Art+Com are a design company who work within the digital realms, from the futuristic BMW Welt to the streets of Tokyo, connecting virtual worlds with a hands-on tactility. The company’s aim is "to explore the future of all new media, of whatever discipline, and to implement them in project applications”. Formed in 1988, Art+Com create high-tech interfaces for galleries and museum environments, where user interaction is at the forefront.Just like Science Fiction writers, Art+Com envision scenarios that transcend time, visualising and creating worlds from the past and the future. For the recently opened BMW Welt in Munich, Art+Com were responsible for what they refer to as the “Mediatecture”. The interior walls of the Product Info Center are in fact L.E.D screens, and within the design of the building the architecture itself becomes media, instead of just walls becoming screens for projections. In the animations, Art+Com have re-mixed historical images to new effects. The visitors also trigger the images to change, creating a unique experience. Users can also test the car's capabilities with the simulated multi-media driving experience.

Simulated Driving at BMW Welt
Other work also involves issues of mobility. For the OSRAM Seven Screens in Munich, “Reactive Sparks” focuses on the movement of passing vehicles. Every passing car is individually tracked and triggers a reaction on the traffic stelae that is clearly comprehensible to both drivers and passers-by. The main topic of the installation is energy. The movement of the passing vehicles is interpreted as a metaphor for life energy, as an expression of activity and lives.
Seven Screens react to to drivers
Going back in time, in Berlin's Museum of Natural History they developed the “juroscope”, a device that allows visitors to see dinosaurs from the Jurrasic age on the rampage through the Museum halls! Visitors focus the device on the real display skeletons, which then grow organs, muscles, and skin. The animal is brought to its natural habitat and starts moving, feeding and hunting.

Visitors view dinosaurs through the Juroscope.
Much of their work aims to present virtual experiences in the physical world. There is almost always user-interaction. In Tokyo, they designed the project “Duality” (2007) . It is a fake pond, where when one stands on a LED screen, it appears to to ripple, and then sends ripple effects off into the real pond.

Duality in TokyoArt+Com, envisioning the future through design and making the fantastic real!

This weekend, the new BMW Welt opens in Munich, a sustainable building that saves an estimated 30 percent in energy by using new technologies such as photovoltaic roof panels and natural ventilation systems. Next week the Wired LivingHome opens, a luxury green prefab house set in the LA Hills.
So has green architecture gone mainstream? Or are sustainable materials and responsible building methods an expected result of our current “climate” of climate change?

BMW Welt
Over the next week, Club of Pioneers will introduce a variety of Green architects and their work, such as Ray Kappe. We will not only look at new technologies and ideas, but innovative and pioneering strategies necessary in creating urban spaces today. Architecture - the construction of permanent buildings made of cement, concrete and glass, often with complicated utilities, is by definition not environmentally friendly. However, as a result of increasing pressure over pollution and energy consumption - planners, builders and architects are giving increasing attention to making buildings more sustainable. The LEED (Low Energy Electron Diffraction ) system of categorizing Green buildings is becoming more stringent. But by no means does this equate to boring looking houses. 1. Going Natural
The simplest way to build green is by using natural materials. There has been a resurgence in the straw bale house movement and a return to Sixties style “homesteaders”, with simple wooden structures and composting toilets. It is often in emergency and disaster situations where materials such as paper and bamboo can be quickly assembled and dismantled, while still providing shelter. Recycling or “adapted reuse” (using old buildings for new purposes) is another way to leave a small carbon footprint when building. Large brownfield sites being transformed into landscaped parks is an especially green “adapted reuse” alternative.
Atkins Architects use a quarry to build a new hotel.2. Smart Sustainability
As technologies are developed, architecture and houses are becoming smarter. Energy resources, like solar power, are being used more and more for creating alternative power supplies, which lessens the load on the Grid. The use of photovaltaic cells placed on roofs or other surfaces can take on lively shapes as they work, and can even be used to power the family car.
Competitions such as the recent Solardeclathon encourage the building of zero emission and stylish homes.

Architect Paul Murdoch uses roof gardens3. Building with Nature
By using plants and ecological systems themselves within the building structure, carbon is absorbed from the atmosphere and may even be regenerative to the environment. Roof gardens are an obvious example, and in addition to looking good, they provide vital cooling and warming properties, as well as reducing air temperature, lessening the need for artificial air conditioning. Even more extreme are the structures made from plants themselves, generative materials that grow and resemble biological organisms more than houses
So keep checking Club of Pioneers for upcoming features and discussions on the topic.