Algorithmic Playscapes

Building on my Box Fort project, I’d like to do more with genetic or fractal/L-system generation of architecture. I’m still interested in play and I think playground structures are a good place to explore the depth of these techniques without all the complexities of buildings. Plus, many of the examples of computational architecture I’ve seen kind of resemble jungle gyms already.

Primarily inspired by the work of Michael Hansmeyer and the real playground featured on Playscapes.

I’m thinking of building climbing and seating structures out of hills or other terrain, but I’d be interested in other ideas, particularly ones that deal with light and shadow.

Audiovisual Accompanist

I really like music, but I haven’t done any projects with sound yet. This project would probably a mashup of a visualization system and an algorithmic composition system. I don’t have many ideas about how to build on existing work in either domain, but I like the idea of standing in front of a screen and speakers and playing my trumpet or singing along to a dynamic soundtrack which changes in response. Hopefully the result would listenable, and the visuals would be pretty and somewhat informative to the user. I’m not sure if there’s any meaning in this system, but I think the final experience would be enjoyable.

Primarily inspired by the music of Tristan Perich and the auto-accompanist systems developed by Roger Dannenberg (he showed videos in his class, but I can’t find them online).

The composition system and the audio input are the most important parts; the visuals are secondary. I hope this would transcend my previous attempts at algorithmic composition to produce something interesting and enjoyable, instead of merely tolerable.

Other Ideas

I have several other not-very-developed ideas, which I’ll list here and maybe expand on later.

• Internet Control Panel – ask people on Mechanical Turk to draw components from a control panel (switches, buttons, gauges, levers, etc.) and then write a program to assemble them all into a huge “Internet Control Panel”
• Light-responsive architecture, again. Maybe interactive? The user can sculpt a building using light?
• I really like the sketches of Frank Lloyd Wright; they have a very interesting style and make me think of separating a scene into layers that can be separated in space. I have no idea what kind of project this would lead to.
• Projection mapping the some of the statues in front of the CFA so that they whisper and gossip about other statues when people sit in the alcoves.