Cyb Rids

3 Volume 4 Number 1

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CybridsIntegrating Cognitive and IPhysical Space inArchitecture

Peter Anders

Abstract: People regularly use perceived and cognitive spaces tonavigate and think. These include zones of privacy, territory, the spaceof memory and visual thought. They let us map our environment, modelor plan projects, even imagine places like Heaven or Hell.Cyberspace is an electronic extension of this cognitive space. Designersof virtual environments already know the power these spaces have onthe imagination. Computers are.not just planning tools - they changethe very substance of design. With computers designers can createspaces both for physical and non-physical media. A consciousintegration of cognitive and physical space can affect construction andmaintenance costs, as well as their impact on our environment.

This paper is about the convergence of physical and cyberspaces. Thefirst part defines cognitive space and its relationship to cyberspace. Thesecond relates cyberspace to the built environment. Finally, a recentproject done at the University of Michigan Graduate School ofArchitecture, USA, is employed to illustrate the integration of physicaland cyberspaces.

... We pierce doors and windows to make a house.And it is on these spaces where there is nothing

that the utility of the house depends.Therefore just as we take advantage of what is,we should also recognize the utility of what is not.(Lao Tsu, Tao The Ching, Chapter Xl l )

Spaces as media Several years ago I attended a conference - Cyberconf 3 - in Austin,Texas, USA. As an architect I was there to see presentations on virtualreality and 3D representation of spaces. Architecture, a driving force in3D imaging, uses virtual reality as part of its toolkit for buildingdocumentation. I thought the meeting in Austin would confirm what Ialready knew. I was wrong.

Amy Bruckman, then a Ph.D. student at Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology's Media Lab, USA, presented a paper2 on a multi-userdomain (MUD) she had created for the conference. MUDs, I learned,are text-based social environments on the internet. Unlike electronicbulletin boards, MUDs use spatial references as social settings. Her

________ MUD, MediaMOO, was set primari!y in MIT's Wiesner Building, the

site of the Media Lab. Though the five-story building comprises labs,offices and work areas, it lacks spaces for the large social eventsBruckman had envisioned.

Though the building was an available reference for creating a MUD, itwas no surprise that it couldn't accommodate large gatherings. Therewas an architectural mismatch between the building metaphor and itsintended use. But Bruckman was not on architect.

Visitors who get to the roof level of MediaMOO are notified of a spaceabove them. This unprecedented sixth floor is the site of a ballroomcomplete with guest facilities, changing rooms (With costumes) anddance floor. The space is a fiction hovering above the WiesnerBuilding. It is a mental space that extends the physical building beyondits original purpose.

This witty solution challenged any assumptions I had brought to Austin,It opened doors onto a world where fictional spaces took the status ofphysical buildings. Architecture here was symbolic, situating the actionsof its users. The computer was not a design tool, in an architecturalsense, but a medium for creating social space.

The seeming parity between physical and electronic space was achallenge, however. Could cyberspaces supplant physical architecture?How would one account for their similarities or differences? What werethe benefits and costs of this ambiguity? I realised how troubling these'luestions could be for architects. Their new tool, the computer, seemedto be Trojan horse that could reduce the need for construction - perhapsarchitecture itself.

Architectuc:ybe

CONVERGENCE 1998 Volume 4 Number 186

Indeed, architecture is not alone. Any discipline that depends on thephysical production of objects could be affected as well. If these objectshold or relay information they can potentially be supplanted bysimulation. We already see this since information media lessen the needfor the production of books, for instance.

Over the past few years, I have studied the spatialisation of the internetand its potential effects on our physical environment.~ I hope to start adiscussion on the nature of space and its role in thought and socialinteraction. While the research I will present was dane in anarchitectural context, I believe the issues are general. They are asrelevant to those engaged in electronic media as they are to thosecreating our physical environment.

Perceived and Both perceived and cognitive spaces are mental constructs that modelcognitive spaces the world around us. These constructs let us associate and evaluate their

contents. They are important to relational and qualitative thought, eachof which depend on contextual information. Contextual understandinglets us evaluate issues before taking action. It helps us select a brond at

_________ the grocery store or design a graphic for a web site.

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Architecture andcyberspace

I will refer to the spatial construct of the outer world as perceived spaceand that of imagination and memory as cognitive space. While theyboth result from mental effort these spaces represent different kinds ofinformation. Perceived space is a mapping of external stimuli whilecognitive space represents internally generated information. Since mydiscussion of this will be brieF and speciFic to mental imagery, I referreaders to Kosslyn and Koenig's excellent Wet Mind: The NewCognitive Neuroscience for additional material on the mental processesunderlying perception and cognition!

Spatial constructs inForm a large part of our language throughmetaphors and symbols.s They alsa form the structure of our experience.Information comprising them includes visual images, sound, and touch.They all contribute to a complete and immersive sense of the world. Wetake information in through the senses, process it via an associativememory for interpretation and then store it in long-term memory.Expression is roughly the same process in reverse. Memory and thoughtare processed mentally and projected to the outside as voice andgesture. These expressions are in turn mediated through sound and lightto enter recipients' senses as information, and once processed, enter therecipients' perceived space.

