A two-storey structure made from 3-D printed fibreglass and fabric digitally knitted with photoluminescent yarn has been combined with AI to translate data about facial expressions, noise, voice tones and language into a choreographed dance of colour and light in New York.
The designers and engineers used art and architecture to visualise information collected by microphones and cameras placed at different locations in the building, with the idea being to stimulate thinking about AI in our lives through this piece of interactive architecture.
"Artistry, creativity and humanity play an important role in technical innovation," says Eric Horvitz, director of Microsoft's research organization and chair of the company's Aether Committee, which focuses on the development and deployment of AI technologies.
According to the tech website techexplore, the project is called ‘Ada’ and weighs over 800kgs with an exoskeleton that contains 895 unique and custom 3-D printed nodes that connect 1,274 fiberglass rods into a web of hexagons that form the rigid, ellipsoid-shaped pavilion.
Photoluminescent textiles digitally knit into a porous luminous network of cells and cones are bolted onto the exoskeleton and extend inward to create a soft interior wall, giving Ada a honeycomb feel, says techexplore, adding that a one-storey tall cone wrapped in nylon mesh strung with fibre optic cables hangs through Ada's core which provides compression forces to hold the entire structure in coordinated tension.
"It is a living, breathing thing, and it is at the heart of the building. How does that change people's psychology about the space they dwell in and how they impact that space, and vice versa?" says Asta Roseway, a principal research designer in the urban innovation initiative at Microsoft's research lab in Redmond who runs the Artist in Residence program.
"The program is really meant to inspire and disrupt ourselves, to get us out of our bubble and the way we are thinking about a certain piece of technology," says Mira Lane, a Microsoft partner director focused on AI ethics and society, who started collaborating with Roseway after writing a white paper about the value of artists to the corporate environment.
Image: Neowin.com
Information from https://techxplore.com/news/2019-10-walls-architecture-ai-microsoft.html
