camouflage their phone somewhere, and even worse, a phone can be placed somewhere not in the body, which in case, is an even worse problem. It is up to the user ethics is the technology can bring into good use. For example in Hong Kong, it is very common for people to record meaningless conflicts using their smartphones and upload the videos into youtube, just for getting likes and attention.

Rob Spencer’s goal is to connect the camera to the brain. There are a few companies trying that. Some have tried to put a chip on the retina, which gives you a very light and bright representation of reality. Other work is being done to create an artificial retina which can decode the information the eye sends to the brain.

 

Nigel Ackland

In 2006 Ackland suffered a life-changing accident at work when his right forearm was crushed in an industrial blender. That was followed by six months of pain, surgery and infections before he made the decision to have an elective trans-radial amputation.

After a series of unhappy experiences with old-fashioned prostheses Ackland became the first person to trial the myoelectric prosthetic hand Bebionic3. Ackland plans to speak about how life is with prosthesis, and how advances in design and technology are psychologically beneficial to the wearer. Ackland also challenge the perceptions of people who wear prostheses. He wants to get better designed, wearer-friendly prostheses out there and available to everyone who needs them.

In the past Ackland has spoken of how he struggled to cope after his accident, and he speaks eloquently and passionately about the huge psychological benefits of being able to wear an advanced prosthesis like the bebionic3. He explains in the past technology only available has only allowed function over form, and now it is in a situation where form and function can work together, and that becomes a positive thing for him.

This has shown with something different yet advanced, or just simply looks aesthetically pleasing, can improve someone’s life and confidence.

 

Hugh Herr

In January 1982, Herr and a fellow climber were caught in a blizzard and became disoriented, ultimately descending into the Great Gulf where they passed three nights in −29 °C degree. By the time he was rescued, he had suffered severe frostbite and need his legs to be amputated.

Following months of surgeries and rehabilitation, Herr was doing what doctors told him that he would not be able to do again, climbing. Using specialized prostheses that he designed, he created prosthetic feet with high toe stiffness that made it possible to stand on small rock edges the width of a coin, and titanium-spiked feet that assisted him in ascending steep ice walls. He used these prostheses to alter his height to avoid awkward body positions and to grab hand and foot holds previously out of reach. His height could range from five to eight feet. As a result of using the prostheses, Herr climbed at a more advanced level than he had before the accident. This is the example of showing how the augmentation of body parts can surpass the biological ones.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/09/disability-amputees-bionics-hugh-herr-super-prostheses

In this project, I remain neutral about the statement whether people should get augmented or not. Rather, it is a discovery what happen to our environment under this bodily change of condition. Also, it is an analog and metaphor of the intimacy with technology, and our relationship with surrounding under that.

Pop culture cyborg

Despite the ultra futuristic and fantasy like cyborgs like Darth Vader, there are literature that depict the cyborg in a more near future and critical manner. The following article gives a glimpse between the pop culture of cyborg and the reality.

https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/cctp-725-fall2014/2014/04/15/878/

 

Ghost in the Shell

Set in a futuristic Japan, the story is about a cyborg police that goes after various criminals specialized on cyber crime such as mind hacking.

Few features in the manga provoke thoughts about hyperconnectivity and cyborgic modification.

Cyberbrain

A technology that allows people to interface their biological brain with various networks, acts as a self-contained module containing, protecting, and interfacing an artificially augmented brain. By being physically self-contained, the cyberbrain allows the artificially augmented brain inside to function or be physically stored inside a body, to be physically transferred between bodies, or to be temporarily stored or transported outside any body. Cyberbrain implants, in conjunction with micromachines, allow the brain to initiate and maintain a connection to computer networks or other individuals who also possess a cyberbrain. This high level of modification, however, opens the brain up to attacks from highly skilled hackers, with the most dangerous being those who will hack a person to bend to their whims. Throughout the series, hackers are able to alter memories or “steal eyes”, altering the victim’s sensory input. Memories can be manipulated where victim’s entire memory can be replaced with false memories.

