Phase Space & The Technobody

Phase Space & The Technobody
Client
BMS, Metropolis Magazine
Architects
Dietmar Koering, Simon Becker, Duane W. Harry
Year
2016

A Phase Space is a space where all possible states of a system are represented. The Technobody deals with the de-humanization through our extended phenotypes. The Technobody commits to the idea that it’s just a site for the mind. It is crucial to learn how to survive this disjuncture of reality and fictional space. We have to discover how it works when our mind is transferred into digital blood and vice versa. It is obvious that mind and body forms a symbiosis for living. It is not written that if we overcome our bodies we will lose our status of human being. We should train to see our body just as site for our mind; new radical technologies will give us new possibilities!

Nowadays we are able to inhabit a virtual body with our mind. Even the position of total escape of our body. The human need of passing genotypes into future systems has been bound up in a world of electronic circuitry. The human body has become virtually extended; the body is displaced in its environment.

Authenticity is no longer grounded on its individuality, but rather more ‘in the multiplicity of remote agents’ that it hosts. In the end the term Technobody is just an idea; a state of intelligent thinking.

Therefore the projects reduces the complexity of technologies through the use of physical technology cards compared with an app, which is based on gamification, to create a positive feedbackloop. This process raises the users consciousness in a playable foresight approach.

This relationship between human and machine leads to a new and immersive world of
complexity in the field of contemporary architecture and urbanism, as well as in future workplaces. The Workplace of the Future is about the intelligent fusion of complex systems that are self-aware, know their strengths and weaknesses and take their needs and desires seriously. Therewith the design of the furniture and space for offices in future is not shape driven anymore.
The new task is to blur the boundaries between technology, interface and being, with a natural consciousness in relation to reall-time data and technology. The proposal is based on a library of technology cards, which can be used to integrate those into new physical space by the use of a process based on gamification.

At the current state of technology, buzzwords such as the “Internet of things”, “Factor 4” or “Industry 4.0” are becoming common terms. Thus, in near future, all products, objects and beings will be equipped with sensors, which will gather data, which has positive and negative effects. As designers and architects we are interested in which kind of space is created through this new technologies. The space can be physical or virtual, seen or unseen; it nevertheless will link to networks and influence our behaviour. To illustrate, one only needs to spend 10 minutes at a platform of a station and observe how people spend the time they wait for the next train – using their smart phones, or, in other words, engaging in this reality through the use of a cyber-physical system. Being is thus becoming determined. We realise that these new systems are altering the physical space and habitants are being determined, therefore the following question arises: How does the workspace look like and how does it relate to the human body if the architecture is an intelligent interface or artefact?

The concept is inspired by project called Cybersyn. The Cybersyn project was one of the first, if not the first, decision support system. Furthermore, it was one of those rare projects that combined social responsibility, new technologies and design. The common English name was Cybersyn, while it was called Synco in Spanish.  The project was realised under the Chilean President, Salvador Allende, in 1971-1973. The main architect of Cybersyn was British cybernetician Stafford Beer, and the interface and information designer was Gui Bonsiepe, who has taught at the renowned HFG Ulm and was responsible for the design and interface of Synco. The furniture was adapted in that time from Eero Saarinen and his famous Tulip Chair.

However, it shows a perfect blend of Technology and Design within the framework of existing technologies and intelligence in its time.

The shown project proclaims, that human being and technologies are merging together. Hence this will effect the space and behavior and creates new possibilities of interaction and digital participation.

The vision for the workspace of the future is a high tech
machine driven spot, that enables the highest productivity and creativity to the maximum possible extent. Here machines are communicating with humans, the internet and other machines. But one question remains:

How can we design the future workplace in a didactic way?

We have to rely on method, which is easy understandable and based on a minimum of cost. Hence the answer is: Through a process based on gamification. Therefore
Technology Cards have been created, which are based on a market scan of available and futuristic technologies.
The idea is, to provide the workers in an environment, which needs to be updated with these cards and the play according their wishes these cards. The result of this game has then to be evaluated and leads to an action plan, which shows, when which technologies have to be integrated.

The Tech Library is also available as an App and always accessible. which raises the consciousness of the user in regards to the new possibilities. Therewith we have different scenarios each year.
An essential role would play later a interactive table, which can be used to visualize data, to interact with these and new technologies. The important idea is, that this table has a in-built artificial intelligence, which reflect each decision in regards to CO2 emissions and the best choice, or ideas which can be optimized.

The renderings are a polemical statement, which should engage the consciousness of the observer. A vast amount of new technologies are creating unseen networks, we need to be aware about it, if we ant to use them and who uses then the user data. Therefor the renderings are structured from a Utopic Vision down to a very concrete application of an interactive table in an open office structure.
The interactive table has a cyber-baroque design, which again should attract user. Ideally a location for participation of the user with real-time data for decision-making processes.

Overall it is the technology, which needed to be addressed in these visualizations.