BOOKS
title author publisher price
Media Facades: History, M. Hank Haeusler AV Edition £36.90
42 REVIEW Technology, Content
JUDGING A BUILDING
BY ITS COVER
ROBERT SUCH REVIEWS HAEUSLER’S NEW BOOK ON MEDIA FACADES AND FINDS THAT, ON
THIS OCCASION, THE COVER DOESN’T HIDE A MULTITUDE OF SINS
Architect, media facade designer and lecturer at the University of
Applied Science in Stuttgart, Hank Haeusler is well-qualified to write this
overview of media facade history and development around the globe.
Through his post doctorate studies at the Spatial Information Architecture
Laboratory (SIAL) at Melbourne’s RMIT University, Haeusler has designed
a ‘Spatial Dynamic Media System’, a dynamic 3D light grid that can
display media content in real-time. In short, a voxel facade, which
Haeusler covers, including his own design, briefly through four case
studies in this book. The author’s follow-up publication later this year,
Chromatophoric Architecture - Designing for 3D Media Facades, will
deal with voxel facade design in greater detail.
Divided into four chapters, Haeusler’s book first covers media facade
terminology and outlines a classification system, followed by a look at
the early history of media facades and the development of lighting and
electronic display technology.
Media facades are grouped together according to their technical
characteristics: projection, rear projection, window raster animation,
display, illuminated, mechanical and voxel facades. At the start of the
book, Haeusler notes the classification system has been developed dur-
ing media facade conferences in London, Manchester, Melbourne and
Berlin over the past two years.
Through a series of case studies (32 in total), accompanied by some 300
colour photos and illustrations, the author outlines different types of built
and prototype media facades around the world, from Asia to the USA.
The interior and exterior projects and built works in Haeusler’s case The book’s next to last chapter considers the role of architecture in the
study chapter range from the more technically complex mechanical electronic age and explores links between pre-recorded, live and inter-
surfaces, such as the Aegis Hyposurface in Birmingham and MIT’s active content and the multimedia, architectural skins connecting infor-
Interactive Facade to the simpler window raster animation examples, like mation networks, people and buildings. Haeusler ends with a glimpse
the Blinkenlights in Berlin and Stereoscope in Toronto. Window raster of the future of media screens, using Ada, the intelligent interactive
animation involves placing lamps behind windows in a building facade computer installation at the 2002 Swiss national exhibition Expo.02, as
to create illuminated ‘pixels’ that can be turned on and off. an example.
Haeusler’s case studies also range from the permanent to the tempo- Published in hardback, the 248-page book’s final chapter is a helpful
rary, from the commercial, such as automobile trade fair events, to the section for readers needing to brush up on media content, lighting and
artistic, and the clever use of lighting projector technology. The differ- display technology terms and abbreviations.
ent examples also involve public participation to varying degrees. In A comprehensive introduction to media facades for professionals work-
some cases, the screens turn spectators into participants as content is ing in this growing crossover area of architecture, multimedia technol-
controlled through mobile phones and touch screens. Included are case ogy, art and lighting, Haeusler has written an upbeat, informative and
studies of customized media facade hardware and software solutions for useful book.
buildings like casinos, office towers, exhibition pavilions and museums. Below: Brussels Dexia Tower: LAb[au]
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