The main theme of Ghost in the Shell is about the digitalization of our body and minds. In that world, minds have become data and have become hackable, portable and alterable. The concept of human is challenged. Rather than the biological entity that we perceived, human in the story are more indistinguishable from technology, as I would have question do human become a part of technology, or technology become part of human. This ease of hacking and brain portability also depicts the dissolved boundaries under the advancement of technology. Our body, no longer to be needed physically to go somewhere, or our mind, does not need to stay in the same body forever. Human in this sense, would they become less human? What is the meaning of human value in this context of even memories could be manufactured?

 

Deus Ex

Four games were made and I will focus on the two more recent one as they are more appropriate.

The first part, Human Revolution, set in 2027, where corporations have extended their influence past the reach of global governments and the development of bio-mechanical augmentation by a few elite and powerful companies threatens to destabilize society. The game follows a security chief for a bio-tech company. After a devastating attack on the company headquarters which leaves him near-death. The protagonist is forced to undergo radical augmentation surgery, and he seek to search for the attackers and the political and ethical repercussions of augmentation technology. The second part, the Mankind Divided is set in 2029, 2 years after the events of Human Revolution in a world dealing with the consequences of the previous game’s events. The augmented individuals are now persecuted and feared. The protagonist now works with an international taskforce designed to stop the rising wave of terrorism brought on by the desperate augmented.

Deus Ex is a lot about the division of human race through the mechanical enhancement. It is especially evident in Mankind Divided, where the player playing through the protangonist eyes, and see the city is designed to split the two parties. Details of a ghetto like architecture exist, and modification of existing architecture, such as train stations, has the circulation modified to split two types of people.

However despite the dystopic scenes designed from the games, the developer, Eidos Montréal, Strangely, has extended the vision of cybernetic enhancement into the real world. Collaborate with Open Bionics, they have been developing prosthetics that resemble the game’s counterpart. Moreover, a serious conference was held in 2016 to discuss the ethics of human augmentation. I am not sure and I am not going to discuss whether it is a marketing strategy, but the leap from the digital fantasies, sci-fi to real life has gain attention. At the same time subjectively as myself, it challenges my perception of reality, something from game into the real life. However, I think under the digital overlay real physical world context, such disorientation may potential become a norm and will become a new style of disease, a disease based on the increasing difficulty to distinguish the physical and the digital.

 

 

 

This essence of the project, I think, is the value of humanity under the technological change. We might, get replaced by robotic parts physically, but to maintain the conscious as human, I think architecture can play a part in it, as a mediator between our biological self and the technological change. Same apply to the programme of a hospital, where human value should have big part in it, as it is a place where life and death take place.

Drawings: Section

This is an update for some of the older works I made around October and November. A lot of emphasis at that time were focusing on creating a space station or any space related structure, which is now a dropped idea. However, I still think there are some elements that can be informed into the design.

The original collage I created.

The section that I traced and re-imagined.

The section with Lebbeus Wood’s drawings (re-traced) overlaid on it.

Technology: Cellular Network

Mobile phones, personal communication systems and wireless networking nowadays are operated under the technology of cellular network. The cellular network is operated by using low power, short range transmitters from base stations, each covering a limited area by radio waves.

This area is called a cell, and frequency will be reused by not setting the same frequency next to each other. With the low power of the waves, it would not cause interference. The frequency has to be under strict control to ensure that same frequency would not be place next and to interfere each other. Large geographic area can be covered by this technology with only few sets of frequencies. A cellular network thus a very effective way of utilizing scarce resources of frequency.

A conventional cellular network can be envisioned as a mesh of hexagonal cells, with the base station located at the centre. The base station then projects and covers the area in the shape of hexagon, with the edges slightly overlap the other hexagonal coverage to prevent signal lost.

 

Figure 1. Hexagonal Cellular Network

 

The base station consists of number of elements. It has the base part, which is located at a container at the base of the antenna tower, which has electronics for communicating with the mobile handsets and includes radio frequency amplifiers, radio transceivers, radio frequency combiners, control and power supplies with back up.

The second part of the base station is the antenna and the feeder to connect the antenna to the base transceiver station itself. The antenna are usually places on tall buildings to enable them to cover the required area. There is also interface between the base station and the controller which consist of control logic and software.

Base stations are usually set on top of the buildings in city area, while in country side separate masts are used. The location, height and orientation are critical to an effective coverage, is the antenna is placed too low or in a poor location, the coverage will be insufficient and a coverage hole will be created. If the antenna is placed too high, the signal will extend beyond the boundaries of the cell and will result in interference with another cell using the same frequencies.

