SOFIJA KALJEVIC

Melbourne Design Awards 2020 Gold Winner here >

MInD Lab teamed up with the City of Greater Geelong to create its first open-air digital exhibition in urban public space through the application of mobile AR technology. The aim is to seamlessly integrate intangible and tangible heritage data into the everyday city experience. The project is set in the newly revitalized Western Beach Park in Geelong, which draws on the area's extensive industrial and leisure past. The project explores representational possibilities through immersive and locative media technologies and interactive storytelling, imaginatively connecting people with the location's forgotten histories. The reconstructed stories of the last 200 years, told through various visual and auditory means, are activated by an augmented reality app designed to trigger the right story at the right time based on the visitor's location while using a smart device.

This project proposes a new, groundbreaking way of experiencing everyday people's histories in public space, at the exact locations where they happened. The key to innovation is the novel way of telling the past through the utilisation of location-based technologies, where visitors are not only observers but also active participants immersed in diverse digital content. Furthermore, they have the potential to become creators and storytellers of new narratives about the place.

Histories are communicated through a continuous dialogue between the user, technology, and the place. Every time a visitor moves through the site, changing location and position, on-site installed beacons notify the app, and the app reconnects with the visitor by providing a new set of information. The purpose of this interaction design is to make the experience natural and intuitive, allowing the visitor to obtain information spontaneously through the process of walking or moving around. Technology is not seen as an obstacle, but rather a natural extension of the user's behaviour in public space.

Project in media and press:
GEELONG UNESCO CITY OF DESIGN
DEAKIN ABLOG
GEELONG ADVERTISER
GEELONG COMMUNITY UPDATE

Interactive Web Page here >
Peer reviewed journal paper here >

The project is an initiative for contemporary architectural historical practice, and its incorporation of virtual and augmented realities has enriched the engagement of the communities by substantiating, recreating, and disseminating lost histories through visible form. This project aims to demonstrate how digital technologies can help revive the lost architecture of the Dannys Lascelles Wool Store in Geelong.

The Dannys Lascelles Concrete Wool store, popularly known as the Bow Truss Building, was an early 20th-century industrial building with an expansive concrete roof that once stood on Brougham Street, where the modern steel and glass TAC Building stands today. Along with the Barwon Sewer Aqueduct, this particular building is one of the two most celebrated engineering achievements by Edward Giles Stone, a civil engineer who pushed design boundaries with reinforced concrete in the early 1900s. It was claimed to be the largest flat-roof space in the world (almost an acre) without visible support, creating a flood of natural light on the showroom tables through roof lighting. The site was considered very unique and was listed on several heritage registers, including the Register of National Estate and the National Trust register. The building was even nominated for a World Heritage listing, supported by several international referees. Unfortunately, the rapid rejuvenation of the city of Geelong in the late 1980s forced most of the industrial buildings to be relocated from the city center. The heritage overlay of the city has gradually been wiped out due to economic pressure. In May 1990, the building was destroyed after the Victorian State Government intervened to override the state's heritage body on its significance. The site was left as a car park for twenty years until the TAC building was constructed.

The lasting legacy of wool making, as well as industrial architecture including this legendary Bow Truss Building and many others, is eventually on the verge of being lost from the memories of city dwellers. The tangible as well as intangible memories were wiped out at the cost of development.

Other members of the research team:
Dr Md Mizanur Rashid (team lead)
Dr Surabhi Pancholi
Dr Chin Koi Khoo

Project Showreel here >

The three major buildings that are identified for the proposed project for Creative Victoria funding hold a well-established historical significance in Geelong's Wool Industry (Willingham 1990). Their strategic location in the CBD, as well as along the waterfront, poses further significance in terms of shaping the urban character and placemaking. Hence, it is anticipated that creating the diachronic models of these three buildings and combining them into a single narrative using XR application will activate the lost memories and develop a sense of place and belonging for the present-day residents of Geelong. The research team has already completed a project that created the digital narrative of one of the proposed buildings, i.e., Dennys Lascelles Woolstore. Through this application, the team continues the process of data collection and develops a digital narrative for the other two buildings, i.e., Deakin's Building D and Cunningham Pier. It is anticipated that the outcome from this research project will provide resources and serve as the basis to launch the grant application for Creative Victoria under "Creative Activation" projects.

The proposed digital platform (to be used on smartphones and tablets) with the onsite QR code aims to create augmented virtual walking tours along memory lanes, specifically for three significant buildings related to Geelong's past: the lost building of Dennys Lascelles wool store, the renovated building of Dalgetty and Co, and Cunningham pier. This tour will provide an AR experience of indigenous, cultural, and historical significance to the lost heritage of these sites, as well as promote tourism and local hospitality businesses in Geelong. This project further explores a novel digital heritage interpretation approach underpinned by architectural theory and supported by the potential use of cutting-edge immersive Augmented Reality (AR).

Other members of the research team:
Dr Chin Koi Khoo
Dr Md Mizanur Rashid (team lead)
Dr Surabhi Pancholi