Exhibit

Cityscope


The CityScope is one of two urban design concepts we did for Deutsche Telekom, which is presented at Kontakthof, an exhibition and conference space at Telekom Innovation Arena in Berlin. The CityScope is made to connect people all over the world in public spaces. With many CityScopes spread across the world people see through a virtual window to explore other cities and meet their people in a short Interaction.

Users interacting through a touchscreen which they can write on or draw pictures on virtually fogged glass. They can show their environment through a built in webcam to let other participants explore their surrounding and see each other. The cityscope is meant to enhance awareness and interest for different cultures in far away countries - boundaries and distances over the globe can be virtually crossed and explored in real time.

                         

Background

In a cooperation with Deutsche Telekom and University of Applied Sciences Potsdam we created a permanent exhibition for the newly founded “Kontakthof” which is a workshop- and conference space at Telekom capital headquarters in Berlin. The exhibitions purpose is to show different kinds of concepts for future smart cities with faster cellular network (5G).


Concept

The Cityscope is an interactive object supposed to be placed in many public places. It enables people to connect with each other, to meet different countries and experience different cultures all over the world. The Cityscope is fogged and the view is blurred in the beginning of every interaction. As soon as somebody wipes the window, the view gets clear and bright. From this moment two cityscopes are connected with each other and the interaction begins. Communication can be diverse: Your experience can be a small chat, an interesting impression of the city or just a quick drawing and a smile. We used this paradigm to create a more natural behaviour with a touch screen that appears as a fogged window between two different worlds. From this moment two cityscopes are connected with each other and the interaction begins.

The Cityscope can be used like a compass: In the moment the user has to choose between different cities, the displayed location will be determined by where the city is located from the users point of view. The object has to be turned physically similar to a steering wheel of a boat.

The CityScope is currently exhibited at Telekom Innovation Arena

Philosophy

In a future where virtual realities are predicted to prevail and in which screens and IoT applications are supposed to be everywhere, we wanted to create an object that doesn't seem to comprise latest technologies. A touchscreen which reminds of a regular window, uses the physical and the only natural wipe interaction between hands and glass, to let human interact with each other. This interaction appears if a glass is blurred because of temperature difference. In this pristine state of a window, people would wipe it free to see better or write small messages onto it. We used this behaviour to create a natural interaction between object and user, to design an experience of exploring unknown speheres. We want to focus on cultural exchange, so the functionality of the cityscope is reduced and stripped down to the most essential functionalities. The Cityscope is an object for this forthcoming time which works with an analog approach and a digital soul.

Exhibit

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Speculative

Fluid Living

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