(NEW) MEDIA FACADES: ARCHITECTURE AS A MEDIUM IN URBAN CONTEXT

Throughout the history of architecture, the facade of a building represented a clear distinction between inside and outside. It was the modernist concept of flowing, open space that revolutionized the relationship between open and enclosed spaces, providing a glimpse into the ever-changing life of a building interior. Besides representing a border dividing interior and exterior spaces, one of the primary functions of facade is communication. What used to be inscribed in stone, concrete, wood or glass, is now communicated via digital media, which became an integral part of architecture in the information society we live in today. Even though this research includes investigation of media supported facades as architectural elements, much broader discourse oriented towards relational aesthetics in urban spaces will be employed in order to analyze the new media potential of communication layer in architecture. Urban digital media represent the intersection of architecture, information and culture which coexist in the arena of technology and construction. Through networking and content-sharing they are creating a possibility for global multimedia infrastructure for commercial and cultural exchange. Term mediatecture will be used to describe the field of new media in which architecture operates in urban context. Each communication carried through mediatecture can be divided into a certain number of polymedia pixels, which represent smallest possible units of communication transmitted via mediatecture. This paper will analyze the implications of new technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality on the communication process in urban context, as well as the relation between event and experience, and how it is dictated by the specificities of human perception. If a certain amount of people interacts with a certain space, thus receiving, but also creating a certain amount of information, or, in other words – communicates with and within that space – does urban environment becomes a social network?