When I was at university getting from class to class between buildings meant fighting your way along a footpath against a flow of students coming the opposite direction. Solutions? You could widen the path (more concrete) or redesign the pathway using a similar width of concrete split into two paths, one for each direction.

Here is an illustration:

There is no need for signs. People will naturally walk taking the most direct path towards their goal. In this way, the two paths end up being effectively one way. In addition, the area between the two paths may be grassed and treed.

The result – no additional concrete and no signs – and no dodging oncoming traffic!

This design occurred to me in 1982 or ’83 and it has only taken me 24 years to get it written down. If anyone has seen this idea implemented anywhere – I would love to see pictures. Leave a comment.

If all our building’s internal walls, signage as well as dynamic displays where flat panel displays what would happen?

I was walking through a mall a few days ago and realised that pretty much all that I could see around me could be displayed on flat panels like those in Minority Report. There are many consequences of this, (including the paint industry taking a bit of a battering), but in this post I would like to highlight one.

When our local mall’s interior surfaces are covered with a covering of seamless flat panel displays, the addition of a camera and thermometer recording outside a store will enable shop owners to adapt their decor to attract clients!

Shop owners would like to preserve the visual unity of their brand, but at the same time could:

1. adapt the perceived ‘coolness’ or ‘warmth’ of their shopping environment to the outside temperature.
2. adapt the colour saturation of their store to it a sense of continuity with the outside environment.
3. adapt the brightness of the store to minimise eye dilation adaptation for shoppers
4. adapt the color palette used by their store in response to the colour palettes used by surrounding stores.

From the perspective of shop owners this capacity is no doubt appealing, at the same time, though I will not be able to walk through
malls like that without feeling manipulated! I am not the only one thinking about the implications of this technology. The Interactive Architecture Organisation is a good place to visit to explore this theme more.