N Building by Alexander Reeder

http://www.vimeo.com/8468513

N Building is a commercial structure located near Tachikawa station amidst a shopping district. Being a commercial building signs or billboards are typically attached to its facade which we feel undermines the structures’ identity. As a solution we thought to use a QR Code as the facade itself. By reading the QR Code with your mobile device you will be taken to a site which includes up to date shop information. In this manner we envision a cityscape unhindered by ubiquitous signage and also an improvement to the quality and accuracy of the information itself.

Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop

Great student project showing possibilities in Augmented Reality. The author writes “The latter half of the 20th century saw the built environment merged with media space, and architecture taking on new roles related to branding, image and consumerism. Augmented reality may recontextualise the functions of consumerism and architecture, and change in the way in which we operate within it. A film produced for my final year Masters in Architecture, part of a larger project about the social and architectural consequences of new media and augmented reality.” I think this is a great example of what is possible and why it is so critical that we design how this media is integrated with architecture.

ProFORMA: Probabilistic Feature-based On-line Rapid Model Acquisition by Qi Pan

The generation of 3D models is very useful for many computer vision applications. This video introduces ProFORMA, a system designed to enable on-line reconstruction of textured 3D objects rotated by a user’s hand. Partial models are created very rapidly and displayed to the user to aid view planning, as well as used by the system to robustly track the object pose. The system works by calculating the Delaunay tetrahedralisation of a point cloud obtained from on-line structure from motion estimation which is then carved using a recursive and probabilistic algorithm to rapidly obtain the surface mesh.

Augmented Table Concept by the Stanford University HCI Group

Interesting concept video showing possibilities for how physical devices can enhance a digital interface.

Sniff Interface by Karolina Sobecka

http://www.vimeo.com/6400266

Sniff is an interesting interactive interface concept. Sniff is an interactive projection in a storefront window. As the viewer walks by the projection, her movements and gestures are tracked by a computer vision system. A CG dog dynamically responds to these gestures and changes his behavior based on the state of engagement with the viewer. More information about this project can be found on the website.

Read full article »

Tangible Interface Concepts by Microsoft

Interesting Tangible interface concepts being created in Microsoft’s Labs. Hope some of these hit the shelves. More after the fold.

Read full article »

Updatable Architecture Concept

Interesting early concept for how users could control objects in their environment. Just imagine changing parameters and watching the architecture update in real-time.

Multitouch Crayon Physics by Multitouch Barcelona

http://www.vimeo.com/980528

Really interesting interface concept where users can great their own controls and use them to perform tasks.  Amazing concept that could be ported to architecture. More information on their website.