According to Timothy Luke (1999), he suggested that our current reality can be looked into three angles which are The Three “Natures” as a new paradigm. The “First Nature” refers to “Terrestriality” which is the original nature from the Earth, for instance, land, water, sky and biosphere surround us. “Second Nature” refers to the ‘Territoriality’, also known as human creations, fabricated out of our cultures, histories and traditions. ‘Third Nature’ refers to the cybersphere, which is the realm of information technology (IT), in the form of digitized bits and codes. This ontology by Timothy Luke had inspired me to see how the three Natures can be suggested the way we think about our urban buildings.
From the research, our present world had shown an increase in road by the digital technology. To this extent, 90.4% of millennial have their own digital gadgets and spent more than 2 hours per day on social networks. Besides, 91% of social channels are accessed via our smartphone and 73% of promoters believe that online marketing will be more effective for their businesses. It almost look as if once upon a time we were in touch with God, but now we are beginning to touch the digital world more than anything else. Human had become another creator, to create these digital technology to blend them into our daily life.
Back to the early days, we used only traditional way of communication which interpersonal connections by face to face. However, when the cybersphere was introduced, we started to look into virtual or online communication which only happens in between the human eye and the goggles or digitized software which leads to the isolation of people in relation to the real world. Therefore, what if architecture becomes the replacement “tool” of goggles to bring people into the reality of the virtual realm, where we can have both interpersonal and virtual connections in the real world.
Digital Visitor Centre are proposed, mainly to promote the unique of Sarawak by merging the Three Natures. it serves as a “tourism core” of Sarawak, to promote and allow visitors have a “quick preview” to explore the beauty of Sarawak by merging the Three Natures.
The characteristic of First Nature, fluidity and randomness merged onto the building design. Like a dandelion, the implementation of this idea spreads all over the site. At the same time, the element of Second Nature, which are the axes set a parameter to control the spread of this randomness. It also applied to frame the precious views and generating the openings, building circulation,entrances and dialogues between the existing buildings.
The overall building is like an “organic creature” informed by the fluidity of river flow in motion, the First Nature, surrounding contexts of the Second Nature and the cyberspace technology of the Third Nature. isitors able to feel the huge volumetric public space on the ground floor, celebrate with digital avatars in the air while enjoying the river view.
To experience different virtual tour, visitors can walk up to semi-immersive tunnel from reception counter and then the journey will continue follow by mist hologram and 360 dome ride theater.
The building has been designed to allow great freedom of movement for visitors. Besides, void is proposed, to maximize visual accessible from every floor. With this, the visitors also can celebrate huge digital performances together in the void space. Outdoor hologram theatre is proposed, allow public to enjoy outdoor non-immersive digital shows, and also allowing them to view down to the river.
The building emphasizes on the distinct experiential journey of riverfront, it’s like walking on the Sarawak River. At the same time, the visitors able to perceive and appreciate themerging of Three Natures in one time starting from, the river flow, the wind breeze, river views, digital performances, organic building structures, greens and clear blue sky.
To experience different virtual tour, visitors can walk up to semi-immersive tunnel from reception counter and then the journey will continue follow by mist hologram and 360 dome ride theater.
The visitors can register their area of interests at the reception lobby, so the attractors will track them and feed their desirable contents throughout the journey in this tunnel. The contents in semi-immersive tunnel are reformulated by mixed reality, thus sometime the view from outside can be augmented allows visitors to have better understanding by
Somehow all the contents generated for different visitors can be collaged, thus every time the interior of the space is dynamic and It allow more interactions among the visitors to share different information and discuss in this digital realm.
The journey continue followed by Mist hologram after Semi-Immersive Tunnel. It is a place to simulate the beauty of our Sarawak and Borneo Rainforest. Cultures and traditional costumes of different races in Sarawak will be displayed on the mini stages regularly, allowing visitor to have closer look and interact with those avatars. At the same time, It also serves as a waiting area for the visitors while waiting for their 360 shows.
In 360 Dome ride theatre, 360 projection will be projected to provides full bird eye view for the visitors to have a quick preview of various Sarawak tourist spots and celebrate with other visitors. It also create opportunities for visitors to meet other strangers with common interests, so they can party up and go to the real destination together.
Throughtout the journey of my design thesis, I realised that it is fun and challenging by merging the new realm, Third Nature into the existing First and Second Nature. By embracing this digital realm, architectonic and spaces can be digitalized and generate more possibilities to our future architecture design. Architecture can facilitate the merging of the Three Created Natures. We can consider that the Third Nature “Cybersphere” and digital realm can be merged into another two existing Natures to generate more vibrant, holistic and culturally rich spatial experiences in architecture.