Expression is one way we can observe our thoughts - we internaliseour own expressions just as others do. Physical expressions, likesketches or notes, remain at large for future reference, extending ourintelligence beyond our bodies into external space. Our spatialenvironment is not only a product of thought, it augments our thoughtprocesses. We use space to make us smarter.

The spatial canstruct is integral to our understanding of the world. 6 It iscrucial to thought whether the information it portrays comes from real orsymbolic sources. This becomes more important as virtual reality andsimulation technology extend our cognitive space into interactiveenvironments.

We learn to think spatially from the moment of birth - our first days arespent building a spatial matrix around us. While this matrix may differfrom one person to the next it is an attribute we share as humans andpossibly with other creatures as well. 7

The spatial construct's strength lies in its inclusivity. It can accommodateboth physical and symbolic information. For instance, a museumcommunicates with us on a number of levels. Its architecture organisesthe information it houses. The pamphlet we pick up at the entry usessymbols to orient us and language to describe the exhibits. Thepaintings on the wall, though Rat, present varying depths of representedspace. These various media, architecture, literature and artwork, exist inthe same perceived space. We interpret their symbols differently, ofcourse, but the inclusivity of space makes this mediation possible.

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Cyber/real parity: As I have argued, space is a format for the information we receive orevanescence and generate. It is an illusion based on facts of perception or cognition.

reification Whether we regard a physical or symbolic space, they are both theresult of mental activity.If we accept a parity between physical and the symbolic spaces, wecan question physical construction as the sole purpose of architecture.The programme for a building can be interpreted as either physical orvirtual space affecting .the physical construction required in a project.The physical structure of a building might, to a degree, be replaced bythe conceptual structure of on information system. This is particularlytrue when the building hosts information-rich activities: libraries, schools,museums, auditoriums and office buildings. Ev'en in a factory whichseems intrinsically physical, portions of the building are dedicated toinformation work - offices, conference rooms, filing and administrationareas. The evanescence of these kinds of spaces could affect even themost earth-bound buildings. II

Conversely, there may be reasons for parts of cyberspace to bephysically embodied. It may seem odd that a building would reflectcyberspace, yet buildings often reflect the underlying information

With the increasing capabilities of the internet, computers now candisplay networked information spatially - an important advance. Thespatial construct in computing is effective because it tops into our spatialthinking - it allows us to manage information both cognitively andexperientially. Cyberspace extends our cognitive space. a

Since the conference in Texas, I have studied the impact of informationtechnology on architecture. My students and I have examinedmanifestations of cyberspace and the role of architecture in theirdevelopment. Specifically, we addressed cyberspace as a spatialenvironment affected by social, organisational and aesthetic issues - notunlike architectural spaces.

Four themes relate physical space to cyberspace: (11 parity betweenphysical and cyberspaces via our use of space as an informationmedium; (2) the transformation of physical environments in the light ofthis parity; (3) the anomalies of translating the cyberspace's spatialmetaphor to physical 3D environments; (4) the possibility of creatingspatial hybrids that exist both in physical and cyberspaces.

While the association of physical environments to cyberspaces isorchitectural in nature, readers may apply these issues to their owninterests. For instance, workers in electronic information environmentsmay see opportunities for manifesting online entities in the physicalworld. Recent work done at Xerox PARC, Columbia University, USA,'and the University of Toronto, Canada, for instance, posits anaugmented reality in which physical objects are responsive to computernetwork environments. lo

88 CONVERGENCE 1998 Volume 4 Number 1

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"o!ume 4 Number 1 Cybrids 89

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OF course, this argument is made from the client's point of view. SeenFrom the standpoint of a local community, the reduction in tax revenue,lower employment opportunities in construction and maintenance Fieldswill offset some of the overall advantage of cybrids. Still the communitywould beneFit from the increased access to the facility throughcyberspace. The net gain or loss to the community, however, still needsto be determined.

Finally, the buildings' utility becomes globalised, a

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Mediation and Clients might also gain from having their environment mediated in thisaccess way. If the building is globally accessible, the building is globally

present. That is to say the architecture potentially becomes an instrumentof persuasion - a form of promotion for the client. Architecture, whichhas a tradition of representing the client's values, now might becomepart of an owner's active, promotional arsenal. Whether this is good orbod must be determined on a case-by-ease basis. Some communities,for instance, would resent the availability of sexually or politicallyoriented environments.

If the building is accessible electronically there would be Simultaneouslyon increased use of the facility plus a reduced need to be physicallypresent at that building. This is borne out in recent developments intelecommuting. In an increasing number of cases, the employee nolonger has to drive in to work. It is possible for an employee to be atwork - sharing a symbolic workplace with colleagues - and not have tophysically be there.

