TODO Junction: 325 Church Street

As the year comes to an end, the [R]ed[U]x Lab continues to work on a steady stream of projects. One of the projects that the team looks forward to is the Toronto Design Offsite festival - this year there are two sites for the public to see some of the work by the group.

The first site consists of a display of interactive prototype work from the Digital Tools course in the ARC building at 325 Church Street. Though the works are prototypical they also hold promise for evolution into future, large-scale projects. Here are a few examples of projects in development:

LIGHTWAVE

ILLUSTRO

REVERB

 INTO THE VOID

SINE

BLURRED LINES

Check out Friday Night Live at the ROM!

Not limited to a one-time event, the Mesopotamian-themed Friday Night Live will continue for a few weeks at the Royal Ontario Museum. Everyone is encouraged to see and engage with the collaborative efforts among the [R]ed[U]x Lab, MakeLab, the ROM, and University of Toronto's Faculty of Information.

Friday Night Live at the Royal Ontario Museum

Recently the [R]ed[U]x Lab collaborated with MakeLab on the Friday Night Live events at the Royal Ontario Museum.  This has been a great opportunity for the general public to not only take in the incredible exhibits at the museum in the late evenings, but also experience firsthand the technologies the [R]ed[U]x Lab team take for granted including 3D modelling and 3D printing.  Based upon the current exhibition, Mesopotamia: Inventing our world, the event had [R]ed[U]x Lab members create a series of components of Mesopotamian buildings which were made accessible to the general public on iPads using 123D Design where individuals could custom design city blocks and have them 3D printed on a bank of 10 printers.  Not only did the team create the virtual building blocks of the city, but they also created a display table for all the 3D prints (which has continued the group's tradition of putting lights into the design).  Not content with just helping out on the development of the Friday Night Live material, the [R]ed[U]x Lab team also assisted and oversaw guests at the event as they brought their respective Mesopotamian city blocks to tangible reality.

Here are some photos of the team assembling the display table and setting up on the first night of the event.

Naveed preparing the table with one of the laser cutters...

Gary finishing off and cradling the display table...

 

 The team including Jeff, Stuart, Ariel, Naveed, and Gary mingling with the Friday Night Live visitors as they create their own 3D models and prepare to 3D print.

And of course the 3D prints begin to emerge - each one as unique as its creator. Starting off with a simple blank grid at the beginning of the evening and later transforming into a miniature Mesopotamian city, the event was a successful collaboration among [R]ed[U]x Lab, MakeLab, the Royal Ontario Museum, and students from the University of Toronto's Faculty of Information.

CityTV Coverage

Aside from getting a great deal of coverage on various online channels, the [R]ed[U]x Lab teams behind Ad Astra and Light_Scape were fortunate enough to have interviews with CityTV.  To further round out the Ryerson University, Department of Architectural Science angle on the piece, the video also showcased Professor Arthur Wrigglesworth's team's Hybrid Globe project. Check out the video for the full segment.

The coverage of the 2013 Nuit Blanche work at the Bata Shoe Museum

In performing a quick survey of the work done by the [R]ed[U]x Lab, there are some great highlights to serve as a reminder to all the teams that their work was appreciated by the public:

According to CTV News, Ad Astra was among the "10 things to see at the art-after-dark show":

"6. Light_Scape by [R]ed[U]x Lab at the BATA Shoe Museum, 327 Bloor St. W. This installation will grow organically the more people interact with it. Easy to handle cubes, each containing tri-colour LED that cycle through several colours, can be moved about. The cubes stick together with Velcro to create a whole new scene."

From the Torontoist:

"At the Bata Shoe Museum, the interactive audio project Ad Astra lights up the entrance. Strings of white lights contain a chrome ball which, when touched, plays a different instrument in the background song. The downside of it being mesmerizing: people are walking slowly through the narrow halls."

From Bazis' website, the Bata Shoe Museum was noted as one of the "Four must-see Nuit Blanche exhibits in Yorkville"

From SheDoesTheCity, the Light_Scape project was selected as one of their favourite pieces of the evening:

“This tactile installation relies on user interaction to grow organically. Each user contributes to the evolution of the Light_Scape, by altering the appearance of the surface. The Light_Scape consists of individual, easy to handle cubes, each containing a tri-colour LED that cycle through a spectrum of colour. The modular shape of the light cubes allows the user to freely explore limitless configurations and patterns. The cubes and subsurface are covered with Velcro, giving them the strength to defy gravity. The Velcro’s fuzzy texture diffuses light and produces a soft pulsing glow, which when accumulated, creates the illusion of a living organism.”

One thing that should be mentioned is that absolutely NONE of hte projects done by the [R]ed[U]x Lab would have been completed had it not been for Blaine and Frank's invaluable assistance in the production of all these projects!