Text for Leonardo Journal circa 2004 [excerpt]
"Park Bench TV examined how the emergence of future localised broadcast (in this case specifically wi-fi) will create territories and in turn identities across locations in the city; what I termed 'Terraportals'.
The project straddled architectural and broadcast ideas and speculated on the development of future local community media channels, offering location specific data and an open access transmission system for a community.
The method was embryonic and involved initial conceptual speculation, combined with practical work building and designing antennas and the establishment of a Wi-fi node on the roof of the Architectural Association sometime in 2000.
One concept, "Signage for the Invisible", examined how people will understand what data is around them, when they cannot physically see it, and a projection of possible media battlegrounds fighting for spectrum and ultimately cultural domination of physical areas. The 'signage' eventually evolved into the physical alteration of street furniture which denoted a media information territory.
Early work involved using laptops and software to physically mark wifi signals – a practical understanding of physical access to technology, but also conceptual formulations of new notions of boundaries based on things you cannot see with the eye, but will be able to 'see', sense or react to via your device. This connected to ideas of physical materials and future possibilities of signal reflective surface. The marking of a physical 'territory' visualized the signals as a form of plan, allowing a direct connection to the existing language of the architectural diagram.
It can be a distinct disadvantage to concentrate on the specific use and application of "technology", and more useful to work in the manner of an architectural proposition, allowing variations of scale and scope; it is the visionary leaps which stand the test of time, providing a core conceptual idea that can be continually readapted,
rather than being so tied to specific solutions that the work is destined to be a technological period piece." [2004]