Walkin’ On the Sun: 6 Media-Rich Environments

About one year ago, a report surfaced that North Korea had successfully landed a man on the sun.

“This just in: North Korea has landed a man on the Sunday. Seventeen-year-old Hung Il Gong started his journey at 3am this morning, traveling alone, to reach our nearest star, a journey that took him just 4 hours.”

Before it could be confirmed or denied, the news went viral, and thus it became part of the questionable history log that is the internet. But let’s take a minute to imagine what it would be like to travel to the sun, and exactly how badly that would hurt our eyes.

NASA recently made this experience partially livable by creating a hellscape called “Solarium” at the Goddard Space Flight Center. It is a room where visitors can pretend they are actually being boiled on the face of the sun.

Here are some more, less intense media-enhanced architecture.

Ziggo Dome by Benthem Crouwel Architects, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Nearly 120,000 LED fixtures turn the building into a giant video screen that can be used for announcements, or to show what is happening inside.

Relative Space by Planar Systems Inc., New York, NY

Designed in collaboration with Jurgen Mayer H., this display wall is made from slim, narrow-bezel LCD panels that offer a vibrant visual effect.

Gucci Immersive Retail Experience by Planar Systems, Milan, Italy

These engaging media-enhanced columns are part of Gucci’s flagship store in Milan, one of several around the world. It was designed with OOOii, a premier Hollywood technology design company.

Confederation of Danish Industry by Kollision, Copenhagen, DK

Located in the heart of Copenhagen, across from City Hall and next to the entrance to Tivoli Gardens, this programmable facade lights up with a colorful diagonal display.

Hypercube by Bernaskoni, Moscow, Russia

The building is made to adapt over time, and its concrete structure is simply a skeleton for the changing interface of the exterior, where the transparent media façade can be manipulated depending on the changing needs of the occupants, whomever they may be.