Among Screens

Project Type	Individual Academic
Year	2023
Location	AA School, London

"Among Screens" is an innovative speculative narrative project that delves into the exploration of two distinct potential futures for urban landscapes, where digital screens dominate the city facades. This project presents a city of contrasts, with one scenario depicting a government-controlled environment where the digital infrastructure, including most building facades, is centralized under government authority. In contrast, the other scenario portrays a vibrant counter-culture where social hackers challenge this control, utilizing alternative equipment to disseminate diverse, uncensored content across urban interior facades.

At its core, the project does not aim to predict the future but rather to offer an alternative history inspired by past events, with the objective of redefining our interactions within media-saturated cities. It reimagines architectural elements such as facades and interior surfaces as dynamic digital platforms, capable of manipulation and disruption, inviting us to contemplate the curation of visual content and its social and political ramifications in digitized urban environments.

The project draws attention to the inevitability of screens proliferating within cityscapes, driven by their distinct advantages in visibility, presence, and the capacity to accommodate a variety of communication modes. It references examples like the facades in post-modernism era and the facades in today's Chinese cities to emphasize the appeal and impact of digital facades in modern urban settings. These digital surfaces offer a much-needed adaptability, allowing for the rapid dissemination of shifting social topics and collective ideas across the urban canvas.

It critically examines the evolution of contemporary architecture and the role of technology in facilitating a quicker pace of change. It highlights the potential for digital facades to become instruments of power, dominated by government narratives or capitalist branding, and poses provocative questions about the ownership and design of facade infrastructure in the future.

The narrative is split into two divergent scenarios: one of a meticulously planned cityscape under strict government control, where digital facades disseminate official narratives and ideology, and another of a chaotic, hacker-dominated environment where digital walls become canvases for alternative expressions and resistance. These scenarios reflect the tension between centralized control and individual autonomy, offering a glimpse into radically different urban futures.

Underground passage, serving as the veins of the city, could host an array of digital interventions, from small companies' ads to guerrilla messaging, reflecting the pulse of underground movements. Overpasses, elevated yet the bottom connected to the city's flow, offer unique vantage points for digital projections, becoming symbols of oversight or resistance depending on who controls the narrative. Alleyways, with their inherent intimacy and seclusion, provide a canvas for localized, community-driven content, illustrating the diverse tapestry of urban life beyond the main thoroughfares.

Evolution of City Texture

Study of Facades Throughout History

Information Vortex

Imagining Texture Mapping for the Naked City

For these two drawings: Basic models made with Rhino&C4D, rendered with AI, post processed with Photoshop

Scenario 2: Hacked/Small/Quiet/Old Equipment

The project merges speculative fiction with architectural inquiry, challenging our understanding of urban spaces intertwined with digital media. It explores digital facades as platforms for communication, intertwining discussions on architecture, technology, and society. It invites reflection on the digital transformation of urban landscapes and our interaction with them. It serves as an imaginative exploration at the crossroads of architecture, technology, and urban existence, offering a narrative that provokes thought and visual intrigue.