Media as Architecture

It started on a quick getaway to Las Vegas. It was September of last year and I was walking between the Venetian and Wynn casinos when I caught my first glimpse of the Las Vegas Sphere. At that time, the 366-foot-tall-globe was still in its testing phase. It was illuminated with all its impressive LED screens helped the building masquerade as Jupiter and the moon. I was stunned and I was not the only one. The pedestrian bridge between the two casinos were crammed with fellow onlookers getting a glimpse of the spectacle. 

The next day I returned to the same spot to catch another glimpse of it and to my surprise the building was turned off, leaving a metallic black bowling ball sitting in a parking lot. The magic was gone. It was still impressive but obviously not the same. And no one was standing there looking at the building.

This got me thinking about the brave new world we now inhabit where the proliferation of screens in our everyday lives have expanded to the built environment, and wondering what that means for the future of architecture. This soon became an expedition down a rabbit hole about media facades, neon, LEDs, LCDs, projections, and everything in between. Stuck in this web of information I came across a term I had never heard of––media architecture. It quickly became an obsession to define it and find out every aspect of this new design trend. 

The results of this research makes up the content of this month's spotlight. Over the course of the month, a probably beyond, we will explore this exciting new world of architecture where people are thinking about new ways to make architecture adapt in this new, highly digital world.

At the center of this spotlight is our latest episode of our ARCHITECTURE 101 series giving an overview of media architecture, from its origins to its exciting possibilities. 

At first I was worried that this new architectural language was a sad replacement for time-tested traditions of the past but that turned out to be naïve of me. Through my research it looks like the way media is incorporated into the built environment can be exciting, and when done with care it can heighten the urban experience. Once you see the video, you will understand what I mean.

I hope that this exposure to this new kind of architecture will get you excited about the possibilities that await us in the future. So be sure to like, subscribe, and continue to follow us for the latest from All Things Architecture.

Best,

Steve Park