WaveNewYork
Company SweeneyVesty on behalf of Kaynemaile
Introduction Date May 18, 2017
Project Website http://www.kaynemaile.com/wave-new-york/
Why is this project worthy of an award?
Not many companies launching an entirely new product and brand into the U.S. marketplace would have the chutzpah to go directly to the heart of America’s most populous pedestrian plaza – Times Square – to do it. But this is precisely what innovative New Zealand architectural product designers and manufacturers Kaynemaile did. The show business maxim “go big or go home” was the project’s strategic starting point – appropriate for a product that had its genesis in The Lord of the Rings. From its inception as costume chainmail for actors in the movie trilogy, to its latest urban landscape designs, architectural facades, interior design, art works and lighting, Kaynemaile delivers inspirational designs by having pure innovation at its core. Kaynemaile is a seamless architectural mesh system created to bring freedom and joy to hard spaces. Applied to both exteriors and interiors, Kaynemaile is a highly colorful, kinetic, and tactile material. The social tension Kaynemaile responds to involves architects, artists and designers looking for creative sparring partners to inspire and push them as they face the tyranny of tight budgets and dull utilitarian urban design, resulting in spaces lacking humanity, warmth, and joy. Working with U.S. environmental artist, sculptor and MacArthur Fellow Ned Kahn, Kaynemaile inventor and former Weta Workshop art director Kayne Horsham designed a 425 sq ft, 14 ft high pavilion to be a centerpiece of the 2017 NYCxDesign Festival. The name of the installation WaveNewYork had a multiplicity of origins: the kinetic nature of the material meant that visitors could literally create waves of energy in their interactions with it; a wave was intended as a big “hello” gesture to New York and America; and the boldness of the design was intended to create waves of attention both from the visiting public and from design industry and innovation media. WaveNewYork was a “precipitating event” for a range of engagements for Kaynemaile – a series of presentations to leading New York architectural firms to introduce the product (including Davis Brody Bond, Ennead Architects, CetraRuddy, Selldorf Architects), conversations with designers, artists and commissioners of urban art, media pitching (which secured feature placements in Fast Company’s Co.Design, Designboom, Forbes, Architect, Desxigner, Denizen, Mental Floss, Nerdist, and design titles in Brazil, Japan and New Zealand), an award entry (won “Best New Architectural Product” at the NYCxDesign Awards presented at MoMA), and engagement with the New York State government regarding installations on bridges and tunnels as part of the “Reimagining New York Crossings” initiative. A backdrop to WaveNewYork was an export market validation exercise for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise – the initiative was seen by NZTE as a resounding success. Kaynemaile is intended as a beautifying, joyous, interactive experience by humanizing spaces and bringing warmth and joy to hard city environments. Times Square is a tough place for human experiences. There are no soft surfaces, no nature, little intimacy. We believe that for four days in May 2017, Kaynemaile brought a good measure of joy to America’s biggest town square.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
If a single word is to encapsulate Kaynemaile, it is "Joy." The product is instantly attractive, inviting to touch and to play with. While the commercial and operational elements of the installation were immensely satisfying, the lasting impression for us as designers was creating and experiencing Joy. The photographs of the installation show this emotion in every frame. From the scale of the exhibit, to the element of discovering something new and original, to the intimate interactions with the material, the single design highlight was to create Joy. Kaynemaile’s playful, tactile and interactive Times Square installation was made from a seamless polycarbonate architectural mesh invented by former Weta Workshop artistic director Kayne Horsham. Kaynemaile is made from the same material to manufacture F16 fighter jet cockpits, astronaut helmets, and aircraft windows. Stronger and lighter than glass, Kaynemaile reacts extremely well with lighting, making Times Square an ideal location. Kaynemaile is fabricated from a recyclable polycarbonate with nil-waste manufacturing that has only 1/8th of the embodied energy compared to metal mesh. It is extremely durable, fire resistant, low maintenance, and easy to clean. The mesh gives approximately 80% airflow through the cross-sectional open area. The patented interlocking mesh rings re-imagines 2000-year-old chainmail and applies this to a variety of architectural structures including large scale building and carpark wraps, shading for rain, wind and sun, airport security screens, hotel ceiling systems, university walkways, office partitions, lighting fixtures, kinetic art installations. Kaynemaile has been installed worldwide by building owners, developers, transit authorities, corporate headquarters, and shopping centers. Kaynemaile was originally conceived as a clean oceans product to be applied at scale as an oil-spill containment system throughout the water column because of its ability to be made at unlimited size. Kaynemaile is currently designing other environmental marine applications.
Who worked on the project?
