Texas A&M University T4T LAB Spring 2017
Invited Professor: Casey Rehm
Team: Hannah Galbraith, Aaron Rosas, Jasper Gregory, Ezequiel Campos
DELUZIAN BIG DATA
In Benjamin Bratton’s The Stack, Bratton explores the idea
that all the many genres of computation- smart grids, cloud platforms, mobiles
apps, smart cities, automation - can be seen as a coherent whole called The
Stack. The Stack is made up of six different layers, each intersecting and
constantly informing the other with the Earth layer at its head. Bratton begins
to then discuss the inherent computational aspects of the earth and its
materials, and its importance of being the physical beginning to all energy and
life.
Deleuze also discusses computational aspects of the earth
when he describes the natural repetition of the earth found in all things such
as waves, heartbeats, and wind, and how these repetitions are always in a
constant state of transgression. Deleuze mentions repetition another time
however, and this time when analyzing Francis Bacon paintings. He describes the
repetition as being the way we can understand a painting using the aspects of
structure, contour, and figure.
Just like in a painting, we can use the machine as an
interface between the layers of the stack to produce repetition and repetitive
geometry drawn out of context images to then begin to organize public and
private spaces in the architectural manifestation, creating different
interfaces inside and outside the building: public- private, public to public,
private-private.
In order to produce a
transition between territories, a spasm is released through the figure, which
transgressively becomes more figural as the spaces become more private. As the
initial scripting strategies suggested figural geometry, in order to bring in
truly figural spaces we began to bring in 3D figural data with the sampling of
broccoli. The 3D scanned broccoli had inherent figural geometry and allowed a multiplicity
of figures that could be expanded as well as dissected to create and transitory
space and encompassing form.
With the introduction of big data and new computational
methods, the way we think about “private space” has now been completely
transformed. Even though we still desire “privacy”, aspects of the
computational age like social media and the internet now drive our desires to
constantly be apart and accepted by the public realm. This has created a
inverse relationship between our spaces withdrawing from the public eye, and
the usage of social media becoming more heavy to return into the public gaze.
Things like privacy, self-esteem, and self-worth are now dependant less on your
own opinion, and more on the public opinion. This residential apartment in
downtown Los Angeles accepts these new truths and provides spaces driven by our
usage and interaction with big data. Driven by rules of perception, it allows
the user to always feel connected back into the public collective, while
simultaneously being in a private space. The use of mirrors and column spacing
allow separation of spaces without complete enclosure, thus allowing the user
to feel simultaneously in two places at once, while still being able to observe
themselves interacting with others. The private spaces in the home like the
bedrooms and bathrooms as figural entities can become interactive screens, updating
social media content and allowing personalization and mixture across the
media-scape. As the user update their own feeds, their data can likewise be
mapped on the outside of the building, thus completely the circle of
interaction of the perceiving and the perceived.