This is a well-publicised phenomenon and the benefits and burdens oftelecommuting are still being sorted out. There are signs that certainbusinesses and employees stand to gain from this development. Theemployee is no longer place dependent. A choice of employer is not asreliant on place of residence as it once was. The employer has agreater number of options to select from in accommodating employeesat the some time that the pool of potential employees increases.

These benefits come at some cost. There is no substitute for actuallybeing present at a workplace. Mediated workers are less immediate toan employer than employees actually at the iob. This is becauseemployees that are physically present constantly communicate with theirco-workers. Employees meet at water coolers, exchange greetings in thehallway, overhear remarks, sneeze and take up space. This is all part oftheir investment in the place of work. Subtle as this may be, it affectsdecisions as to which employees are retained during a lay-off period.This lack of investment results also in the lowered commitment remoteemployees may feel toward their employer.

At a larger scale, however, the host community stands to gain from thecybrid. The load on the community's infrastructure is lightened sincemany employees will forego physical transportation. Power, utilities andmaintenance supporting the building would be less than in aconventionally developed structure. As we have seen, there are costs tothe community in the reduced flow of revenue generating traffic forstores ond services. While the net economic benefit is debatable, therewould be clear improvements in our natural environment due to reducedpollution, fuel consumption, maintenance and construction materials.

There are significant costs related to the maintenance and installation ofthe computer equipment used to support the virtual structure. However,these would be at a different order of magnitude from the construction

Information Architecture Studio - Programme of Study Diagram

Figure 1. This schedule graphic developed for the Information Architecture Studio shows theconcurrent development of physical and cyberspace strategies. The Definition/Analysis portionof the semester dealt with each separately. The Generation/Synthesis portion brought the tvlOstrategies together in one proiect. (see p. 94)

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and maintenance costs of a physical building. Design, implementationand maintenance of a networked environment is often considerably lessthan comparably effective physical solutions. The cybrid's support costswould of course depend on the degree to which the building'sprogramme has been affected by this technology.

Since cyberspace is symbolic and electronic it is very quick to respond tochange. Flexibility is another key virtue of these environments. My studentsfound that eniire sections of a MUD would disappear overnight and otherswould appear iust as quickly. The creation of a space is not nearly ascomplicated as building a physical one - users of many MUDs learn howto build soon after joining a community. Compared with the effort ofmodifying a physical building, changes in MUDs are nearly instantaneous,revocable and cost-free. The mediated portions of cybrid structures wouldbe analogous to MUDs, offering emulated spatial and social environments.

Clients' needs can be met on an ongoing basis as opposed to aconstraining, one-time, physical solution. Not all aspects of a cybrid canbe managed in this way. There are portions of the building which mustbe physical. These include restrooms, mechanical rooms and - at thevery least - the computer room itself!

Yet a number of areas of a building could be substituted with electronicequivalents. For example, if the filing cabinets were to become anelectronic database, there would be a floc.; area savings of five to 10percent in each office.

But what kinds of space would take their place? Cyberspace should notmerely mimic the spaces that might have been buili physically.Dependence on the physical referent would deny the fluid, symbolicnature of cyberspace. Instead designers should aim for an emularion inwhich the space provides the orientatjonal benefits of phYSical space -yet surpasses it in amenity and flexibility. Design must not be limited tothe reproduction of physical space - cyberspace offers freedoms andbenefits not found in the physical world.

For example, simulations based on data let cyberspaces constantlyreconfigure themselves for functional or aesthetic reasons. Physicalarchitecture has components - doors, furniture, windows - that movewhen necessary. However, cyberspaces may be reconfigured at anyscale or rate of speed. Potentially, designers of cyberspaces maydevelop an ambient choreography which renders the real-time changesappealing and meaningful.

Information may also be imbedded in cyberspaces in ways we cannotexperience physically. If we examine a physical object closely, we get alarger more detailed image. The spatial expression is essentially thesame. However, examination of a cyberspace object may offer anotherexperience. Querying a cyber-object might bring up data on its past orinformation about its materials in a spreadsheet. This is an extrapolation

93Cybrids

Flexibility

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re Studio shows thelition/Analysis portionrtion brought the two

As the teams analysed the buildings, they also researched MUDs on theinternet. With one exception, Alphaworld, these domains were text-based social MUDs. MUDs resemble chat rooms and BBSs (BulletinBoard Services) which serve as on-line meeting places. They aredistinguished by spatial reFerences which situate the dialogue, much likea stage set in a play. Because both the spaces and their occupants aredescribed rather than depicted, users are free to interpret theirexperience as they will.

of the icons we see in the desktop metaphor of Macintosh or Windows.Metaphors lead to the issue of representation. 12

Cyberspace is a symbolic environment. As we have seen, an icon mayrepresent a spreadsheet, which in turn represents a physical object.Each representation has its own merit. Cyberspaces may be interpretedin various ways in order to best posit its inherent information. Forinstance, if the user of an ambient space wishes to view other spaces,she might use another representation, say a flow chart or plan, to seethem. The information feeding the 3D representation is essentially thesame as for the plan, although each is used differently. Cyberspace isan information display and plastic environments are only one of itsmaniFestations. The manifestation we choose results From a dynamicreconFiguration of data based on our intent.