Design: Kayne Horsham, CEO Kaynemaile & Ned Kahn, kinetic sculptor Operations: Robyn Downham, Client Director, Kaynemaile PR: Brian Sweeney, Reid Whelan, Hans Lao, Brenda Fuster, Catherine McMechan Print: Duggal Visual Solutions, Inc. Technical: Adam Burrows, Oxygen Lightworks Street Team: GoGorilla Media Photographer: Helen Klisser During Co-funder: New Zealand Trade & Enterprise liaison (Beatrice Faumuina, Consul General)
View the project video: https://vimeo.com/227655491
Wave wall
Company RD (Retail Dimension)
Introduction Date April 30, 2018
Project Website
Why is this project worthy of an award?
When presented by our client with a simple picture, and asked if we can deliver, the RD team gallantly took on the challenge! Driven by the screen dimensions (60 x 55” LG OLED screens), the floating ‘wave wall’ required a frame work structure to securely host all screens, accommodate the curved wave design, have upper, lower and ladder access, speaker mounting, support beams, and the various jigs and brackets to secure all components. The RD team designed, modeled, manufactured and engineered all components in-house. This project was one of many that were delivered simultaneously on site for the client. Seamless collaboration with construction, IT and other suppliers were crucial in ensuring all deadlines were met and the client remained happy with delivery. The manufacture and installation of the wave wall was a monumental feat, and even the installation instructions were created in 2D & 3D models to demonstrate accurate angles for lifting the framework. The wave wall configuration allows for split screen content managed by the client. It is a state of the art feature, and a first of its kind for New Zealand. And because of its complex and intensely detailed structure that was brought to life from a simple ‘idea’ picture, it is an award winning experimental project that now stands proud in the atrium of a well renowned New Zealand corporate brand.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
As an unprecedented project, there was no prior design, manufacture or logistics work to adhere to, so a truly new way of creating a video wall. Given the requirement to get the massive structure through standard commercial doors, the framework was designed in a way that it could be assembled on site from 8 large sections. The framework was designed to have minimal visual impact and fade into the existing building architecture, keeping true to the original concept of creating a floating wave.
Who worked on the project?
Mitch Hughes, Design Director @ RD David Bergman, Senior Project Manager @ RD Lee Jones, Business Development Manager @ RD The RD manufacture team
View the project video: https://youtu.be/SxJ6PD_JHyY and
Welcome to the Water Cooler, the Workplace 3.0
Company Studio O+A
Introduction Date April 1, 2017
Project Website
Why is this project worthy of an award?
Every year in Milan the giant furniture fair that has heralded Spring in that city for half a century brings thousands of design professionals from around the world to revel in the latest creations from studios, factories and showrooms. For many years Salone del Mobile has been about more than furniture. Workplace 3.0 is a biennial contemplation, within the fair, of where workplace design is going and how work itself is changing. Last year O+A joined three other design firms for “A Joyful Sense at Work,” an exhibit curated by Milan designer Cristiana Cutrona to anticipate positive innovations in workplace design. Each participant tackled the future from its own geographical perspective— one from Iran, another from the Netherlands and a third from Italy. Our contribution from the American West was called “The Water Cooler,” an exercise in the fluidity of space that used the polymorphous nature of water as a metaphor for the way future work environments will shift to adapt to the needs of the moment. As an exercise in thinking beyond the usual boundaries of space planning, head counts and finish selections, this project opened a window on new ways to approach the idea of work. “The Water Cooler” envisioned the direction design will take—indeed, must take—as we become more aware of the way our environment affects how we feel, how we function and who we are.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
Designing an installation on the future of work, O+A’s designers discovered new directions for their own creative futures by stepping back from desk-bound, office-bound templates and imagining an environment that looks (and functions) like nothing we have today. A circle of digital imagery glowing in the floor like a lighted pool with shadowy figures swimming in and out, the actual water cooler in our “Water Cooler” was not a place to grab a drink, but to unwind, regroup and meditate on the mysteries of change. Artist Fernanda D’Agostino’s “Generativity Pool” was the focal point of an installation that identified survival of the planet as the future’s primary challenge and adaptability as its solution. In a space as austere as a Samuel Beckett stage-set, little islands of illumination provided views of a future where virtual reality, wearable office accessories and portable furniture will make every bare stage potentially a workplace. “The Water Cooler” was another in our firm’s series of experimental pop-ups aimed at expanding our concept of work. Challenging the conventions of typical workspace programming, it used VR, video projections and fine art to envision a future in which the social and operational structures of work will have changed so radically that the physical structures have had to change with them. Not incidentally it also demonstrated the global relevance of environmental imperatives at the heart of West Coast design.
Who worked on the project?
Verda Alexander, Primo Orpilla, Jon Schramm, Courtney DeWalt, Olivia Ward
View the project video: https://vimeo.com/240245308
What A Race
Why is this project worthy of an award?
