SPECTRA

Studio Patrik Schumacher

Tutors Pierandrea Angius

Team Daniela Bedoya, Gaurav Janendra, Samaneh Karimelahi, Chhavi Mehta

Communication and collaboration are increasingly moving into the digital domain. With populations dispersed globally, and further isolated due to the pandemic, the use of advanced digital tools has brought people together and allowed for a way of working collectively. The reality of Covid-19 has exhibited possibilities of overcoming the limitations of the physical world through the use of platforms like Zoom and MeetinVR, amongst others, that improve collaboration in this new world which contemplates both real and virtual realms. The mixed reality that brings together physically immediate and digitally mediated users leads to the development of systems for a seamless spatial interaction called Cyber-Urban Spaces.

 Since life events and work no longer take place solely in person, the role of architecture evolves from being defined as a mere physical enclosure to one of framing communication in both the physical and virtual environments. Most meetings would take place in mixed reality conditions where people, regardless of their geographic location, can participate in a single communication event along with co-present participants. This gives rise to a spectrum of meeting and collaboration typologies based on how physically or virtually dominant they are.

 Regardless of its position on the spectrum, all design is communicative. Each typology has individual technical and spatial requirements and provides unique user experiences and interaction possibilities. This is communicated using semiology and phenomenology. For example, more physically dominant spaces are angular, rigid, and defined, while virtually dominant spaces are curvilinear, softer, and infinitely variable. The architectural language of the space communicates to its users the code of conduct as well as the experiential possibilities of the space.

 The architecture of the Cyber-Urban Incubator acts as a means of framing communication between users, both co-present and remote and behaves as an interface for the interaction between them. It communicates with them and acts as a way of seamlessly integrating the physical and digital worlds.