Information To illustrate the issues surrounding cybrids, I will discuss work done in aarchitecture recent graduate design studio I directed at the University of Michigan

College of Architecture and Urban Planning, USA. I will structure thediscussion with reference to the preceding topics to present ways theseissues can be managed in the design process.

Cyber/real parity: In the spring of 1997 my students w~rked on a project which relatedevanescence and cyberspace to the space of physical architecture. The project addressed

reification the effect of information technologies on the design of space andcomprised a semester divided into research and design phases. Ourresearch phase was a concurrent study of physical and on-lineenvironments. It included an investigation of on-line communities and ananalysis of four buildings on campus: a library; a museum; a classroombuilding, and an auditorium. In the study physical buildings wererepresented as information while the on-line entities, MUDs, wereresolved as physical objects. The reciprocity between the physical andcybereal is indicated in the semester schedule diagram {figure 1l.After some initial exercises in cognitive mapping (figures 2 and 3), thestudents analysed each of the four buildings. They documented eachbuilding, doing formal, functional and typological analyses of theirorganisation. While this is standard procedure in many architectureschools, here the focus was on information and its influence onarchitecture. The students were transForming an existing physicalbuilding into manipulable information for future use in their own design.I will return to this transformation later.


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MUDs are characterised by a masquerade of on-line identity.13 The textenvironment of most MUDs lets users conceal their identities with on-linecharacter representations or avatars. This ambiguity holds true for thearchitecture of these spaces as well.

The spatial illusion of a MUD is sustained by descriptions of its spacesand the users' movement between its rooms. In most cases text is theonly interface with the environment. In graphic MUDs like Alphaworldthe spatial experience is similar to that found in computer g lmes likeDoom or Quake. In text MUDs, however, players move by typing adirection - n,e,s,w - or the name of a room. Entering the address of adestination results in instantaneous relocation.

The students uncovered the logical structure of their MUDs by navigatingand mapping them according to cardinal directions. If a room wasaccessed using on 'n' command, it was mapped as a cube situatednorth From the previous room. Rooms not accessed directionally weremapped as spheres connected arbitrarily to the previous node. Theresulting logical adjacency models (LAMs) were built physically to stresstheir presence as cognitive objects. Since the physical buildings werealso mopped as LAMs, it was possible to compare the diagrammaticarchitecture to the reified MUD environment (figures 4, 5 and 6).If you leave a room in a text MUD, you arrive instantaneously inanother space. The relationship is easy to map as a LAM because therooms can be represented as nodes in a lattice of connectors. However,the graphic MUD Alphaworld was surprisingly ambiguous. It washarder to map as a LAM because the 'outdoor' space between

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nmunities and an,um; a classroomlings wereLIDs, were1e physical and(figure 1].

3S 2 and 3], theJmented eachyses of theirI architectureence onJ physical'heir own design.

led MUDs on thens were text-BSs (BulletinThey are

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Cybrids

Figures 2 and 3: These cognitivemaps by Nanilee Anantakul and

Kristen Gibbs were the result ofphone conversations with otherstudents. The buildings and site

acted as landmarks in thedialogue. Gibb's map below

presents these landmarks atrelative elevations. Note that

there is no site in the model andthat the objects apparently hover

relative to one another.

9S

buildings implicitly connected each destination to all others. A map ofthis would have had too many connectors to map properly. The studentsinstead opted to map the larger structure of Alphaworld - which isactually made up of several other 'worlds'. This structure resembled theLAMs of text MUDs because inter-world movement resembles theinstantaneous motion in text environments. The relationship between themaps of graphic and text environments bears further examination.

Anomalies and In the study students located places where the spatial metaphor brokemisfits down, where the text described physically impossible situations. At the

same time, they also critiqued the designs of the physical buildings fortheir functional misfits.

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map (LAM) on the leftis of a local art

museum. It uses thesame mapping

techniques as LAMsfor multi-user

domains. Interiorspaces are shown as The students located, classified and built physical models of the

cubes. Links are anomalies. They were grouped in classes with Class A being conditionsdoors and passages. general to on-line activity, Class B being general to MUD activity andThe model was built Class C occurring in specific MUDs.

by Dang t:"guyen Class A anomalies are general to computer networks and the internet.a,nd Chnstop.her They include the illusion of adjacency as users go from one web page

KretoY/c. C?n the nght to another, regardless of the server locations. Another anomaly is the. IS a LAM of sense of being somewhere else while on-line. Cyberspace has its origins~endl':tl hMUD. in this illusion. Some of these anomalies are not limited to computer

