Moving Walls and Talking Floors: Design Considerations on Magical Media Architecture Experiences

Abstract

An ocular-centric fixation governs the majority of examples in both traditional and media architecture. Stepping away from this predominance, the three technology-augmented installations described in this contribution focus primarily on multi-sensory spatial interactions. To trigger curiosity and establish engagement, we make use of magic as a metaphor to encourage playful exploration of the installations' possibilities and speculation on their modus-operandi enigmas. This combination elevates the exhibition space as it appoints the human body as the key constituent of the experience. Placed at the entrance hall of an integration school (for Deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing children and staff), our installations are aimed at raising population awareness by highlighting this population's particularities. In this paper, we detail the constellation of magical design characteristics of our artifacts and propose a set of considerations that could bring forth magical media architecture experiences.