An interesting concept came from some discussion this week which could be brought out in this work. That is the notion of the individual and the community and how these elements could be fostered through the integration with a wide digital infrastructure. I have been interested in the notion of the wiki as a paradigm for the built environment giving the individual power and control in the community. A building which could connect to a communications infrastructure would allow for a physical manifestation of what is now a virtual forum, creating a central public location for ideas to be posted, discussed and events to be organised. Connections through video systems such as THOLOS or through web portals could allow disparate groups to converge. Imagine a place where you could post an idea in the public realm where a vastly varied group of people could contribute to the ideas. One idea which came up in my earlier theory seminars was the idea of incorporating some form of public broadcasting (think YouTube) further linking activities, discussion and debate to an even wider community (think people without immediate web access etc - could be through digital TV etc). There could even be a connection with the print works from this.The designed infrastructure could integrate this information layer into the infrastructure as well as provide facilities for activities and groups to be nurtured in conjunction with the infrastructure provided by the public library. I forsee an active and lively area where the function and appearence of the building could respond to these changes - almost an ideas marketplace - bringing the market back to the Bigg Market.
(below initial shooting from the hip sketch designs - very very sacrificial)
