Information in Ornaments
Excavating hidden structures in the built environment
„Information in Ornaments“ proposes a new ornament for architectural spaces that intends to increase the transparency of our built environment. By exposing technical and structural elements usually hidden behind pristine white walls, the ornament makes previously hidden information visible.
Better access to information allows people to make more informed decisions, which reduces dependency on their environment. „Information in Ornaments“ demonstrates how humans can take power from the human-made environment back into their own hands. Our self-imposed dependency can be challenged. Empowerment is possible and more necessary today than ever before.
Through three levels of complexity, each “tile“ provides information about the location of a given element (e.g. electrical wiring), the material (e.g. drywall) in which this object is embedded, and technical information (e.g. voltage of electrical wiring).
Ornament: TPU, Textile
Frame: Beech
Every minute of our lives, we are surrounded by human-made structures. Even what is left of the natural landscape was either touched by humans or deliberately left as it was. There are very few things we have yet to alter.
After being brought into this world, humans have managed to design themselves out of their subjection to nature and, in return, have been subjected to their creations. We live under conditions that we have made. These conditions make and continuously change the human-made world we live in. For most people, this world is too complex. There are too many rules, systems and structures that make it impossible to understand why and how things work. We see what is happening around us but don't understand why.
Although we live in the so-called information age, most information can only be found in the digital world and has to be searched for specifically. Except for adverts, departure times, traffic lights and different surface materials in urban landscapes, the physical world is currently not used for sharing information about itself. Would it not make sense to see the physical world as a blank canvas waiting to be filled with information? Information that is meticulously selected, presented and made accessible directly in the appropriate context. Would this make our world more accessible and more transparent?
J. H. Gleiter described ornaments and architectural types ('Typen') as a mirror of society as they provide information about the desires, hopes and illusions of society. Then, would revealing architectural structures through ornaments be a reflection of our present time? A time in which information is digitally accessible 24/7, in a world where people are looking for answers but tend to find a simple explanation for situations and things that correspond to their understanding due to excessive complexity?
This would mean that introducing ornaments as a way of sharing information about a given structure might not only help to make our world more transparent and empower people, but it would also be a mirror of our time by referencing the complexity of our world and the human urge to know and understand.