| authors |
Orth, Maggie |
| year |
1997 |
| title |
Interface to Architecture: Integrating Technology into the Environment in the Brain Opera |
| source |
Proceedings of DIS'97: Designing Interactive Systems: Processes, Practices, Methods, & Techniques 1997 pp. 265-275 |
| summary |
This paper concretely presents the design processes and results of Composer Tod Machover's Brain Opera, an interactive, multi-media, traveling opera. It will present the importance of successful collaboration between artists and scientists at the functional intersection of their research -- design. It will discuss the opposing design strategies necessary for integrating technology into the physical environment at various levels of scale, from architecture to interface. At the level of architecture flexibility in design is stressed. In interface design, the needs for specificity and detail, new materials and manufacturing processes are presented. The paper will demonstrate how the aesthetic goals of the Brain Opera's visual designers, creating an organic, humorous and unexpected technology environment, influenced audience interaction. The conflict between artistic control and interactivity will also be examined through the specific results of acoustic design in the project. The influences of quickly changing technology and funding on the design of the Brain Opera are also revealed. The prominence of the proscenium arch stage in existing music venues and its influence on new media projects is presented. Successful and unsuccessful models for audience participation are also presented. Concrete interface examples are used to counter the notion of intuitive interface design. Finally, the Brain Opera is presented as a design model for an interactive research laboratory. |
| keywords |
Design; Environment; Interface; Furniture; Physical Interface; Theater; Sensor; Collaboration; Architecture; Opera |
| series |
other |
| references |
Content-type: text/plain
|
| last changed |
2002/07/07 16:01 |
|