T e ml

0 e sh ows 01 networks. For instance, a newspaper or pho~ograph can transport usregu ar~ o~ og~na mentally just as a computer screen can.organisatIOn since

most spaces are Class B anomalies are general to text-based MUD spaces. They includelocated with cardinal ambiguities of space, identity and movement. Spatial descriptions of

directions. The loop rooms may not fit their use. For instance, LambdaMOO has a closet thatis a train line can house hundreds of people. Jumping into a fountain at MediaMOO

connection between can take users to remote parts of the MUD. Social identity is an'nations'in the MUD. ongoing masquerade as avatars often take genders and species not

Ying-Huei Chen, related to their owners. Finally, motion in the domain - using cardinalNanilee Anantakul directions - is the result of text commands, not physical relocation.

and Satanan These often lead to spatial paradoxes. Users going west from a pointChannowanna and then going east may not return to the same spot. 'Black holes'

researched and built occur where users cannat leave unless they teleport out or log off thethis model. system.

Class C anomalies are unique to specific MUDs. They include elaborateclosed loops of rooms which users cannot leave without teleportation.

97Cybrids

Figures 6 and 7:Figure 6.

Alphaworld, the onlygraphic MUD in the

study, had several ~leleportation channels -.r--;'.

pers;~~~~~~ :#: .rendered worlds. ThisLAM shows the larger Figure 7. BayMOO on the right has a loop of rooms which represent

organisation of the Alcatraz, the prison island in San Francisco, USA. The rooms areworlds which make navigated sequentially, each room displaying information about the

up the MUD. The use history of the island. As in real life, getting to Alcatroz is easy, exiting isof spheres in this difficult. Users must teleport out since conventional egress is not

model indicates non available. Model and research by Ranah Hammash, Nanilee Anantakuldirectional access. and Watinee Thanlronon

The model andresearch on One example is A1catraz in BayMOO [figure 7), Users can enter and

Alphaworld were move about in it using conventional motion. But, appropriately, theydone by Christopher can't leave without difficulty. Another example is a pentagram of empty

Krelovic and Dang rooms in Alphaworld. Each has a teleportation terminal which allowsNguyen. users to go to four other rooms. Each of these four rooms in turn have

terminals to four rooms. The user discovers that these are all the samefive rooms, interconnected within a pyramid structure. In a LAM thesespaces map as a pentogram - five nodes connected to eoch other.There is no way out by using the teleportation devices. Users must findanother way out of this trap.

Some Class C anomalies may have resulted from careless programmingor deliberate mischief. Regardless of their origins, they are entitieswhich have no precedent in the physical world. Designers ofcyberspaces may employ lessons learned from these and otheranomalies in their future work. For example, anomalies may be used todirect traffic in virtual environments, providing security for certain areasof a MUD. Versions of brock holes could be easy ways to travel aroundvirtual environments, bypassing sequential movement through space.

Cybrids Finally, the students developed progrommes for their own buildingdesign. In their analysis of the physical buildings, the students inferredthe building's programme - working backwards from its plans andsections. They then took the existing building programme andincorporated what they had learned from their MUD experiences.

There ore many techniques for doing this. The~e include determiningwhich information-oriented spaces could potentially be mediated ascyberspaces - a process which reduces the overall scale of the physicalbuilding. Resulting designs would become chimeras of physical andcyberspaces. The relationship between the physical and cyberspacescan be completely distinct, congruent or overlapping.

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Examples of congruency between cyberspace and physical space areseen in surveillance and monitoring systems. In these cases the buildingis mapped into a database and linked to support technology throughcameras and sensing devices. The one-to-one relationship of thecyberspace map to the building serves the panoptic needs of thesurveilling party. However, congruency rigidly fixes the cyberspace intoa map of its physical counterpart. If physicality literally determines thebehaviour of the cyberspace, the on-line architecture cannot benefitFrom cyberspace's inherent Fluidity.

The second, overlapping relationship is currently seen in analogue anddigital forms. For example, many teleconferencing and telepresencesystems serve specific spaces in buildings. The space is perceived as acamera image and is usually not navigable by the viewer unless thecamera is operated through remote control.

Digital examples include many MUDs where their initial programmershave used existing buildings or cities as the core configuration of theirdomain. Such cases usually indicate overlapping spaces since - in mostinstances - the MUD community actively builds the bulk of the MUD'sstructure. The congruency between the MUD space and a physicalspace is usually limited to the initial construction. The administration ofthe MUD often allows communal participation in the construction of thedomain.

Despite the overlap, the 'live' relationship between a MUD and itsreFerent spaces is Fairly rare. With the exception Elf users who happento occupy the physical version of a cyberspace at the time they areplaying the MUD, there seem to be few examples of interactionbetween spaces. Pavel Curtis' JupiterMOO project, I< done at XeroxPARC, came closest to doing this, but other examples are hard to find.In most cases the MUD version of a building or city is an unlinkedsimulacrum, a stage set that merely resembles actuality. With the advent

_______ of Virtual Reality Modeling Language [VRML], RealVideo and other

Desil;;


Possible strategies for combination can be explained by Venn diagrams(figure 8). Many examples exist of Distinct Physical and Cyberspaces.For example, the logical structure of a computer network rarely hasanything to do with the layout of its host building. The spatialrelationship between the two is not vital since the focus is on data andfile structures rather than the support of navigable information space.

oFigure 8. Potential

relationships betweenphysical andcyberspaces.

