The art gallery of the EnBW Berlin headquarters is located on the ground floor whose glass facade gives passers-by an ample view of the space within. Although the gallery is located inside the building it has a decidedly public character. It is used for a range of cultural events, but mainly for exhibitions and concerts. The central shaping element in the room is a long and winding media wall.
LED panels were embedded in the white corian wall from behind. Switched off, they are invisible from the front and the wall remains a simple architectonic feature of the room. Once the panels are switched on, however, they shine through the wall, turning it into a dynamic display surface that envelopes the room and brings the entire length of the wall alive.
A range of visualizations were developed for the media wall, which can be selected according to occasion and purpose.
The auto-active graphics consists of flowing, abstract, organic forms, the flow of particles presenting energy as a shaping force, subtly reflecting the undulating shape of the corian wall.
An interactive application was developed for the showroom opening. Visitors were invited to transfer energy to the wall by using a microphone. Depending on how hard they blew into the microphone, different shapes were created that spread over the entire wall.
A reactive use of the media wall was developed for live concerts and recorded music. The focus of this mode of operation is the synaesthetic transmission of sound into colors and shapes on the wall.
Just like the auto-active and interactive applications, the reactive mode is also computationally designed, generating a vast, theoretically endless series of dynamic sequences within a pre-defined spectrum. The ever-changing shapes form a flowing visual landscape that open the gallery up to the urban space and give it a visual identity.
The projects had been designed in conjunction with my friends and colleagues at art+com. Special mention Andreas Schlegel and Jannis Kilian Kreft. The architecture had been designed by Martin Buschle and Admir Jukanovic in cooperation with university of applied science Schwäbisch Gmünd.