B A L A N C I N G A G E

S U B M I S S I O N O N EM A R C H 1 4 , 2 0 1 1

cover image: Group Experiment #1, To generate timelines. image R.Sumner

Daniel CollinsonMy first memorable ex-perience with technol-ogy was when the Sharp GX10 cell phone came out which was one of the first camera phones to be released in New Zealand, My family had an Japa-nese international stu-dent at the time and he brought one. I thought it was the coolest phone ever.

Ruth SumnerMy first memorable experience with tech-nology was when I was about 10 years old, a boy called Reuben in my class at school got a talking watch which told the time in an American Woman’s voice. I was very jealous indeed.

Laura JollyIn 1996 I got my first film camera. I had no previous understanding of technology. Unfortu-nately I never got to de-velop a single roll of film because I opened up the back and touched some-thing I shouldn’t have. I remember tugging at my dad to make it work. I couldn’t grasp the con-cept that it was broken, because it didn’t look broken.

Charles ChenFirst time using a com-puter and holding a mouse in your hand was a incredible experience for me. I was second grade at the time. I have never used a computer before, I remember get-ting told not to delete or drag anything to “recycle bin”. I had some of my best gaming time when I was in primary school. I’ve played almost all of the massive hits at the time(e.g. C&C red alert, starcraft etc.) Mouse control was a bit strange to get use to at the start. It is hard to imagine that 10 years it become part of your everyday life.

B A L A N C I N G A G ECONTRIBUTERS

Gina Van BerloIt was 1996 when I had my first memorable ex-perience with technology. Our primary school pur-chased four computers for the whole school, and we were lucky enough to get one for our class. Everyone was so excited to get this new device, that we had to make a class roster of who would turn the computer on and off each day. I was third on the list and remember going home to tell my dad that I was turning the computer on the next day!

John WonMy most memorable ex-perience with a technol-ogy was getting a Game Boy. This changed the revolution of gaming where I was able to play anywhere and anytime. I would spend many hours playing these addictive games.

Lulin DingI hopped on the plane from China to New Zea-land when I was five, as far as I can remember I never thought about the action of going onto the aeroplane to go to an-other country was a big deal. In fact I don’t even like flying by plane any other type of transport is so much more appealing. I did not realize its im-portance until I spoke to someone that has never flown before, and that was a lot of people dur-ing that time. From the age of five to nine I trav-elled quite a bit on the plane and it usually took over 14 hours.

Fig.1; Waiting/degeneration/ transience and permanance.image: R.Sumner

The precarious relationship between transience and permanence will be in a balanced state of equilib-rium by the year 2040 in Wellington, New Zealand. This is highly influ-enced through Design and achieved through the power of connections. It is about “the organism in relation to its vital processes or functions, [that is] extended to include the mind.” (OED) and therefore also the ma-chine; which is an equal to one’s mind through a symbiotic relationship.

As “there are no ‘things’ in the natu-ral world divorced from their sys-tems”, (OED) we propose to move the WCC offices to Wellington’s train station (site) thus turning the site into the heart of the city with the trans-portation and communication sys-tems acting as the arteries and veins flowing through and (re-)connecting Wellingtonians. The result will enable the symbiotic relation between man (mind) and machine to blossom and harmonise with the surrounding en-vironment.

Here-by turning the act of transit (un-der the guise of the theory of relativ-ity) into a refining time for physically and literally re-connecting with soci-ety, thus re-gaining our social interac-tions from the culture of commodity.

G R O U P P H I L O S O P H Y

Fig.2; Previous DLF project to critique: Being Human. images sourced: http://designledfutures.com/dlf2009/09students/beinghuman

P R E V I O U S D L F P R O J E C T C R I T I Q U E

Being Human2009

The Being Human ideas and work ap-pears to all stem from the divisionis-tic/severance philosophy of ‘us and them’; giving the beings human quali-ties without treating them like hu-mans. Though our group wishes to have an equal relationship with tech-nology, as we are technology, we are our tools, we are cyborgs, and always have been, it’s simply about managing that precarious relationship (that ‘be-ing human’ venerates) to enable the balance required for symbiosis.