99Cybrids

How users of the physical and cyberspaces could qe made aware ofeach other remains a difficult question. The interface between these twospaces could be made with screen displays and augmented reality -possibly a virtual reality proiected onto the physical equivalent.However, users of these interfaces will confront different problems.

technologies a true dialogue between on-line social environments andphysical reality is possible. For example, a MUD player may comeupon a room which has a link to a physical counterpart. A camera inthe physical space can send an image to its cyberspace twin which isin turn displayed to the MUD player. This linkage could conceivably betwo-way, effecting an overlap between the physical and thecyberspaces.

This interaction is the subject of research at Xerox PARC and ColumbiaUniversity, USA, on augmented reality. The linkage between physicalobjects and a database potentially offers us an environment of 'sentient'objects. At the 1996 ACM (Association for Computing Machinery)conference in Boston, USA, William Buxton projected that householdappliances could communicate with one another in this way. Forinstance, my refrigerator might notice that I am low on milk. It sends amessage to my car, which reminds me to shop for milk when I drive bythe grocery store. We can see that the information required to managethis could also be mopped in a three-dimensional display as acyberspace. Yale's David Gelernter, author of Mirror Worlds,15 hasproposed the on-going monitoring/modelling of the physical world as away to manage our society and environment.

A number of students explored the use of information technology toinfluence the actual form of the cybrid. One student, Mark Mitchell,used the passage of light through his site to determine the configurationof his art museum (figures 9 and 10). This is a radical version ofcontextual design since the resulting geometry, though based on thelocal geometry of buildings, is surprisingly diFFerent from thesurrounding architecture. Here the connections between the physicalspace and the cyberspace are visual principles of alignment. Museumgoers who approach the building physically would have clues as to thecyberspace configuration. Conversely, on-line visitors to the museumcould infer the physical building from what they experienced in themuseum's cyberspace.

Another student, Christopher Kretovic, scanned historical photographsof the site and reduced their collages digitally to determine hismuseum's structure and layout. Here the solution was less based on thephysical context, limiting the solution to a half-buried object on the site.Kretovic's design also proposed a co-dependency of physical andcyberspoces. In both projects, the overall spatial strategy was clear, yetthe linkage between the physical and symbolic spaces were notresolved.

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Figures 10 and 11.This art museum byMark Mitchell used

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reflections from a Another important aspect of this project was the bridging of thepool through a cyberspace and the physical through a metaphorical narrative linking

hypothetical solid. the two spaces. By inferring the cyberspace from its physicalThe cyberspace of counterpartl the user is oriented within the non-physical space. In the

the museum shown rare books library, Ranah Hammash described the building as a bookon the rightl lextends with the cyberspace being its pages released into the sunlight. While

the surfaces of the the physical books would be hidden from light, the cyberspace pagesbuilding beyond its would be available for all to see - undermining the very notion of rarity

periphery. Cybereal in books. This automatically evokes a number of images for the user,additions to physical pre-orienting them within the cognitive space of the building.

art displays would beaccessible b the The sustaining metaphor is important in uniting the fabric of the physical

building occupa!ts os building with that of the conceptual space. The cognitive space ofwell as those enterin cyberspace is dictated by more than just the access to data. As these

the focility from th~ ~paces develop soc~ally they will create cultures to. a degree .. t t Independent of the Instrumental aspects of computing. NarrativeIn erne. frameworks offer a way of organising and correlating these radically

different kinds of space. They let the user anticipate the cyberspacefrom evidence provided by the physical building. Canversely, the on-lineuser may intuit the configuration and presence of the physical buildingthrough the cyberspace experience. The two conditions are understoodto be related; the metaphor of space and the narrative provide theconceptual framework uniting them.

Screen displays disrupt the contiguity of the two spaces by 'containing'the cyberspace environment. Augmented reality has a similar problem.We are not aware of a deep, 3D cyberspace unless it is presented to usvisually. Smart objects may be evidence of this space, but the spaceitself is not contiguous or present in a meaningful sense. Finally, anoverlapping virtual reality (VR) requires oFten encumbering equipment.VR is usually an individual experience, mediated by a personal headsetor datagloves. Contained audio-visual environments (CAVEs) offer aroom that can be occupied by more than one person. However, theyare isolated from their physical environment for reasons of display andtechnology. The problem of the interFace between 'contiguous' physicaland cyberspaces remains a promising subject For research.

should be careful that metaphors don't become a burden. We havealready seen that cyberspaces offer experiences unprecedented inphysical reality. References to physicality run the risk of limiting theefficacy of the cyberspace. Metaphors must be flexible enough to avoidthis problem. Designers can avoid some of these difficulties by assumingthe cyberspace undergoes constant changes governed by principles ofdesign, growth or motion.