Calls are transferred between base stations when moving from one zone to another by central switching centers which track calls and transfer them from one base station to another. As the base station could able to track the signal is getting weaker, while is getting stronger on the other side, the switching center will help in coordinating the transfer and the process is seamless and unnoticeable.

The switching centre is the control centre for the cellular system, coordinating the action of the base stations. It acts as the switch and connection into the public telephone network. It route calls and control them, contains the databases detailing the last known locations of the mobiles. It also contains many backup and duplicate circuits as well as back up power systems, which any failure will result in the collapse of the whole network.

Signals from phone to phone is not transferred directly but has to be through the base station. For example, when phone A is talking to phone B, the signal from phone A will first send to the base station, then the base station relays and transfer the signal to phone B. Transmitting and receiving are done over two slightly different frequencies.

Cellular networks give subscribers advanced features including increased capacity, small battery power usage, a larger geographical coverage area and reduced interference from other signals. Popular cellular technologies include the Global System for Mobile Communication, general packet radio service, 3GSM and code division multiple access.

 

Use of Drones in Cellular Network

Latest development in the cellular technology involves the use of drones as a mobile base station. One example is from AT&T, where it used LTE-equipped drone to provide internet for people in Puerto Rico who lost wireless service after a Hurricane.

Although set as a temporary measure for covering 48% cell sites that was out of service more than a month after the hurricane, the drone has provided wireless connectivity in an area up to 40 square miles. It also provided data, voice and text service to customers. AT&T claimed it is the first time of a successfully deployed drone to connect resident after a disaster.

The drone can hover 200 feet above ground, and can extend coverage further than other temporary cell sites, making it ideal for providing service in remote areas. I think it also has less environmental impact as it involves less built structure, making it a more sustainable solution. AT&T also uses drones to inspect cell towers, and will have more testing on the potential of drones.

Another company Qualcomm, has been testing and studying the use of drones, and has shown promising results.

https://www.qualcomm.com/news/onq/2017/05/03/qualcomm-technologies-releases-lte-drone-trial-results

Other companies also start utilizing drones for network service, such as Project Aquila by Facebook and SKYBENDER by Google.

Using drone to provide network also has some other advantages:

• The ease to operate in dangerous/disastrous environments
• Drones are highly flexible and can be relocated easily and rapidly based on demand
• Drones can improve coverage due to improved higher line-of-sight connections with the ground users
• Drones have adjustable height to meet Quality-of Service requirements based on user intensities, desired data rate, interference/blockage effects.

However, the use of drones still has several factors to overcome. These include optimizing energy consumption of drones, interference management, energy-aware and interference-aware deployment of multi-tier drones

Article about drone cellular networks: Multi-tier Drone Architecture

The use of cellular network and drones, form the basis of the augmented/mixed reality part of the project.

The Coverage of AR network with the location of drones (Work in progress)

Hospital Visit

A hospital visit was done in order to understand how this complex organization works. Along with speaking to few medical personnel, I have learnt that one of the main key concerns of designing a hospital is the relationship between patients, their family versus medical staff.

Accessibility

A hospital is a highly complex and chaos environment, unforeseen events is a norm in these spaces. It can vary from unexpected death due to medical condition or complicating condition of patient such as psychological stress and trauma, which can lead to suicide. Under these conditions, both sides (patient and medical staff) are under tremendous stress and if unforeseen events break out; this can lead to confrontation that might not be beneficial to both sides. In order to minimize such encounter, one of the main design concerns is a clear definition and division between the space used by medical staff and the space used by the patients and people related to them. The definition has to be very strict to ensure when confrontation is imminent, both sides would not be able to encounter each other. Take an example if one patient is passed, the family of the patient would be in the state of trauma and sadness. This is of course understandable due to the death of their loved ones, but the psychological state could potentially lead into undesirable events such as fights. On the other hand, medical staff would face tremendous stress during the procedure due to the responsibility of taking someone’s life in their hands, the problem would also worsen if they cannot save one’s life which will lead into guilt. Under the condition of both sides are under negative influence, it will be wise to not letting them to encounter each other. The space used by the different personnel, therefore has to be clearly defined, especially in the subject of circulation, to ensure both parties could enter and leave the space in a safe manner. One of the observations is that even the entry point and exit for staff has to be dedicated. They need staff ID to grant entry into these spaces. Furthermore, this rule not only restricted to the circulation space but also the infrastructures within the building like lifts, which some of them are dedicated to staff.

