Remember that Rubik's Cube you burned thousands of hours trying to figure out? Javier Lloret channeled the tantalizing, obsession-making tactile game into a building-size interactive puzzle. It certainly clicked with the 2014 SEGD Design Awards jury, and it will click with you, too. Check it out and get inspired to enter your projects in the 2015 Design Awards. But hurry, you only have 3 more days!
Puzzle Facade was part of Javier Lloret’s thesis project in the Interface Culture master’s program at the Universität für Künstlerische und Industrielle Gestaltung in Linz, Austria. Puzzle Façade brings the experience of solving a Rubik’s Cube to the urban space. It transforms the media façade of the Ars Electronica center in Linz into a giant Rubik’s Cube, inviting passersby to engage with the interactive experience.
In Puzzle Façade, the player interacts with a specially designed handheld interface cube that tracks rotation and orientation. These data are sent over Bluetooth to a computer that runs custom Puzzle Façade software that changes the lights and colors on the media façade in correlation with the interface cube. Due to the nature of this building and its surroundings, the player is only able to see two sides. This factor increases the difficulty of solving the puzzle, but as the player is able to rotate and flip the interface-cube, it is not a blocking factor. (More information at puzzlefacade.com)
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PUZZLE FACADE
Client: Universität für Künstlerische und Industrielle Gestaltung, Masters Program in Interface Culture
Location: Linz, Austria
Project Area: 30m by 40m
Open Date: October 2013
Project Budget: N/A
Design Firm: Javier Lloret
Design Team: Laurent Mignonneau, Christa Sommerer, Martin Kaltenbrunner (thesis project supervisors)
Collaborators: Gregor van Egdom (primary consultant/collaborator for interface cube design/production); Peter Calicher, Vicente Heras, Travis Kirton, Tijn Kooijmans, Bernardo Lloret, Jiskar Schmitz, Mr. Stock, Eric Toering, Jasper van Loenen; Ars Electronica (Andreas Pramboeck, Peter Holzkorn, Wolfgang) (collaborators) Photos: Javier Lloret, Michaela Lakov
