Architec Tradure

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  • 15AprSelection of short animation movies

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    This semester, I take the Harvard Animation class, a VES course at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, taught by Ruth Lingford.

    Yesterday during our weekly screening, I particularly enjoyed watching movies from Gaelle Denis, Lisbeth Svarling, and especially the work of Emily Mantell ‘To Have and to Hold’.From Gaelle Denis I watched the very beautiful City Paradise, a journey through a very atmospheric London.

    screenshots from the animation







    She also is the author of Fish Never Sleep a very cute but intense story of an insomniac.

    The cute Cloud Cover animation from Lisbeth Svarling can be watched here. The story features beautiful drawings and a story that can be interpreted in many ways. A little girl followed by her black cloud, looking for cure, looking for love… very touching and sweet.

    Finally, I literally adored the work of Emily Mantell ‘To Have and to Hold’

    An alternative world based on a companionship fantasy where women take the lead.

  • pieces of all the individual animations from the RCA show 2004 can be watched and downloaded here Check the Matthew Abbiss’ Play

  • various kinds of animations can be watched here

    • In Animation


  • 26AprCHI 2006 report

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    The spirit of CHI 2006, full of colors, nice people and nice food. This picture features Matt and I, and I must admit Leo has taken the best picture of all!

    So I am in Montreal for the CHI’06 conference. I present with Leo two of our collaborative projects Playpals and Taptap.I attended the Real World Design Solutions session and was impressed by the

    Experience Report on The Design of a Tangible Interaction Device to Alleviate Anxiety and Pain in Paediatric Burns Patients talk presented by Sam Bucolo from Queensland University of Technology Australasian CRC for Interaction.

    News from the CRC on this project

    One of the author presented a case study on the design of a tangible media device to alleviate anxiety and pain in pediatric burns patients. He worked with a multidisciplinary interaction design team throughout the research. He presented his encouraging results of an initial study of the device within a clinical trial.

    The initial design sketches from the paper

    The main questions on that work for me is to know how the mechanism work, if it is ‘distraction’ that patients experienced or if this is another mechanism. What if the graphics displayed on the screen were not aesthetically pleasing, would this aspect change the results of the study? The novelty of the device, its amazing graphics and scenarios maybe have impacted the results. ALso maybe the kinesthetic experience can impact the patient in a different manner than just ‘distraction’ that can be done by interacting with any kind of device.

    This is to me an interesting step in building devices for hospitals in the form of a psychological support to strong pain killers medicaments.


  • 11MayKendall Roses

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    Leonardo Bonanni and I were finalists in the Kendall interactive design competition with Kendall Roses. The competition Kendall Square Interactive Design competition was organized by Lyme Properties.Based on my previous research Passing Glances (2002-2004), the Kendall Roses are designed to be an autonomous art installation that brings added value to the Kendall Square community. Bright, inexpensive daytime displays on two towers and the ground fulfill the role of the roses to provide compass directions to local attractions through graphics and text on billboards and the ground.

    Data to the Roses is entirely wireless: SMS, internet and a local database are streamed to a wireless server inside each tower from local hotels, businesses, residents and the World Wide Web. In addition to useful information about local businesses, sports and attractions, the Kendall Roses offer opportunities for families and children to play on an interactive ground display that can project a variety of games. After an initial investment and potential partnership with local businesses and telcos for promoting SMS messaging, the towers will generate income primarily through advertisement for local businesses and as a tax credit for displaying public service announcements relevant to the community.

    Some screenshots of the Kendall Roses interaction movie:







    Details of the architecture

    Plans of the Kendall Roses site

    A movie of our entry

    If it does not appear above, clic here

    In personal work


  • 19MayTouchcasting

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    We will present Touchcasting at the Sartorial Flux exhibit in Chicago september 7 – october 21 curated by Valerie Lamontagne (the author of the fabulous Peau d’ne techno-clothing).