Monitoring

But does that mean the staff and visitor should always use separated space as possible? This is not really the case, and this is the contradiction that exists in the hospital. Medical staffs are there to provide medical services, and in many cases it is about efficiency and speed as conditions on patients can be urgent. A space that allows efficient delivery of service can be vital to the success of the treatment. In traditional setting of a hospital ward, it is designed in a linear plan formation and this creates difference in travel distance to the wards, thus variation in waiting time for delivery of services. Newer hospital has circular plans formation with a station placed at the centre, therefore staff will travel in equal distances to the wards. Another concern related to spatial strategy is the monitoring of patients. As stated above, a hospital is a place with many unexpected events, therefore monitoring the condition of patients is a very important factor to avoid tragedy happens. A circular plan will allow better monitoring of patients as distance to reach wards will be shorter, and therefore easier to follow up when cases happen. These considerations is extended into details of furniture around the hospital environment as well, for example balustrade will be in taller height to avoid climbing, objects hanging at ceiling is also designed to carry less weight to prevent patients to hang themselves.  Surveillance cameras are placed across the campus.

 

Categorizing

Another concern in hospital design is the categorizing of the patient and having a clear management of sorting the patient will allow appropriate delivery of services. The most apparent example is the A&E department, which triaging is one of the most important procedure. In there patients would have their condition examined to decide the treatment priority. Apart from injuries, in A&E sick patients need to be categorized as well and this is divided into two, either they are in fever or not. This is to make sure that if there are people who get flu or other contagious disease will not spread it across or to minimize the spread. Same logic would apply to wards, if there is an outbreak of highly infectious disease the patients who catch them will be isolated to ensure safety of other patients.

Other Factor to Consider

The logic of designing hospital is also according to the condition to patient. In the hospital that I visit, which has been rebuilt into modern standard, consist of two main blocks. One block is called the acute block, which is patient having serious medical condition will be located. The other block is the Rehab block, which patient will be transferred to if they are in the progress of recovering. Other facility includes the rehab garden, which is a designed landscape for people to relax and serve like a park within the hospital campus. This park is a new addition to the hospital and this explains the importance to having pleasant environment to help in patient recovery, or to reduce stress.

The concept of public and private was also found during the visit. For the rehab block, if analyzed in section, the block is divided into three parts. The bottom part, which is more for the public, carries facilities such as small shops, cashier, admission and clinics. In the middle part, departments like physiotherapy and related services serve as buffer to the upper part which is where the wards are located. Similar logic is applied to the acute block with the wards on the upper part.

Other specialized space such as operating theatre is out of bounds therefore no information about it at the moment. But according to conversation with the medic, series of ‘rituals’ has to be performed to make sure the environment and surgeons are sterile, with airflow strategies as well, such as air will only be pumped to exhaust so no backflow with contaminated air would enter.

Regardless of the hospital visit, I read an article about service quality in comparison to the size of the hospital. The article stated that service quality is mainly in reverse proportion to the size and the number of department. This means that the smaller or simpler the hospital is, the better the service it can provide as it will involve less complicated steps for the service delivery. Management strategy will also be critical in this sense as the easier and simpler the management procedure, less time and resources will be spent on the service delivery. Although in the article, it did not state the comparison of staff percentage to patients in different types of hospital, which I think plays an important part in delivery services as well.

A hospital environment is a highly categorized environment, everything in the institute needed to be handled with extreme care, and well defined classification. The environment is highly ordered, specialized and is designed based on efficiency and time concern. Interestingly, with the conversation, I also learnt that a hospital is an extremely chaotic place. Taking the example again from the A&E, every kind of situation can be encountered. This includes life and death, uncontrolled bleeding, spaces for family for the passed ones within the chaos, together with the unforeseen events that will be encountered in the wards. All these events add up to the stress in the environment and to all people within. But in contrary to that, the hospital is also a place where serenity is needed. The rehab gardens, the chapels (if set up by religious organization), all the environment for helping in recovery is also a part of the hospital, and is a part of the journey for patient’s recovery.

