Sunday, December 16, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
Amanuensis: Dictation & Exploitation
It has taken me a while to derive a direction that I am confident in, but I think I have finally arrived at that point. It has come through much frustrations and discussions with numerous people (thanks Patrick, Candace and Gregory). I have been thinking for the past couple of weeks that my Amanuensis device should observe and record something very technical and complex - with the thought that it would somehow make my project more meaningful... I got caught up in the technology. I now realize that that was the main source of my frustration and confusion over the past few weeks. It was a small group discussion with Gregory and Candace where it hit me that I need to focus on a simple, already establish system and pattern within the building.
This is when I began to take a look at some of the work I had done earlier in the term and it all started to come together. The drawings I had started to produce with my typewriter at the beginning of the term really embodied a lot of the ideas and potential that my project has started to take on. The repeating bracket drawing, for instance, was really about the exploitation of the typewriter as a machine capable of reproducing consistent characters over and over... and over again. The typewriter's ability to do so enables simple systems to take on new meaning. A bracket when used in a sentence might just be a bracket, but when repeated, flipped, and layered on top of itself it begins to express a new language. It takes on a new potential in the form of a self-producing pattern. This simple character becomes something more meaningful.
Similarly, if we take an existing system within a building - for example a door - might we be able to find an embodied potential within its established constraints? I remember walking to a used book store in Halifax and talking with Darcy and Candace about the idea of "interactivity" in architecture. I can't recall his name, but an architect we had just finished seeing lecture had so eloquently described his idea of interactivity as a series of LED's within the ceiling of a building which would fade in and out slowly as people entered the space. To me this is no different from a bell on the door of a small corner store. As we were entering the building Darcy said that his idea of interactivity was the opening and closing of the door - to which I agreed. This is part of my reasoning for choosing a door for my system to be observed and to, essentially, become the dictator to my amanuensis. The idea is that the door takes on the role of the bracket from my previous drawing. A system that might be taken for granted but has a potential which resides within it. By monitoring the different components of this system - for example the hinge, the handle, the latch, and the stop - does a pattern begin to reveal itself? I believe that it will. This will be the basis and goal for my experiment over then next 2 weeks.
This is when I began to take a look at some of the work I had done earlier in the term and it all started to come together. The drawings I had started to produce with my typewriter at the beginning of the term really embodied a lot of the ideas and potential that my project has started to take on. The repeating bracket drawing, for instance, was really about the exploitation of the typewriter as a machine capable of reproducing consistent characters over and over... and over again. The typewriter's ability to do so enables simple systems to take on new meaning. A bracket when used in a sentence might just be a bracket, but when repeated, flipped, and layered on top of itself it begins to express a new language. It takes on a new potential in the form of a self-producing pattern. This simple character becomes something more meaningful.
Similarly, if we take an existing system within a building - for example a door - might we be able to find an embodied potential within its established constraints? I remember walking to a used book store in Halifax and talking with Darcy and Candace about the idea of "interactivity" in architecture. I can't recall his name, but an architect we had just finished seeing lecture had so eloquently described his idea of interactivity as a series of LED's within the ceiling of a building which would fade in and out slowly as people entered the space. To me this is no different from a bell on the door of a small corner store. As we were entering the building Darcy said that his idea of interactivity was the opening and closing of the door - to which I agreed. This is part of my reasoning for choosing a door for my system to be observed and to, essentially, become the dictator to my amanuensis. The idea is that the door takes on the role of the bracket from my previous drawing. A system that might be taken for granted but has a potential which resides within it. By monitoring the different components of this system - for example the hinge, the handle, the latch, and the stop - does a pattern begin to reveal itself? I believe that it will. This will be the basis and goal for my experiment over then next 2 weeks.
PIEZO + ARDUINO
This video shows how to connect a piezo strip to an arduino for use in detecting and quantifying vibrations.
Piezo strip and arduino demo
Piezo strip and arduino demo
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