    In exciting news


  • 19Maywhen fashion technology design meets fairy tales …

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    This project is part of a body of research that focuses on relational and ubiquitous performance. Investigating historical performance-centric contexts and adapting new scenarios for wearable and sensing technologies, “Peau d’Âne” seeks to create a bridge between the symbolic percipience of fairy tales and current technological innovation. In particular, this project explores the potential for wearables to become agents of performativity.

    I am a total fan of Valérie Lamontagne’s work. She interprets one of my favorite Charles Perrault fairy tale “Peau d’Âne” by giving life to the ‘impossible’ dresses that a young princess orders her stepfather to thwart marrying him.

    These three dresses made of immaterial materials. The first is to be made of the “sky” and should be as light and airy as the clouds. The second is to be made of “moonbeams” and should reflect the same lyrical intensity as the moon at night. The third, and last, is to be made of “sunlight” and should be as blinding and warm as the sun above.

    The Sky Dress

    The Sky dress will display changing structure and sounds based on changes in the sky. The dress will be made of inflatable plastic complete with wind-chiming tunnels. The more clouds in the sky, the larger the dress will grow, much like a cloud itself. The more wind outside, the more the dress will “sing” as air is propelled through small plastic pipes to create sounds. Precipitation or rain will make the dress vibrate as the rhythm of the airflow in the dress is regulated (i.e. air will go in + out in a rhythmic fashion).

    The Moon Dress

    The Moonbeam dress will display changing colour patterns based on the 28 day cycle of the moon. These at times subtle and other times shocking transformations will be made utilizing conductive threads and epoxies along with a combination of plastisol / thermochromic paints. Thermochromic paint is heat-sensitive paint, which can change from one colour to another or from opaque to transparent when exposed to a heat source. The Moonbeam dress will be embroidered with conductive thread in order to trigger responses in the paint and represent the moon cycle as it appears and disappears. As the moon cylces from a small sliver on the right to a full mood to a small sliver on the left, the dress’ colours and patterns will do the same.

    The Sun dress

    The Sun dress will display lights in motion based on changes in the sun. The dress will be constructed with a checkerboard of LEDs (light emitting diodes). The LEDs will be set in motion based on UV and sun intensity readings. The greater the intensity of the sun, the brighter the dress will glow, much like the sun itself. The more UV rays outside, the more the dress’ LEDs will flash, like a warning/danger sign. The changing patterns of the fully addressable LEDs will also permit to graphically represent the rising and setting sun as well as the changing direction of the sunrays.

    Valérie Lamontagne’s work in details …

    In when fashion design meets fairy tales


  • 19Maywhen fashion technology design meets fairy tales …

    If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to receive the latest Architectradure’s articles in your reader or via email. Thanks for visiting!

    This project is part of a body of research that focuses on relational and ubiquitous performance. Investigating historical performance-centric contexts and adapting new scenarios for wearable and sensing technologies, “Peau d’Âne” seeks to create a bridge between the symbolic percipience of fairy tales and current technological innovation. In particular, this project explores the potential for wearables to become agents of performativity.

    I am a total fan of Valérie Lamontagne’s work. She interprets one of my favorite Charles Perrault fairy tale “Peau d’Âne” by giving life to the ‘impossible’ dresses that a young princess orders her stepfather to thwart marrying him.

    These three dresses made of immaterial materials. The first is to be made of the “sky” and should be as light and airy as the clouds. The second is to be made of “moonbeams” and should reflect the same lyrical intensity as the moon at night. The third, and last, is to be made of “sunlight” and should be as blinding and warm as the sun above.

    The Sky Dress

    The Sky dress will display changing structure and sounds based on changes in the sky. The dress will be made of inflatable plastic complete with wind-chiming tunnels. The more clouds in the sky, the larger the dress will grow, much like a cloud itself. The more wind outside, the more the dress will “sing” as air is propelled through small plastic pipes to create sounds. Precipitation or rain will make the dress vibrate as the rhythm of the airflow in the dress is regulated (i.e. air will go in + out in a rhythmic fashion).