To summarize, a hospital is very similar to a city in smaller scale, which a lot of unpredictable events can happen. It is a place where life and death matters, similar to a battlefield. The relationship between patients and medics is highly dynamic and is in constant changes, which is cooperative and confronting at the same time. I think it is one of the most interesting parts in informing the architecture, even with the involvement of robotics in the medical care. How architecture would become based on this relationship? Should spaces become more confronting, or more comforting? Furthermore, could architecture spawn a new relationship between patient and medics with the influences of technological and cultural changes?

Refer back to the idea of using augmented reality, I think there are potential of using AR in this environment. Due to the extreme stress people faced and the concern of physical objects that could potential become spots for suicide, using AR can solve, at least partially the problem by providing a more variable environment for people. Hospital under AR would also potentially become a nicer and richer space, as the material is virtual there will be less limitation on it.

Another thing to consider is the size of the hospital. With implementing AR, VR and real time monitoring, which could potential save space and procedure of service thus increases efficiency. Will spaces like day clinics be needed if people’s health is monitored in real time at home, and with AI to provide suggestions of treatment? In future, medical service could potentially serve by drones, which will fly to someone’s home to deliver service. A current day example is the Babylon Health, which give health advice to people 24/7. The physical building of the hospital in future may only consist of specialized spaces where patients are needed physically or when they need to be monitored closely. It would also be smaller in size and more ‘dissolved’ into the city or community, which is made of a series of small buildings spread across a grid, together with a virtual material infrastructure.

Moreover, with the introduction of cybernetics and virtual materials, what would be the function of the hospital become? As stated before, is it just a place to get treatment or die, or there will be something more? What can happen in between the journey to get treatment, and what can happen after? Will it become a half factory like programme as well?

To conclude, The hospital is a play between the visible and the invisible, order and chaos, public and private, privacy and surveillance. It is a place where the confronting sides coexist together.

Article to follow:  SSS10_Proceedings_031

Precedent: Potteries Thinkbelt

The Potteries Thinkbelt is an imaginary project by Cedric Price that was never built. The project is about designing a university but id contrary to contemporary perception of how a university could be. The main feature of this project is to dismantle the institution, an education system that is built along transport route, which is the railway, to dissolve the institution into the community.

Located in Staffordshire, which at the time known to be a post industrial area, an industrial wasteland of ruined factories and rusting machinery, largely uncared and unchanged, only with rail lines remains functional.

Making use of the railways and roads, , Cedric Price reimagine the infrastructure into a moving classroom, with trains that has become classroom or teaching facilities that move around the cities.  Structures in the project are temporary and modular, such as the housing unit, which can be constructed in different configurations based on the needs.

The main point of the project is the function and typology of the architecture it challenges. In usual contemporary understanding, the university is the institute that build a campus in certain part of the city, serves similar to a castle that separate the student, staffs and equipment. It symbolizes the social class discrimination, in which education is run and serves the few and elite. By thinking about the education as a tool for the community, which is for everyone or majority of people, the Thinkbelt liberates the seclusion of the education and making education an open system, which involve the community as well to participate and test on. It also questions the purpose of education, is it a tool for making the society a better place, or tools to divide the society or both.

By putting the transport as a vital organ into the education system would increase the mobility of information flow. It encourages exchange of knowledge as travel would be easier. Reflecting back into the current world context, with the internet has become the standard of communication technology, although Price’s idea of using transport seems outdated and redundant, but it is the essence that would inspire future project. If apply with today’s technology, the system would be highly involved with real time information gathering and communication, which is the flow of information and data. With the increase of exchange of information and processing, a faster synthesis of information would become as a result, therefore faster the knowledge generated and evolved.

The scale of the project is also different from traditional university. Rather than a campus that contains a set of buildings, it has extended into infrastructure level, in which the institution would become an infrastructure. This also puts the institution into a city scale, and infiltrates the daily life of people.

As a precedent to my project, the Potteries Thinkbelt has profound stimulation of how I think about an institution. As my project is moving towards into a hospital like hybrid programme, this makes me think about how a hospital should be. In traditional thinking, a hospital is a place where people will visit when they get sick, or visiting someone who get sick. People stayed in hospital either recovered, get treatment, get discharged, or on the other hand, die.

