DESIGN PROPERTIES
What does it take for an environment to become alive? Interactivity is an interesting subject for architects, especially when considering architecture as an extension of the body. Reflectego is an architectural environment which comes alive as soon as you step underneath it, taking you beyond the borders of what you are used to, regarding your environment.
Reflectego aims to discuss the balance of physical and imagery components in our brain’s construction of reality. The view and experience that we hold of space and our position in it consist of both actual objects and altered descriptions that we interpret to represent reality. By visually distorting the space in our surrounding and by unexpected repositioning of the self in relation to the environment through movement, awareness can be created of the proprioceptive determination and our self-perception in the twilight of the physical and virtual world.
Our design derives from a kaleidoscopic composition of faceted mirrors. In a Kaleidoscope the constructed perceived image consists of actual physical objects and a multiplicity of reflections of this. Through small movements of the objects the constructed images change dramatically due to the amplification of change by visual multiplication of the movement. In our project the user will become the physical object inside a kaleidoscope in which he sees his image scattered and recomposed as a result of his behavior.
The structure consists of a suspended faceted mirror-surface. It hovers and maneuvers above and as a reply to user behavior. The structure folds, flips and expands to create dynamic compositions of the real world objects by alternating angles of reflection. The user interacts with the structure as a piece of the puzzle whilst recomposing the total image.