Pavilion X is a site specific temporary design intervention in the centre of Canberra conceived as a catalyst for conversations about urban renewal, public space and aspirations for the city.
Patrick Stein led a group of 30 Architecture Students in the design of the installation. I collaborated with the lightning group who were developing interactive lighting and sound effects. As the idea of “clouds” began to form we worked on lightning and thunder that would respond to vibrations when people sat on the clouds.
From the video you can hear that this is a noisy space with bands, buskers and crowds passing through. Our first observations are that the flashing of the lights is only really visible at night, the thunder is masked by the ambient noise, and banging the clouds is not really a very natural interaction. The installation will be in the public space for a month so we can use it as an “urban laboratory” to trial different ideas and observe results.
James Bruce designed the communications system which uses an Arduino Mega to send messages over I2C serial twisted pair to the sub-systems. Together with Jaymes, he also designed and coordinated the construction of the Arduino controlled LED lighting. Ahmed Al Ghardaqa and Bong helped me make the interactive sound modules from vibration sensors connected to Teensy micro-controllers soldered to Audio boards, amplifiers and speakers. I congratulate the lightning team on their patience and persistence in debugging the maze of soldering and wiring ! Patrick and the other students designed, CNC routed, constructed, and installed the platforms flickr.com/pavilionxcanberra.
SONIFICATION.COM 