Under the idea of using augmented reality implant/lens, together with the idea of the Potteries Thinkbelt, I started to question is the programme and function of the hospital has to remain the same, or it can be extended to suit the generation needs. What will happen if the concept of healthcare will be merge deeply into the community? As in normal times when we do not get sick, or any body condition change, we barely think about our health condition. What can augmented reality be used in our daily life regarding our health situation? Can we imagine a kind of ‘Health City’?

With the cyborg/implanted human interest that I was exploring since the beginning of the project, which means that people will be fused with technology, and technology will become part of the body. Health under this technological fuse will be monitored and will become data, with the information will be monitored in real time. Despite the issue of surveillance and privacy, this real time monitoring of health means the hospital will be extended to individual, rather than people going into hospital or clinic for regular checks. There will be information regarding their health such as nutrition taken or the amount the exercise will be monitored and displayed to them, which at the same time advice will be given. This means that the concept of health and body condition will be integrated to their daily life, rather than information that just for individual concern when they have checks in clinic. Real life reference will be the pacemaker, which not only control the heart rate of patient, but also feed data to doctors to monitor patient’s health. Will such principle be applied to a wider use?

Another use of data, which could sound a little bit dystopic, will be the use on research. The data gathered in the project, will not be from individual, but will be from a population. These data gathered, can be used for research such as artificial organs and gene therapy. For artificial organs for example, with the data gathered, might generate a pattern of how people have their diet, and therefore would inform which organ need to be strengthened or redesigned, based on where the population located, which could affect living habit and diet. The hospital would therefore not only a place for people to get healed, but also a data centre for technology driven evolution, as well as an evolution institute. For gene therapy, gathering data can monitor which will be the weakness of most people and search for the target gene sequence that cause it, and therefore help the development of therapy or modification.

Or from the other point of view, if we let this dystopic vision of future continues, can the information gathered not only will be used for gene therapy, but also in genetic modification, in which food will be modified to suit people’s need? Or in a more moral based approach, how will this health concept penetrates into the food production, rather than GM food, maybe the information helps food production company and restaurant to modify the products into something that is more beneficial to people’s health? Can pharmaceutical companies benefit from it? At the end, how will these data and information will make a benefit to mankind?

 

Software Fun: Mandelbulb 3D

 

A little test and fun on the software Mandelbulb 3D which generates fractal 3D model. The 3D model is then exported as voxels and converted into obj files through a software called Fiji, which merges the voxels layer together to become a 3D model. Mandelbulb 3D allows easy generation of fractals without the need of having scripting knowledge. It generates form by manipulating formulas, which allows the user to either change values, or to combine, subtract formulas. For the first time of using the software, I generated few forms and export them into obj. The model is then exported to Rhino and have been modified there. The resulting geometry is a combination of few fractal models that parts of them is cut and combined together.

Further work is required to smooth up the model as the obj generated has too many polygons and are not so detailed especially close up. In some of the models the polygons has to be reduced in order to be workable, but still they crash the program when I try to work with them in grasshopper.

Virtual Reality? Augmented Reality? Mixed Reality?

Since augmented reality in the project will be considered as a kind of material, in here we define the levels of reality.

To define them, a virtuality continuum is used. It is a continuous scale ranging between the completely virtual to the complete reality. This scale encompasses all possible variations and composition of real and virtual objects. Although it is mainly used in media and computer science, but it is also applicable in anthropology.

The virtuality continuum to scale the level of reality.

 

To start from the virtual realm, Virtual Reality completely replace ones current reality with a new one generated from the computer, immersing one being into a 3D generated world, while the immediate surroundings are ignored or with minimal concern. In principle, VR is isolationist by design, which is at the same time its strength, as it provides fully immersive experience, and weakness, which disconnect the user from the context.

On the other hand, augmented reality operates by overlaying digital information to the real world. The most notable example is the game Pokemon Go, which use the real world as a back canvas and overlay subjects into this environment. However, augmented reality is bounded as just a rough digital overlay, as it does not interact with real space, and the only use of the real world as only a background, while the vital information is still process in the digital realm.