The cyberspaces designed in the studio were dynamic, conveying theimpermanence and subjectivity af the medium. I encouraged thestudents to examine the principles underlying the physical architectureand then let the principles inform the cyberspace. This geometric,conceptual reference to the phYSical would only be the organisationalskeleton of the cyberspace. Fixed room configuration would only occurif the cyberspace overlapped a physical equivalent for needs ofcommunication or surveillance.

With these underlying principles it would be possible to have a numberof evolving solutions. We felt this appraach was appropriate sincespatial cyberspace could configure itself into specific forms according tothe needs of the user. Once those users have left the space it couldreform itself for others. The designers felt that cyberspace mightconstantly evolve while the physical orchitecture maintained ananchoring role through its relative permanence.

The exercise emphasised the continuity of the spatial metaphor - fromthe analytical phase to the final stages of design. As the studentsdeveloped their building programmes they decided which componentsof the physical building could be affected by the technology. Once thisdecision was made, however, they were responsible for integrating thecyberspace conceptually into the spatial matrix of the scheme. Thedidactic intent here was to have the students explore the effects of theprogramming decisions and the continuity of the spatial strategy inphysical and cognitive media.

In most cases the physical and cyberspaces overlapped in specificareas and the cyberspace developed from there according tounderlying geometries of the physical scheme. I encouraged the studentsto derive principles from the site in order to develop their physicalresponse to the problem. The building's relationship to the site wasunderstood to be analogous to the cyberspace's relationship to thebuilding. The analogy allowed the students to see how underlyingprinciples derived from the physical could be employed at higher leveisof abstraction. This method is familiar to most O1chiteets and is commonin architectural education, although the design of cyberspoce is a recentdevelopment.

In several cases the students based their cyberspaces on the principleunderlying their physical solution. Ranah Hammash's solution for a rarebooks library used the freeform geometry of her physical building fo

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Cybrids 101

extend and orient the cyberspaces beyond it. Watinee Thantranon'sdesign for a law library was almost entirely a cyberspace with specificreference to the Gothic architecture of the law library at the Universityof Michigan, USA [figures 11 and 12). In the art museum byChristopher Kretovic the vaults of the gallery were virtually extendedinto the ground plane to create a rough cylinder for a cyberspaceextension.

Students also examined the effect of cyberspace on the physical space- a kind of feedback condition. Building designs often indicatedinvisible extensions or highlighted absences. These took forms rangingfrom outdoor rooms to projections onto the surrounding terrain. Theresearch on MUD anomalies proved useful to schemes where thecyberspaces intersected the physical buildings. Making the illogicalevents in cyberspace palpable was a great conceptual challenge as thestudents were forced to acknowledge the contradictions and resolvethem spatially.

Although the cyberspaces referred to the architecture of the physicalbuildings, these spaces often did not take the shape of conventionalrooms. Students took advantage of the disembodied nature of the spaceby stressing information display over containment. An example wouldbe rooms which existed as shards of information which took on depthwhen viewed closely - the way space is seen when looking through aprism of glass.

Containment strategies were often employed in the design of socialenvironments of physical and cyberspaces. The embrasure of the user andother occupants helped to set the stage for social interaction. Whetherthese enclosures took on conventional form was up to the designer. Moreimportant was the provision of a defined place of interaction.

Self, society and The principles of the architecture provide a grounding for non.physicalspace space. They become referents and set the conditions of orientation.

Cyberspace in this case is not a purely abstract space. Instead it is anextension of our present experience of the world. These structures helpus to manage information. We are so immersed in this environment thatwe see it as our only reality. Instead it is a sophisticated and powerfulillusion - one basic to our sense of self, our place in the world.

This means that designers must employ a cognitive understanding ofspace and information. The cyberspaces created by designers andprogrammers should acknowledge the user as the starting point for anydesign development. Designers revelling in a freedom from physicalconstraints often produce results which are disorienting and confusing.While these spaces may be good for entertainment, as places of workthey provide no reference for organisation. Instead, information ispresented as a blizzard of images and fragments. While this approachmay illustrate the deluge of information in our age, it doesn't address apressing need to organise it coherently.


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Figures 11 and 12.This low library by

Wotinee Thantrononexists almost entirelyin cyberspace. Onlythe lowest part is an

overlay onto anexisting gothicstructure which

houses a physicalreading room. The

cyberspace Representational clues, like gravity and oriented light, are crucial toreconfigures itself for situating ourselves in space. Though we take these for granted theyeach user. While the engage us with the world. Even our imagined and dreamed spaces

organisation of implicitly employ these devices. This understanding is fundamental tospaces stays the developing sensory cyberspaces. Readers may refer to the works of

same, only some are Susanne B0dker and Brenda Laurel for more inFormation on theseapparent to each issues. 16 Understanding the human factors of computing is essential to

user, customising the the prospective design of on-line environments.space For each user.

