Tag Archives: arup

Laneways by George – looking sideways in Sydney’s CBD

Forgotten Songs

Forgotten Songs


Following on our trip to Melbourne, the Holler creatives ventured outside Surry Hills (gasp!) and into the far northern tip of the CBD. Laneways by George is an initiative by the City of Sydney to bring its historic laneways into focus. A few months ago Holler pitched an idea (together with Arup, SuperCollossal, UTS DAB, the ABC and the Powerhouse Museum) for a series of installations. Sadly it didn’t get the green light, possibly because it proved way too ambitious. Our proposal included covering all the featured laneways with WiFi, connecting the places with an overarching narrative, projecting dynamically onto the walls, bringing historical footage onto the mobile…you can tell, it was the whole digital shebang.

Don’t quite know why we went overboard like this, maybe a desire to catch up with what other cities have done already (did I hear anyone say Melbourne?). Anyway, maybe there are some nuggets of inspiration in it for you – if you can decipher the tiny type.

Seven Metre Bar

Seven Metre Bar


Some installations stand out like the birdcages in Angel Place (“Forgotten Songs“), the flood-simulating trash collage (“Seven Metre Bar“) or the strangely erotic/revolting humming pieces of flesh in Bridge Lane (“I Dwell in the City and the City Dwells in Me“).
Laneways by George

I Dwell in the City and the City Dwells in Me


In the end, the series of installations is worth exploring. Even if the work doesn’t resonate with you – you walk through spaces you didn’t know existed and wouldn’t use (unless you are a delivery man for some of the bars and shops on the high street).
Bridge Lane painted signs

Bridge Lane painted signs

Surfacing digital in physical: summary of Creative Social

Yesterday’s Creative Social talk by Dan Hill saw a good turnout and a very lively debate; When there is so many talented and smart people in one room, one shouldn’t be wary of digital creativity in Australia. I post Dan’s presentation here in combination with a short run-through interview-thingy I did with Dan beforehand. After 17 minutes we started talking about how his work at Arup is shaping up and what Australian developers and politicians are doing in the field of using digital for triple-bottom-line sustainability (economic, social and environmental).

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Obviously Dan’s slides make more sense when you have been a participant of the evening. You can listen to the MP3 of our chat by opening this MP3 page in a separate tab: https://archive.org/details/DanHill_at_CreativeSocial

Then click your way through the PDF accordingly. Dan is mainly following his slides from the presentation as he speaks.

Links to sites and videos (in regards to the slide numbers):

02 ARUP
04 City of Sound
21 Traffic visualization in Madrid
21 Bicycle tracking in Barcelona
22 Bicycle tracking in Paris
23 Taxi tracking in LA
26 Zurich trains map mashup
27 Helsinki city transport in real time
28 Cisco sponsored wired bus
29 The Living (architecture) in NYC
30 Mapping excitement of pedestrians on a London map
34 City of Sound: visualizing energy use in houses
36 Helsinki: visualizing emissions via laser projection
37 Stamen: Visualizing data in SF train station
40 MIT Tinkerbell: way finding via lights
44 City of Sound: expressive facades
51 Daisy: robotic flower
63 World maps based on internet acitivity and access density
68 Tactical sound garden: leave sound traces

Again, apologies for making you, the user combine audio, slides and links on the fly. I hope non-participants still find it useful.

Audio file of my chat with Dan Hill:
Surfacing Digital in Physical – how data is changing our streets and cities‘ (MP3)

I also captured some reactions from the creatives present, namely Tim (EuroRSCG), Paul (White Agency) and Ben (Host).

Audio file of Creative Social: reactions and comments to Dan Hill’s talk on ‘Digital in Physical‘ (MP3)