Mixed Reality, however, works in a different manner by combining several types of technology into one device. MR devices are constantly gathering information of the space that surround the user, which can archieved by 3d scanning of the space. By that, digital information about the space can be produced and can be interact with it. In comparison to VR, MR works in another way by projecting the digital world into the real ones.

Current device that provide the experience of MR is the Microsoft HoloLens, Meta 2 and the under development Magic Leap. Amongst the three, the HoloLens and Meta 2 is the most developed. The HoloLens is made of an untethered holographic computer, requiring no wires or any external power to run, while the Meta 2 requires to be connected to a computer.

They contain sensors and camera that capture the understanding of the environment, which allow the device to get the information of the space and place holograms based on the data.  The mixed reality is then project to the user from the lenses.

The more ambitious Magic Leap, invested by companies like Google and Alibaba Group, is developing a MR device that aims to interface perfectly with the human brain, creating transparent display to rule them all. They achieve by projecting light straight into the user’s retina through a digital light-field that’s indistinguishable from nature.

The operation of the MR is then just requiring the user to gaze and click on the MR screen that floats in the air. Virtual screens can scatter around your environment with no restraints of location and size.

 

The introduction of MR devices can potentially reshape the working spaces for example, office space. The Meta development kit is set to release by the end of this year and Meron Gribetz, founder of Meta, announced that their MR devices will replace all monitors in their office in future. Architecturally, what does this mean to the spaces that we inhabit in? Apart from offices, will other types of space change as well? Will new typology come out under these circumstances? What the world would become if the MR devices replace all of our laptops, smartphones and computers?

Mixed Reality isn’t just a new type of technology — it’s an entirely new plane of existence. It creates a reality to the user that not only bounded by real physical objects in real world, but also together with the virtual. The way how things work could be very different. For example the education industry that learning does not require being in the classroom anymore, but can be done by exploring the world, learning about the surrounding plants and animals by simply looking at them. History can be taught by placing the user into a virtual construct of a historical event or place. Architecture can be taught by just revealing the underneath structure and infrastructure virtually.

However, there are certain concerns when we use this technology. They might be too immersive that people would not be able to define what is the totally real what is the virtual anymore. A more serious concern would be the user’s privacy.

Mass surveillance is a continuing problem since the development of the internet. Under the MR context, as the devices function based on acquiring 3D understanding of our environment, this means corporations and government can see through our personal spaces without our full consent, leading to an unprecedented level of acquired knowledge about our lives. The more serious problem potentially would be the device function as a gateway into people minds. If one can tap into the reality of any single person, they can manipulate information, thought and behavior without being noticed, placing seeds of thought throughout one’s world. At a certain level, it is a kind of mind hacking and extreme activities such as terrorism can be influenced under these channels of distribution.

But despite of these concerns, the advantage that this technology brings will overshadow the issue it creates. It can reshape education process, and perhaps the building industry. MR opens up new forms of interaction with digital information that can change our ways that we perceive the world. It will shape a new unexplored reality filled with possibilities that individual would have the power to customize their own experience, thus open up a new style of living that the digital would not be bounded from screens and computer anymore. Referring to the book ‘Singularity is Near’ by Ray Kurzweil, human and technology will move a big step closer to the ‘singularity’, in which the digital world and the real world would overlap each other to create a new reality.

 

 

 

Some history of virtual/augmented reality regarding the mixed reality.

Virtual Fixtures

Virtual fixture is a concept first introduced in 1992. It is a concept about overlaying virtual sensory information to user in order to improve human performance in direct and remotely controlled tasks. The virtual sensory overlays can be presented as physically realistic structures, exist in space such that they are perceived by the user to be fully present in the real workspace environment. The virtual sensory overlays can also be abstractions that have properties not applicable to real physical objects.The definition of virtual fixtures is much broader than just providing guidance to the user. For example, auditory virtual fixtures can be used to increase the user awareness by providing audio clues of multi modal cues for localization.The success of virtual fixtures is that the user experiences a greater presence and localization in the remote workspace.

Virtual fixtures is often used to refer to a task dependent virtual information that overlay upon a real environment and guides the user’s motion along desired directions while preventing undesired actions within the workspace.