The image on the 'eft Cyberspace is not a place of escape. We found many similarities to theshows several physical world in MUDs. As in physical reality, MUD environments are

conFigurations of the largely built by their users. Though the inhabitants were avatars, theycomplex's exhib.ited the same modes of. behaviour and ter~~toriality associated with

cyberspace. as seen real lIfe - all aspects of phySical human culture. Planners shouldfrom the internet. On recognise the foundation of physical and social realities in their design

the right is a view of cyberspace. For this reason deep cyberspaces will likely beFrom within the abstracted but not entirely abstract spaces. Computer users will still be

cyberspace. able to recognise principles and features of physical reality in thesespaces.

Space makes engagement with information possible. More, it makesengagement of users with each other possible. The advent of graphiccyberspaces demands spatial strategies to better serve our culture. Ibelieve the humanisation of this technology can be effected with theskills and training of designers of physical space.

The integration of physical and cyberspaces offers great opportunities.Cybrids can reduce the incremental loads on urban infrastructure,reduce our use of natural resources, maximise efficiency in theproduction of useful places of work and play. They exist at theboundaries of matter and media, fiction and fact, yet can playa uniquerole in serving our information-based culture. Our use of space as aninformation medium should be a basic principle of cyberspace design -for despite its technological origins, the development of cyberspace ison intensely human endeavour.

Acknowledgments The author thanks the folloWing for their help and encouragement: AmyBruckman and Ted Krueger for their help and thoughtful comments in

sical spaceatedns rangingJin. The'e theillogicallenge as the! resolve

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reviewing this paper. Students involved in the research: NanileeAnantakul, Satanan Chanowanna, Ying-Huei Chen, Mervat F. Denno,Joseph Filip, Kirsten Gibbs, Ranah Hammash, Andrew Hauptman, .Christopher Kretovic, Mark Mitchell, Dang Nguyen, WatineeThantronon, Elizabeth Tobey. Technical support staff: Bill Manspeaker.Technologies used: Macintosh and PC workstations using Form-Z andRenderZone by Auto-Des-Sys, AutoCAD 3D and Studio MAX. byAutoDesk, Director and Sound Edit by Macromedia. For inlernetresearch software included NCSA Telnet, Claris Emoiler and NetscapeNavigator 3.01.


Quoted in Arthur Waley, The Woy ond its Power (London, 1934].See Amy Bruckman and Mitchel Resnick, 'The MediaMOO Project:Constructionism and Professional Community', in Convergence, 1 no. 1 (Spring1995).

3 Peter Anders, 'Envisioning Cyberspace', in Design Computation: Colloboration,Reosoning, Pedagogy, eds P. Mackintosh and F. Ozel (Tempe, Al.: TheAssociation for Computer Aided Design in Architecture, 1996), proceedings ofthe 1996 ACADIA conference. Includes research done by students in mappingtext-based MUDs; Peter Anders, 'The Architecture of Cyberspace', ProgressiveArchitecture, October 1994, pp. 78-81, 106; Peter Anders, 'Texas Conferenceon Cyberspace Implications', Progressive Architecture, July 1993, p. 24.

4 Steven M. Kosslyn and Oliver Koenig, Wet Mind: The New CognitiveNeuroscience (New York: The Free Press, 1995].

5 George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metophors We Live By (Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press, 1980).

6 Irwin Altman, The Environment and Sociol Behavior (New York: Irving Publishers,1975).

7 Edward T. Hall, The Hidden Dimension (Garden City, New York: Doubleday andCompany, 1966).

8 Donald A. Norman, Things Thot Make Us Smart (Reoding, Moss.: Addison-Wesley, 1993].

9 S. Feiner, B. Macintyre, and D. Seligman, 'Knowledge-Based AugmentedReality', Communications of the ACM, 36, no. 7 Vuly 1993), pp. 52-62.

10 W. Barfield, C. Rosenberg, and W. Lotens, 'Augmented reality displays' inVirtuol Environments and Advanced Interfoce Design, eds. W. Barfield, and T.Furness (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 542-575.

11 William Mitchell, City of Bits (Cambridge, Mass.: The.MIT Press, 1995).12 Clement Mok, Designing Business (San Jose, Cal.: Adobe Press, 1996).13 Sherry Turkle, The Second Self: Computers ond the Human Spirit (New York:

Simon and Shuster, 1984).14 Pavel Curtis and David Nichols, 'MUDs grow up: Social virtual reality in the real

world', Cyberconf 3, conference paper (1993).15 David Gelernter, Mirror Worlds: Or the day software puts the universe in a

shoebox: how it will happen and what it will mean (New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1991).

Notes 12

16 For example: Susanne B0dker, Through fhe interface: A Human ActivityAppraach 10 User Interface Design IHillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence ErlboumAssociates, 1991), and Brenda Laurel, Computers as theater (Reading, Mass.:Addison-Wesley, 1991).

17 Robert Ardrey, The Territoriallmperalive INew York: Atheneum, 1966).

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Cybrids 105

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