While 360 video and VR are great immersive technologies, they still simulate everything the spectator sees and hears. Acura is a premium car brand, and that means we have a number of very real, physical, tangible products we want our audience to experience. No matter how good a VR simulation is, it’s never going to be as good as sitting behind the wheel of the 2018 Acura TLX A-Spec. AR makes it possible for us to combine the premium experience of sitting in and driving a 2018 Acura TLX with the wonderful immersive worlds and experiences we can create with real-time gaming engines. The AR technology makes it so the driver can go from Antarctica to over the Amazon jungle to erupting volcanoes in the Pacific Rim all in one sitting. And while they do that, the smell of the new car, the feeling of being pushed back in the seat when they accelerate, and the roar of the powerful V-6 engine are not simulated sensations. They’re real because they’re created by actually driving the TLX. The 2018 Acura TLX A-Spec comes with Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD), one of the most sophisticated and precise all-wheel-drive systems on the planet. SH-AWD greatly enhances the driving experience through a series of advanced, real-time calculations of individual wheel velocity, steering angle, engine torque, transmission gear, lateral acceleration, and more to apply the optimal torque distribution at any time during the drive. But the story of SH-AWD is as challenging to tell as the technology is to describe. What it all comes down to is that it makes for a better driving experience, no matter the circumstances and environment. To tell that story, we wanted to combine the precise nature of SH-AWD with the unpredictable nature of an ever-changing racecourse, one where regular drivers get to drive the car in a race consisting of three totally different and uniquely challenging environments. Through AR, we transformed a marine base into three unique worlds: an ice world, a jungle world, and a lava world, each home to a lap in the race. The race was broadcast as an interactive livestream, and fans could help their favorite driver by clearing out obstacles and opening up shortcuts.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
Video games have had a tremendous influence on this project. The inspiration for What a Race comes from video-game culture, a culture that has a significant influence on us as modern creatives. Video-game technology is also what enabled us to bring this idea to life in the first place; modern, real-time, 3D gaming engines and the hardware that runs them have become incredibly powerful in recent years, and this gives us incredible potential for great, technology-powered creative work. The race consisted of three unique levels, each inspired by real-world locations and with heavy influence from gaming. The various elements in the physical space were incorporated into the augmented CGI in a way that was unique to each level. The best example of this design choice was the aircraft hangar itself, which was turned into an iceberg in the arctic level, an abandoned temple in the jungle level, and an active volcano in the volcano level. At the time of production, no existing AR headset could do what we wanted it to do for the race, so we constructed a custom-made AR helmet, tracking the position of the driver’s head inside the car with gyroscopes and the position of the vehicle with ABS and GPS data. A big pillar of this project was staying authentic. By bringing this race to the world live, in a way that allowed our audience to interact with the virtual world, we had to do all this for real with no smoke and mirrors. Facebook Live was a great technology for bringing the event to a big audience in an authentic way. If you were present at the race location, all you would’ve seen was the TLX driving around an empty hangar and the lot outside the hangar, so bringing a live audience to the location wouldn’t make much sense. But with Facebook Live, we could overlay the augmented-reality world on top of the empty lot, and suddenly the live audience saw everything the the driver was seeing. Not only that, but they also got to see the vehicle from several external camera angles, just like in a normal race. But no normal race has one lap in ice, one in the jungle, and one next to an erupting volcano, and this made it a truly unique and first-time experience for our audience. The other part of staying authentic has to do with an unfortunate recent trend in which many emerging technology projects done in advertising didn’t actually work and were instead made to look like they worked in event films or case studies afterward. This trend includes many high-profile, award-winning projects. And while they may fool the untrained eye, those familiar with the technology will see something is wrong. Sometimes that might be acceptable in the name of telling a good story, but for a brand with such sophisticated consumer technology as Acura, it’s vital that the technology we use to tell brand stories actually works. This is the main reason we did “What a Race” as a live event: to prove that the technology behind the event actually worked and wasn’t simply fixed in post-production.
Who worked on the project?
Chief Creative Officer Mark Wenneker Executive Creative Director Margaret Keene Creative Director Martin Pagh Ludvigsen Design Director Florencio Zavala Designer Denzel Hill Copywriter Max Barrett Art Director Alex Haase SVP Executive Director of Integrated Production Lisa Setten VP Executive Agency Producer(s) Alli Taylor Agency Sr. Digital Producer Van Corsa Agency Social Producer Jay Lledo Agency Associate Director, Business Affairs Davina Turnbull Agency Music Producer/Business Affairs Danica Bates Project Manager Emily Little Production Company Current Studios Account Director, Social Media Brian Lerche Account Executive Samir Hamsafar Agency Social Strategy Director Matt Smith SVP Director of Strategy Tom Donovan VP Group Account Director Nicole Neopolitan Managing Director Cameron McNaughton
View the project video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ALyvEBzvwQ
When the Crowd becomes the Circus
Company Ingrid Ingrid
Introduction Date July 6, 2017
Project Website http://ingrid-ingrid.com/qlfdcen
Why is this project worthy of an award?
