CAF City of Big Data

Data has become a 21st century design material. Architects, planners, engineers and citizens increasingly use data to understand urban issues and spark design innovation. This was the driving force behind Chicago Architecture’s vision for its City of Big Data exhibit. DCBolt Productions designed, installed and programmed the 3D city model projection mapping system that allows visitors to explore interactive displays, recreate sections of the city and gain valuable insight into their own personal data and how it’s used. This integrated lighting and video installation brings the Chicago model to life through captivating and educational, aggregated visual data sets and responsive, custom animations that play with the architectural properties of the city model. By converging six projectors, each with its own unique perspective of the city, DCBolt was able to accurately map out more than 1000 individual buildings from all angles, (over 5000 surfaces). As this was merely a proof of concept, DCBolt designed the system with room for growth and is invested in its continued development as the city, and its data, evolves.