Door - Artificial Intelligence Installation

To emphasise and celebrate the theme of artificial intelligence and machine learning, during the 28th Dies academicus, the installation ‘Door’, a portal designed by two female students of the Academy of Architecture as part of an atelier, was showcased in the West Campus Lugano Aula Magna. The door, capable of interacting with those who pass through it, was designed to reflect on the relationship between human beings and the built environment.

The installation is a portal with dimensions of 237 cm in height, 152 cm in width, and 52 cm in depth. It is constructed with a wooden lattice structure and weighs about 70 kg. The door uprights are supported by a drive system that comprises two gear motors that have a reduction ratio of 100:1 and two pivoting wheels at their base. The uprights are equipped with four proximity sensors per base to prevent any obstacles. Similarly, proximity sensors are placed at the passageway to detect the crossing of the gantry.

Operation

"Door" appears as a stationary portal, but as soon as a visitor crosses it, it is able to read the direction of movement in progress and move in the same direction. The installation proposes a series of movements that visitors can choose to follow or abandon. If a visitor decides to move, the installation responds accordingly. The duration of this interaction generates feedback for the installation, allowing it to determine which movements are most pleasing to visitors. This feedback is used to teach the installation increasingly complex and interesting movements over time. The learning principle called machine learning is the basis of the studies on artificial intelligence promoted by the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IDSIA USI-SUPSI), which provided support for data computing.

In traditional architecture, the relationship between the work and the user is evident in its static and tectonic nature. However, in the case of architecture in motion, this relationship is amplified. The machine-learning algorithms record data from the experiences of previous visitors, and this data is used to establish a unique and empathic relationship between the visitor and the portal. This relationship takes the form of a particular 'dance' that is generated by the 'pleasantness' of movement. Dance is a fundamental element of architecture, especially in its design of movement in space.

Atelier Blumer, Sette Architetture Automatiche e altri esercizi, Teatro dell'architettura Mendrisio, 2018

The exhibition showcases a collection of interactive installations created by students from Riccardo Blumer's atelier at the USI Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio. Their approach emphasises learning the fundamental principles of architecture by understanding the human body's potential as a unit of measurement in the anthropised world. Added to that pedagogical approach is the scientific concept of "interference", according to which from an overlapping of phenomena comes a mutual reinforcement of each of them.

Thanks to the valuable collaboration established by the Blumer atelier with the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence USI-SUPSI in Manno, the idea of exploring the interaction between the possibilities of automatic movement, the 'thought' that can be developed in a machine, and their free application in the field of architecture was born. These premises provided a foundation for this exploration.The Sette Architetture Automatiche (Seven Automatic Architectures) are therefore machines capable of moving autonomously according to the most sophisticated applications of robotics, installations with which visitors can interact and which refer to some transversal artistic experiences of the most recent past, from kinetic art to experimental theatre, from Tinguely's Art en mouvement to the many other references that everyone will be able to find. The exhibition is accompanied by sounds produced by motors, pistons, pulleys, compressors and photon sensors, in a collective work that is useful for possible reflections on the role of architecture in a world that is largely made up of interference.