Steel City El Més Destacat De La Fira by Responsive Spaces is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 A' Design Award d'Argent in Disseny d'Interfície, Interacció i Experiència d'Usuari Competition Category.
ArgentInterfície· 2020
Steel City El Més Destacat De La Fira
Client: Primetals Technologies Austria
A' Design Award d'Argent Winner in Interfície Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #89866The Design
About Steel City El Més Destacat De La Fira
La ciutat d'acer és un model estilitzat que representa l'acer del futur. Consisteix en models acrílics semitransparents col·locats en una paret de leds, que serveix de pantalla per demostrar diversos casos d'ús fent, literalment, brillar la ciutat d'acer: en seleccionar un dels escenaris als terminals, els usuaris desencadenen animacions que visualitzen el processos i fluxos de treball de la planta siderúrgica en un foc artificial de llum i color projectat a través dels models acrílics de la part superior. Tota l'experiència s'amplia amb una capa d'informació professional, a la qual s'accedeix des dels terminals mitjançant una interfície hàptica única.
The Recognition
About the A' Design Award d'Argent
Steel City El Més Destacat De La Fira és un guanyador del guardó A' Design Award d'Argent, un reconeixement extraordinàriament prestigiós concedit a dissenys d'alta gamma, esplèndids i impressionants. Els guanyadors d'Argent són obres tremendament brillants i summament creatives que il·lustren la perícia, el talent i la perspicàcia excepcionals dels seus dissenyadors. Es preveu que Steel City El Més Destacat De La Fira sigui una obra meravellosa i de gran lluïment, remarcablement professional i profundament innovadora. Aquest disseny guanyador del guardó A' Design Award d'Argent és un invent molt notable i admirat que beneficia i fa avançar els límits de l'art, la ciència, el disseny i la tecnologia. Steel City El Més Destacat De La Fira és una creació molt envejada que evoca desitjos, introdueix sentiments positius i desperta sorpresa i admiració.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- The operation of the Steel City is bound to a unique rotary knob: While turning, several "steps" can be felt as "real" physical resistance. These are not analog in nature, but instead are generated through a magnetized liquid inside the knob's housing and can be programmed in realtime. The knob is programmed to adapt accordingly to every selected content and therefore enabling the experts from Primetals to focus on their visitors without ever taking their eyes off the presented stories.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Over 200 acrylic 3D-models of a steel plant positioned upon a 6,5 x 4,5 meter led-wall, which is positioned horizontally between 4 interactive terminals. Every terminal utilizes a rotational knob featuring haptical feedback that changes in realtime corresponding to its navigational state. Cubic dimensions of the whole installation: 8m x 5m x 5,5m. The led-wall is raised 60cm from the floor, housing the hardware necessary for operating the installtion beneath.
- Tags
- haptic interface, digital staging, interactive installation, digital enhanced acrylic models
- Production Technology
- Over 200 different semi-transparent acrylic 3D-models were designed and manufactured depicting the model of a modern steel plant and were placed on a 24 sqm led-wall. The interfaces of the terminals around the Steelcity are specifically designed and built for the purpose of a haptic and intuitive user-experience. On top of the installation is a special reflective material, which mirrors the whole visualization of the acrylic models on the led-wall and projects it towards the far corners of the stand, giving everybody an additional perspective.
- Design Challenge
- While our client is highly specialized in the field of steelworks and thus needed to communicate complex technical information to its own clients and partners, we still wanted to maintain a very productive level of minimalism for this installation in order to deliver their messages in a crystal-clear and visually aesthetic manner. Also, for the people operating the terminals and navigating through the different use-cases, we needed a haptic interface that is simple enough, yet incredibly responsive to the user in order for them to fully concentrate on the dialog with their customers.
- Research
- One of the research objectives was to develop an interface which can be programmed in real-time for the haptic rotary knob. We developed an in-house protocol which is able to communicate changes in the haptic structure to the hardware on the fly corresponding to the content on-screen. Another objective was to simplify the immensely complex processes and mechanisms of a steelplant to a stylized level which can be transported onto our model and create a visual language that is at the same time beautiful to watch and informative on a professional level.
- Inspiration
- Our inspiration for this project was to merge the necessity of visualizing extremely complex processes with an easy to use and intuitive haptic interface. The goal was to have an installation that would deliver expert knowledge on point and at the same time act as an visual highlight of the stand while maintaining the structural complexity of its professional use-cases. We wanted to merge a magical experience with a top notch user experience into a tool that serves the expertise of our client and helps them to deliver this expertise effortless to all visitors at the trade show stand.
- Project Duration
- June 2019 in Duesseldorf at METEC 2019
- Operation Flow
- By selecting one of 12 scenarios at 4 terminals users can trigger animated sequences on the led-wall, which visualize the processes and work-flows of a steel plant in a firework of light and color. Steel is processed, data packets buzz through virtual lines, problems and solutions are displayed schematically and in context, always projected through the acrylic models on top. While the Steel City blends all stories perfectly, the terminals offer in-depth details to the individual users.
- Team Members
- Director: Markus Pargfrieder
Spatial Experience Developer: Katharina Mayrhofer
Interface Engineer: Julian Reil
Spatial Experience Designer: Martin Zeplichal - Image Credits
- Photo credits: Responsive Spaces & Philip Kistner Fotografie
Video credits: Responsive Spaces & Eyup Kuş
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