    The Moon Dress

    The Moonbeam dress will display changing colour patterns based on the 28 day cycle of the moon. These at times subtle and other times shocking transformations will be made utilizing conductive threads and epoxies along with a combination of plastisol / thermochromic paints. Thermochromic paint is heat-sensitive paint, which can change from one colour to another or from opaque to transparent when exposed to a heat source. The Moonbeam dress will be embroidered with conductive thread in order to trigger responses in the paint and represent the moon cycle as it appears and disappears. As the moon cylces from a small sliver on the right to a full mood to a small sliver on the left, the dress’ colours and patterns will do the same.

    The Sun dress

    The Sun dress will display lights in motion based on changes in the sun. The dress will be constructed with a checkerboard of LEDs (light emitting diodes). The LEDs will be set in motion based on UV and sun intensity readings. The greater the intensity of the sun, the brighter the dress will glow, much like the sun itself. The more UV rays outside, the more the dress’ LEDs will flash, like a warning/danger sign. The changing patterns of the fully addressable LEDs will also permit to graphically represent the rising and setting sun as well as the changing direction of the sunrays.

    Valérie Lamontagne’s work in details …

    In when fashion design meets fairy tales

  • 21MayUne histoire pour voir

    If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to receive the latest Architectradure’s articles in your reader or via email. Thanks for visiting!

    This semester, I took the Harvard Animation class, a VES course at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, taught by Ruth Lingford.

    After a series of exercices, I decided for my final animation, une histoire pour voir, to use sand as main medium. Even though I find sand much harder to animate than pencil drawing animation, I find it much easier to express with.Screenshots from my animation

    Watch the animation here (38 mb)

    In animation


  • 21MayUne histoire pour voir

    If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to receive the latest Architectradure’s articles in your reader or via email. Thanks for visiting!

    This semester, I took the Harvard Animation class, a VES course at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, taught by Ruth Lingford.

    After a series of exercices, I decided for my final animation, une histoire pour voir, to use sand as main medium. Even though I find sand much harder to animate than pencil drawing animation, I find it much easier to express with.Screenshots from my animation

    Watch the animation here (38 mb)

    In animation


  • 24MayDrawing …

    If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to receive the latest Architectradure’s articles in your reader or via email. Thanks for visiting!

    This semester, I took the Advanced Drawing class in the Landscape Architecture department at the Harvard Graduate School of Design taught by Anne McGhee.Today was the review and I presented my assignments, class exercices and my final project in front of a jury including oil painting artist Marian Dioguardi, visual historian Camila Chaves Cortes, architect Katherine G. Stifel and professors from the Design School. The general comment is that I can take anything banal and make it beautiful, expressive and attractive… What a compliment! But does it mean I don’t master the technical skill to reproduce reality? Well I am still working on it…

    What a surprise when, after reviewing my work, the artist Marian Dioguardi asked me to buy one of my hetching, an exercice on Piranesi.

    More pictures of my drawing are coming soon …

    In drawings


  • 24MayDrawing …

    If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to receive the latest Architectradure’s articles in your reader or via email. Thanks for visiting!

    This semester, I took the Advanced Drawing class in the Landscape Architecture department at the Harvard Graduate School of Design taught by Anne McGhee.Today was the review and I presented my assignments, class exercices and my final project in front of a jury including oil painting artist Marian Dioguardi, visual historian Camila Chaves Cortes, architect Katherine G. Stifel and professors from the Design School. The general comment is that I can take anything banal and make it beautiful, expressive and attractive… What a compliment! But does it mean I don’t master the technical skill to reproduce reality? Well I am still working on it…

    What a surprise when, after reviewing my work, the artist Marian Dioguardi asked me to buy one of my hetching, an exercice on Piranesi.

    More pictures of my drawing are coming soon …

    In drawings