The R&D team have progressed to the current phase of the now titled ‘Poly’ project. The collapsible pvc/latex pillars are controlled wirelessly using xbee, and a discrete stepper motor and pulley system handles the motion. For those new to the project Poly is a modular physical bar chart system that can read online data and convey it to the real world. Each bar is a collapsible pillar suspended from the ceiling – an architectural and digital hybrid where information informs our physical space.

This first phase of the project will be an in-house installation of two pillars responding to user-generated polls. Simply submit a question and watch online participants give their response by viewing poly change length. The interaction is visible over the Internet through a webcam, further blurring the boundaries between online and offline content. The creation of a platform for people to quickly access a collective decision reflects our progressive cultural tendencies to instantaneously resort to the online ‘wisdom of crowds’. Not forgetting the importance of keeping it simple and playful : )