2049, where human and machines would exist together. The future they presented showed a lot of decimation against the machine and the situation closely parallel the civil war in the US. “[…] the Being gaining the opportu-nity to grow and develop, connection with a human will let them experi-ence human senses, and through the human’s senses, inhabit the physical world in addition to the digital.”

There were also a lot of biblical refer-ences where it depicted human as god and made the machine as a new gen-eration Adam. “Humans give Beings the ability to experience the physical world, the richness of knowledge in application, and the five human senses. “ Or even recent literature Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein where it captures the interaction between Dr. Frankenstein and the monster.

The group used beautiful imagery and had a clean/ simple look about their work but the site was frustrating due to unnecessary scrolling which would repeat the timeline again if you clicked back to the main menu. The site needed to be more static with less complex navigation furthermore the video was far too long and became difficult to watch after the first half.

Fig.3, 4 & 5; Wellington Railway Station. images: R.Sumner

Wellington Railway Station

The Wellington Railway Station is the heart of Wellington City.Where-by the transportation and communication systems stemming from this are the city’s arteries and veins, and humans are the blood cells travelling and interacting through these systems. By adding symbolism in the city it adds an extended layer of the invisible history and the vibrant culture of Wellington.

“An Evening Post editorial in 1914 de-scribed roads as ‘the arteries and veins of the social system of a country’.”-developing economies, historic over-views of Wellington.

To further enforce this ideal we are moving the council to the train sta-tion. By moving the physical head-quarters we are connecting up the dots to make the Wellington Railway Station the true heart of the city.

An area to focus on is the historical recognition embodied in a building/structure. Where-by the site is seen and interacted with as an ancestor, embodied/imbued with knowledge, history and memories.We will be further looking into the deterioration of the building along-side the physical deterioration of the inhabitants/users.

G R O U P & I N D I V I D U A L S I T E

Fig.6; Wellington City Map of Group members literal connection with site.

Fig.7; Fibre Optics Networks in Wellington CBD. images from broadbandmap.govt.nz/map/

Fig.8; Inspiration. Eindhoven Glow Week 2010. Town Hall.images sourced: http://www.gloweindhoven.nl/

The initial proposed media is video and projections inspired by Eiden-hoven Glow week and the long now foundations ‘Prague astronomical clock.’ 600 year anniversary projec-tion.

The video would encapsulate the es-sence of our main ideas and present in a clear and attention-grabbing way. Video is also the fastest and easiest way for the audience to view and ab-sorb our ideas.

The idea of projecting onto the physi-cal deteriorating structure with the images of either the old building, or future projections. Thus the ability to adapt buildings becomes easier by physically visualising and comparing to the surrounding buildings, enabling the council to spend more on quality buildings which reflect the heritage and the culture which makes Welling-ton such a unique city.

P R O P O S E D M E D I A & R A T I O N A L E

Fig.9; screening/materiality sheer over the original. image: R.SumnerOpposite page: Fig.10; future projections idea. image: R.Sumner

future p r o -j e c -t i o n sproposal to coat the site structure/building in an ‘armour’ to equal-ly protect the original materiality and to project a new structure over the original.

...Most specifically timelines, for example within the wgtn cbd, literal timelines running through the streets especially along the coastline markings? This led on to more timelines talk, and the idea of the tiny tiny things which happen in the past or present and what impact they can have on the future, (butterfly effect) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/But-terfly_effect perhaps we could look at one tiny miniscule happenstance of present day wellington, which could unbe-knownst to us have a huge effect on future life.

Group meeting: Thursday March third twenty eleven, Image: R.Sumner

I N I T I A L P H Y S I C A L / D I G I T A L E X P E R I M E N T S

Fig.12; The Nervous System, image from the long now foundation.

The main purpose of the “aging” ex-periments was to understand the sig-nificance of each individual aspect of our life cycle. From very young to old age there are attributes that we place importance on and by putting our-selves into the shoes of the character it’s easier to see how we may feel later in life. Visually the deterioration of age seems negative but the most pre-cious parts of life are the memories that we gain over time and it’s record-ed on the contours of the face.

