AGE OF YOU:
THE ARCHITECTURE
OF STREAMING ARCHITECTURE
WINTER TERM 2021/22
GRADUATE DESIGN STUDIO
@./STUDIO3 - INSTITUTE FOR
EXPERIMENTAL ARCHITECTURE
UNIVERSITY OF INNSBRUCK, AUSTRIA
︎ CONCEPT & DESIGN | SO@P (UWE BRUNNER & DOMINIC SCHWAB).
︎ STUDENTS | AL JBALI SANDRA, BRAUNSCHWEIG HILDE KARIN, FRICK MAGDALENA, GRANZOTTO LUCA, HINTERSCHWEPFINGER TOBIAS XAVER, KHARKOVCHUK VITALII, KOGLER FLORIAN, MOOSMANN VIKTOR, SPANNRING ALTAGRACIA, NEUBAUER LAURA.
Me. You. Us. Them. We are all part of the game… a game that is dominated by hyperconnectivity and the ubiquitous internet, where streaming data has become the most mundane activity embedded in the fabric of our daily life. At every opportunity, whether at home on our beloved bed, on the train, while grocery shopping or even during public events, we are persistently streaming data to and from our phones, smartwatches, laptops, or similar devices. Our attention is constantly split between our physical presence, i.e. the feeling of being in a tangible place, and the distant happenings of E-Sports events on Twitch, live podcasts on Clubhouse or the latest reality TV series on Netflix. Tele-audiovision has fundamentally transformed our daily existence, reshaping the way we interact and communicate with the world around us, and ultimately influencing our daily routines.
Age of You (AoY) was a design studio in which we collectively explored these media assemblages, the spaces of World Wide Web and its architecture, aiming to comprehend their impact on our identities and lifestyles. We were closely looking at the phenomenon of streaming culture and its architectural understandings and formulations. This included a huge variety of disparate agents, such as hosts, crowds, spaces, infrastructures, mechanisms, protocols, rituals, cults and data, to name just a few of them. Additionally, we examined the interrelations between these elements to assess their performance as a network characterized by numerous parameters, including connectivity, transparency, performativity, ubiquity, empathy, irony, fidelity, accessibility, and more.
In order to present the semester's investigation, students were encouraged to create Machinimas, which involve the use of real-time computer graphics to produce cinematic works. To ensure the creation of captivating visual productions, workshops were provided to introduce technologies such 3D Lidar Scanning, photogrammetry, volumetric capturing, 360-degree video production, and worldbuilding with game engines.
The overall aim of the design studio was to provide students with the vocabulary of contemporary digital culture so they can adequately meet the challenges of being a literate architect of today (and tomorrow).