the concept
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 are
interacting through a touchscreen which they can write on or draw pictures on virtually
fogged glass. Furthermore 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 empower awareness and interest for different cultures in far away countries.
Boundaries and distances can be virtually crossed and explored in real time.
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. The communication is diverse: Your can experience 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.
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
does not 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 exploring experience. Furthermore 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. All devices we interact with are
so complex and contain such a wide range of possibilities and features. We want to focus
on cultural exchange, so the functionality of the cityscope is reduced and stripped down
to the most essential features. We wanted to create an object for this forthcoming time
which works with an analog approach but has a digital soul.
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. Our course, was super-
vised by Prof. Frank Heidmann and Prof. Constanze Langer. The exhibitions purpose is to
show different kinds of concepts for future smart cities with faster cellular network (5G).
team members
Ron Leisner, Philipp Voss,
Paul Weigert & Cecilia Thorausch
in cooperation with
