I/O Wall: “

The I/O Wall is a project carried out by David Gerber, Mark Meagher and Gerber’s students from Sci Arc.

’ The goal of the project has been to design a new room-scale interface to computer functionality and data: the wall will keep track of the objects stored on its shelves using RFID readers, and will provide an interface for searching the stored objects. Proximity sensors will provide some additional data on patterns of use in relation to the presence or absence of specific objects on the shelves.
(…)
One of the research questions we’re addressing is how the digital affordances of the wall can be expressed through design (…) We’re finding that the design of the nodes containing the sensors is a critical to the success of the wall project: both because the node design has a direct impact on the functionality of the sensors, but also because the design of the nodes (form, materiality, tectonics) is the primary means we have for communicating the functionality of the wall, and the range of interaction that it affords.’

Why do I blog this? My interest in tangible interfaces explains why I am curious about that project; the dimensin I find pertinent is the expression of certain technological aspects. How would this be reflected in the design per se? Maybe the answer lays in the project title.

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(Via pasta and vinegar.)