OPEN LAB
INFO-VIRONMENT THEORY × PROTO INFORMATION MODEL
The nature
of information.
How information takes form.
How it works.
Explore how structure and relationships shape what information can do. Develop new ways to understand and work with information.
View the researchA different view of information. A different relation to the world.
We live
within
information.
The order of a city. The behaviour of an organisation. The relationship between a person and a tool. We reconsider the environments around us as expressions of information.
INFO-VIRONMENT investigates how the structure and relationships of information give rise to its effects and possibilities for change. We are developing shared methods of description, measurement and comparison across different kinds and scales of subject. The aim is to sustain, restore and renew the conditions in which information environments can function and develop new possibilities.
PIMProto Information Model
Beyond appearance.
Towards structure.
Maps convey location. Photographs convey appearance. Words convey meaning. PIM explores a new information form: one in which structure and motion can communicate how a subject is constituted, and what its properties are.
We analyse source material about each subject under shared conditions and construct models using defined generation rules. We examine which differences between subjects appear in form and motion, and which can be communicated to others. The research also explores how changing a model’s configuration and representation can help us work with information.
Pr (proto) is PIM's unit for recording spatial dimensions in its information models against a shared reference.
One source.
Several ways of seeing.
A single view cannot reveal everything. We examine form, individual positions, spatial relations and field patterns through different modes of observation.
Four observation studies derived from the same Venice research model. The opening and urban comparisons use a separate urban research dataset.
RECORDED DEMONSTRATIONSClosed polyhedron
A closed source form, observed from changing viewpoints.
Discrete positions
The same source, reduced to the positions of its individual elements.
Spatial relations
Directions between pairs of positions, extended across the observation field.
Interference field
A model-generated interference-field representation showing changing patterns across the observation field.
A common model
Hold the subject and source constant. Preserve the link between each observation and the model that produces it.
Space. Time. Scale.
Distinguish a fixed form from a changing configuration. Specify the scope of each view.
Make the conditions visible
Record the viewpoint, scale, line settings and time window. Read changes in a view alongside the conditions that produce it.
Different structures.
A common frame.
These city studies introduce PIM’s modelling and observation methods. Research models constructed from analysis of material about each city were recorded with a shared viewpoint and scale. The recordings allow observation of the models’ forms, motion and changes.
Projected width and height in Pr at a fixed observation view. Area (%) is the share of the recorded frame covered by the projected envelope.
Loading recording
Loading Pr measurements
Venice
Venice and its Lagoon
SHARED SCALE
Brasília
World Heritage area
SHARED SCALE
Structure, through time.
Projected widths of the Venice and Brasília models over the recorded twenty seconds, shown on the same Pr axis.
Loading Pr measurementsFurther urban studies
RECORDED DEMONSTRATIONS / 20 sSiena
Historic Centre of Siena
Giza
Giza Plateau
Manhattan
Manhattan borough · land area
Matera
The Sassi and cave dwellings
The six models were recorded with a shared viewpoint and scale. Venice and Brasília are aligned by record time; the other four studies play independently.
From understanding.
To working with it.
Understanding information can inform how we shape the environments in which it functions. Our aim is to sustain necessary functions, respond to change and disruption, and create room for new uses and development. This means sustaining, restoring and renewing the conditions of an information environment.
Reframe information
Describe how information is constituted, and how its relationships and states affect the way it functions.
Seek a common language
Develop shared methods of description and measurement through General TIAS, alongside methods of observation and representation through PIM.
Work with environments
Examine changes to configurations and connections, considering necessary functions, effects on the surroundings and the scope for further change.
Cities, organisations and brands are subjects through which we investigate shared ways of understanding information.
Research,
in progress.
What do we observe, how do we read it, and what should we test next? We document the models, observation conditions and questions under study, and update them as the research develops.