Inspiration: Through Levithan’s Eye

 

‘Through Levithan’s Eye’ is a project that is about multiple and mixed realities. It speculates in a world that the imagination of the thoughts of an individual could be projected into the real world through augmented reality. In this project, people are wearing specially made contact lens that allows them to see the augmented minds flow through the city. It is an optimistic view of how technology can bring people closer together by letting thoughts to be more open and shared rather than merely a blinding force. At the beginning of the movie, the narrator said ‘It was the strangest thing when I left my lens at home, I could see the buildings, but not the city.’ This has stated how current cities or reality are compared to this more diverse experience, and at the same time sparking the thought of how we, as an individual, could imagine how a city should be like. For me, I was thinking how a city could become. Is a city just a bunch of buildings clustered together with certain level of planning, or it can be something that is more vibrant, something that can converge people’s identity?

Figure 1. Diagram of the Cyborg (Work in Progress)

 

Since my project has been evolved around the cyborgs, which is the augmented human, at some point I was imagining how a world could be like within a speculated timeline. In a set of diagram that I made (figure 1), I found a speculated scenario in this cyborg world that is very similar to ‘Through Levithan’s Eye’ augmented reality. In the diagram, I foresee that the internet service in future will also include augmented reality, in which different providers could give different projections to the people, either through augmented eyes or through glasses that can receive and project internet signals. This potentially will cause the existence of multiple realities, though might not be mixed as services might only be restricted to one provider. This can lead to clash of realities and difference in information provided, in further which may lead to a dystopic world where people could be fooled and manipulated by service providers that plays with information and technology. The development of whether should I go ‘dystopic’ is left to be investigated.

 

‘In making a film about a mixed/augmented reality future, we wanted to depart from the typical transparent, blue tinged, holographic look that we have come to associate with virtual overlays. I say we because truthfully this film is the result of a total collaboration between me and my wife – Beth Edgoose.  We see no reason for virtual materiality to be treated any differently from tangible materiality; a world where the real and the unreal speak the same aesthetic language is much more interesting to us.’

 

In the interview with Nathan Su, he has stated that the aesthetics of the augmented world will be very similar to the real counterpart, which compared to common perception of the blue holographic overlay will be more solid. I am very inspired by how he treats augmented reality. Rather than a medium that projects architectural ideas, he actually considers the virtual material to be a real material to be used in the real world. The only exception of the material is that it behaves disregard to the law of physics such as gravity. But to extend this idea further, I think the reality could be even more interesting if there are both augmented reality of objects that are solid, realistic and overlays of holographic projections that intersect together. It would be very exciting to explore this idea further; hopefully it will spark something that is beyond imagination. Meanwhile, this makes me question the role of architects. Apart from building designer, I think we can also become a reality, experience creator.

To strengthen the idea of augmented reality as a material, with both holographic overlay and solid objects intersecting, I think the augmented realm should also affect to the real world, and through the augmented projection the real world parameter can also be changed. It will be interesting to see how the augmented reality can change the parameters of architectural properties in the real world. As in the interview with Nathan Su, he said that virtual materials can change in a faster rate. Further exploration I think could start from the Pokemon Go game. The architecture in future could be the interplay between the virtual and real materials.

To develop the cyborg idea further with the speculation of bionic limbs, I think there will be a very interesting relationship between the human scale and the augmented reality. Since architecture throughout history is built upon human that remain pretty much the same, it would be quite different if the factor of augmented people is considered. What will happen if someone that has superhuman strength, or could jump higher, run faster? Will we need to reinvent the human scale? All these, with augmented reality, could have the potential that can create spaces that defy what we normally would think about. Imagine a space that is half real half virtual, half solid half ethereal, half obeying half defying law of physics, and some part does not follow typical human scale. It seems messy, but I think it is really worth to explore. Furthermore, within the context of cyborg, conventional space will be challenged as some facilities such as power source will need to be incorporated for cyborgs to recharge their electronic parts.

To conclude, I am now imagining an architecture that is a mix of virtual (can be multiple, overlay and mixed) and real, which also has strange rules to scale. Both the virtual and the real can affect each other, and it will form an interplay that potentially could be rapidly changed for flexibility.

Interview with Nathan Su: https://koozarch.com/2017/06/21/ /