The New Electric City: Jan Elder of Architectural Firm Realities:United

We were favored by a visit from Jan Elder, who, along with brother Tim, founded the architecture firm Realities:United. Their work in recent years has focused on incorporating new media and information technologies into architecture. If anyone could be said to reflect edgy thinking about the visual landscape of the “new digital city,” it’s these guys.

The first “electric cities” emerged in the 19th century when gas lamps were replaced by electric lighting. The architect-artist-designers at Realities:United are at the forefront of inventing the next iteration of the electric city for the 21st century.

Jan discussed at length several of their most projects, including a “communicative skin” for the Kunsthaus [Art Museum] Graz in Austria. Using standard industrial fluorescent light tubes they transformed the outer biomorphic skin of the building, which is constructed out of translucent blue acrylic glass panels, into a low-resolution grey-scale computer display. The effect is to dematerialize the building's exterior surface, turning it into a continually transforming visual display with imagery programmed by a succession of artists.

This high-concept design is actually comprised of low-tech components, which is part of its genius: the individual light pixels are actually the same circular fluorescent lights you might “find in anyone’s kitchen,” says Tim. Realities:United thinks of this project as an “experimental laboratory” that is just beginning to be understood, since the graphic language for its dynamic communication between building and surroundings is only beginning to be understood.

We also discussed at length SPOTS [above], a massive electronic building facade at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. The installation is a light matrix of 1,800 ordinary fluorescent lamps that are integrated into the ventilated glass facade of the building. A central computer linked to a bus system can control all of the lamps individually, adjusting their brightness or switching them on and off. As a result, designs, graphics and animation sequences can be recreated on the facade as moving luminous images. The external shell of the building is transformed into a communicative membrane, which is used primarily for displaying artistic material.

What's the biggest challenge for you in projects like this? "It's 98% communication and 2% design," Tim answered.