Client: Digital Dumbo and Microsoft Bing

Overview

Personalized Environment was built for dd:OUTPOST. The goal was to create a unique community lounge and event space. Designed by Volvox Labs, the studio behind Twitter’s Geometric Remix installation at #FEED during SXSW, dd:OUTPOST is completely immersive, dynamic, and designed to better showcase the work of digital companies than similar environments. It’s a space that companies from our community can take advantage of for themselves and a space in which we plan to continue producing and curating high value events.

Goals

The original idea for the space was to create a lounge where companies and talent from our community could hang out, share ideas, and get work done, but also be a space where the community could engage. While this seemed like a simple idea on the surface, the usable space was less than 1,000 sq ft. We had to think through how to create a space that was completely modular and dynamic, but also inspire and bring out the best of digital work.
We wanted to focus more so on the experience of being in the space and emphasizing the audio-visual experience while de-emphasizing the furniture in the room or pictures on the walls.

Process

Digital DUMBO partnered with Bing to create dd:OUTPOST, which was designed by Volvox Labs. We created a fully integrated, personalized audio-visual system built from the ground up powered in part by TouchDesigner. The whole system is seamlessly embedded into the modular design, with an interactive touchscreen controlling the projection mapping on the geometrically faceted bar, the lighting of the LED wall (the LED wall is also rigged with two Xbox Kinect's using motion sensing to change lighting on the fly as people walk by), and an interface that pulls in and projects real-time Twitter and Instagram feeds.

Additional Information

As Peter Kirn of of Create Digital Motion writes on this project..., "Light on its own can be a powerful medium for transforming a space. When that light is formed into an image, the customization is as fluid as pixels on a display." Responsive architecture not only creates elements of surprise, but now and in the future will present data, content, and better facilitate human connections leading to increased productivity, enhanced consumer experiences, and unforeseen real world experiences that blend the physical and digital.