Our project is the future of performing arts! It’s an approach that combines many technologies to offer a new way of experiencing a live show, a circus show being our first demonstration. Firstly, we had to take the circus out on the street to bring it back to a human level. Secondly, we had to create a set of interactive tools to break the stage barrier between the artists and the audience and offer an engaging and rewarding experience. The technologies put in place were: - A Manager’s App so the stage manager could communicate live with the acrobats and the audience to send them instructions and communicate with the connected objects (the acrobats’ costume) to trigger some components; - Connected costumes that allowed the acrobats to receive instructions, suggest interactions to users and create visual feedback; - A Bidirectional public app that allowed users to receive instructions in order to take part in the show and more importantly to take control of the show at some moments (control what an acrobat will do, for instance); - A “Miniature circus show” that could be found on the streets; a treasure hunt for augmented reality circus acts to extend the show’s experience at one’s own pace. From a user’s perspective, this is what the experience was like: - “On my phone, I received instructions on how to participate in the show: I was told to jump, lower down, dance with the acrobats, etc. Sometimes, only the crowd followed these instructions, sometimes the acrobats did to. There was this other time where I had to follow a moving ball on my screen with my body to do some moves; the crowd was creating a choreography altogether. ” - “There was a moment where I could use the app to scan the hand of the acrobats on which there was a tattoo; it revealed an augmented reality circus act!” - “An acrobat came to me with a message displayed on a screen fastened on their chest; I had to select what they would do. I chose the backflip and he did it for me! Another time, I had to type in the acrobats ID and then I could tell him what to do!” - “The acrobats were playing dead on the ground, the whole street had acrobats lying down! We had to get close and push their screen to reawaken them. ” - “Suddenly, all the acrobats were saying “shhhhh!” and asking us to lower down in silence. Then, one of my friend’s phone rang. All the acrobats came to him, took him in their arms and made him fly over the crowd! So funny.” - “My screen went totally green. The acrobats’ helmets changed to different colors. The ones with the same one regrouped while screaming their color. I understood I had to join the group shouting “green”! What happened after that? We had to hug!” We’ve created a unique combination of technologies that, instead of creating more distance between people, creates a closer human experience, a never seen before entertainment experience.
What else would you like to share about your design? Why is it unique and innovative?
Why is it unique and innovative? - Renewing performing arts shows: It has never been done before; the circus, a classic artform meeting new means of creating magic with new technologies. Children were the most proactive public and they loved it; isn’t this the proof that this is the future of performing arts? - Unique combination: To combine all those various technologies working together for a live show, with physical actions required and sometimes in group synchronicity; - Give up control: As performing arts creator, give up the full control of the show and hand it in part to the user with the help of technology; - Two ways co-creation: Offer an entertainment experience that is not about the distance between the stage and audience but about building relationships in physical proximity, an entertainment experience where both sides can express themselves and react to each other; - Physical proximity: Interactivity used to get artists and the audience to interact physically; - Bidirectional app: Push of content to audience is frequent in live shows’ app. Allowing users to take over, send instructions and individually express themselves is unique - an we did it with no lagging and delays; - Flexible program: The order of the preset “scenes” is up to the stage manager and can be changed at any moment; - Adding new ideas, Live: the stage manager could improvise instructions live, based on the audience’s behavior or ideas that might come up; - Entertaining, even without the app!: Audience without the app also appreciated the show. To see others interacting with the acrobats was entertaining enough! - The numbers speak: It’s a success story: 20 shows, 37% of the audience downloaded the app, a show experienced by thousands of people.
Who worked on the project?
Ingrid Ingrid : Geneviève Levasseur as Producer and Creative Director and Marie-Eve Rheault, Katherine Melançon, Mivil Deschenes, Shania Bogdan, Valérie Mantha // Anthony Venisse as Creator and Director and Alex Trahan, Lucie Vigneault, Félix Boisvert, Martin Sirois, Daniel Séguin, Olaf Triebel // Montréal complètement cirque : Nadine Marchand, Isabelle Brodeur, Amélie Moncelet, Guillaume Labelle, Mélissa Perron, Véronique Lachance // DPT : Hugues Bruyère, Mathieu Léger, Maude Thibodeau, Julie Delias, Hugo Forget, Étienne Cella, Thibault Séquier, Alexandre Leclair, Geneviève Trépanier // Dix2 : Félix Marzell, Jessica Perrin, Marc-Olivier Dion, Renaud Blais, Rita Sahir
View the project video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQhA0F83UaE
