Urban Prairie; Interactive Shop Window

JournalArt & Culture

Urban Prairie; Interactive Shop Window

Thought provoking, interactive urban ‘green space’ experiment…

Urban Prairie is an intuitive and interactive shop window display inspired by a reduction of green spaces in cities due to the rapid rate of urbanisation. Conceived and designed by London architecture firm In Square Lab – in collaboration with post production and visual effects specialist MPC Digital and software developer Existential – the installation uses motion recognition technology to recreate a 1000sqm sea of prairie from a 5m wide shop front window.

The project’s aim is to provide an urban ‘green space’ and provoke discussion on the urban landscape – focusing on the idea that green spaces provide a respite from the built environment and promote health, well-being and quality of life. Using an array of optical sensors and arduino boards, Urban Prairie catches the movements of passersby’s and translates them to into the a sea of swaying grass – as if blowing in the wind. By varying their speed and location in front of the windows, passersby can generate wind disturbance that travels from the ‘real’ grass at the front of the installation to the outer reaches of the digital prairie – eventually fading off seamlessly into the horizon…

Urban Prairie; Interactive Shop Window Urban Prairie; Interactive Shop Window Urban Prairie; Interactive Shop Window Urban Prairie; Interactive Shop Window