As humans we naturally cherish heir-looms that are passed down through the generations. The sentimental fac-tor is the responsibility of taking care of something that was once treas-ured by someone that we once knew and still adore. Ideally we should be valuing our surroundings in the same manner, encouraging architecture to be treated as generational heirlooms that we can gain inspiration, knowl-edge from and pass on to the genera-tion after us.

We are campaigning for a city filled with a multitude of modern and icon-ic architecture, welcoming the influx of digital technology and balancing it with pre technology living.

This was an experi-ment to explore the feeling of being old. We made a thick face mask to restrain the movement of our face. We talked about the feeling of post bo-tox, the loss of muscle control, and elasticity. The sensation of not wanting to move your face even to express natural expressions. Image: L.Ding

“I take multivita-mins and fishoil capsules because my lifestyle can leave me run down which can affect my im-mune system, these pills help prevent me from falling ill.” -Daniel Collinson

“Every vitamin my body needs I can get from fresh fruit and vegetables so I’m not big on vitamins. I take one multi-vitamin daily to compensate for any-thing I might miss and try to eat a healthy and varied diet as much as possible. ” -Laura Jolly

“I have been taking health pills since I was a kid and guess I’ll always keep tak-ing them, it’s the only way I can get the nutrition that i need. It’s a mind-set.”-Lulin Ding

“It looks like a lot, but i generally only take the Vitamin B and D and some C if i feel a bit stressed and sometimes a flax-seed oil, de-pending on what I have been eating.” -Ruth Sumner

preservation through medicine -each group mem-bers daily vitamins.

Why do I smoke?Firstly I consider it as a habit, it is a constant rou-tine to get out of bore-dom to tell you the truth. I guess it is a different way to cope with stress or nerves. Through my daily intakes of cigarettes, this is an example of com-plete opposite of healthy aging. -John Won

“Since 1997 I’ve start-ed taking vitamins mainly due to my mums healthy influ-ence. The reason I still take them is because I can notice a difference in my daily concentra-tion and efficiency if I dont take them. ” -Gina Van Berlo

“Reason of not having pills:First of all I think taking pills are for sick people and it tastes not good. Most of the pills smells bad. Medicine are not as good as fruit or vegetables that can eas-ily absorb by body and they contains ar-tificial flavor or preservatives that most people do not realize. If you don’t need to take medicine please don’t take any. It will damage your body if you take un-necessary amount of medicine or pills. People wasting money on pills because they think they do not have enough vi-tamins or minerals, they don’t know that you can get them by eating fruit and veg-etables. And in some cultures, for exam-ple the Chinese culture that you can take herbal medicine that is much better than taking western medicine.” -Charles Chen

initial communication with film schoolad placed in Big Idea 08/03/11ad responses within 7 hours.opposite page, printed ad pinned up at Weltec.

fig.24; work in progress of aging process.

“I did not feel much different even with the makeup on, but the reaction of the people around me was different. They kept telling me how old I look, but I actually did not feel that different to how I was pre makeup. Even looking at the mirror as I was washing the lines off my face felt surreal, it felt very impersonal as if it was happening to someone else. All in all it was more of an experience for the people around me.” Lulin, made-up to look ‘aged’ by a professional make-up artist.

fig’s 25 & 26; Before and After Imagess of ‘aged’ makeup experiment.

The process of aging does not neces-sary have to be one of deterioration, the flower is a perfect example start-ing from a bud it blooms and forms a beautiful flower then deposits its seed.

Fig.27; Flower Blossom movie by Movie by rulivede

This experiment captures the essence of rippening. At every stage of the aging process the banana is useful. The youthful green characteristics are great for thai cooking, the yellow teens means they are ideal for eating on the go, the spotty age means they are perfect for baby food or people with no teeth and in the later brown days its perfect for a rich and intense cake.

Fig.28; ripening banana sequence. Images : Gina Van Barlo

Fig.29; Time management chart showing project tasks and completion dates

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