Interactive Living Light Structure Maps Air Quality in Seoul
Environment, humanity and architecture are not separate entities; they are interconnected and can even interact. That is the substance behind Living Light, a structure built in Peace Park in the heart of Seoul, South Korea.
Living Light functions as an interactive canopy and is a bit reminiscent of the Solar Night Garden in Jerusalem and some solar tree designs. But Living Light has no solar power panels. No, this unique piece of architecture by David Benjamin and Soo-in Yang is “alive” in a different way. Its translucent skin glows and blinks in response to air quality data and public interest in the local environment.
The abstract honeycomb shape of the pavilion is actually a map of Seoul redrawn into “neighborhoods.” The design is based on air quality sensors installed by the Korean Ministry of Environment in the various neighborhoods of Seoul. Each polygonal shape on the map represents the air surrounding one of the 27 sensors in place around the city.
Living Light not only illuminates or blinks in response to air quality data, but actually interacts with local citizens. While standing beneath its canopy or watching from nearby buildings, people can text message the structure, and not only will it blink in response, but it will reply to the message.
The amazing structure is functional, dynamic and interactive, offering real-time information. It is meant to connect people to their environment and the environment to its people. It also symbolizes a potential future for building facades, demonstrating technology that could change the way we look at buildings…and buildings look at us. Imagine walls of windows that are solar power panels and real-time communicators at the same time!
Living Light aka “The Living” was designed and built in association with the Living Architecture Lab at Columbia University in New York. Two more “living” sculptures are floating in the East and Bronx rivers in New York City, connecting life underwater to life above.
Photo Credit: Living Light
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Posted on November 4th in Solar Products by Dan.
November 4th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
While I think that we don’t need any machine to “reconnect” to the environment, I also think that this is a good idea. Out of all the ruckus and noise of a busy, urban city, we may need something like this to remind us of our mother earth and how we must take care of her before it’s too late.
November 4th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
I think this is the great step on moving towards the future and I think this is the solution of the global warming.
Thanks for posting and I am looking forward for some more like this..Keep posting.
November 5th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Thanks Laurie and Richard!
Richard, I agree that we don’t need any machine to connect to the environment, but I think establishing a substantial balance between nature and technology is vital to our increasingly mechanized future. And while Living Light may be just a symbol, it may also be a harbinger of things to come (and a small, tech-savvy reminder of the natural world that exists even in our densest cities is never a bad thing).
And Laurie, you bet we’ll keep on posting! Cheers!