Facade Failure
Here is a project you won't see on Interactive Architecture any time soon. The above image, aptly titled Blue Screen of Death was shot by Toronto photographer Sean Galbraith last November. It captured several large display screens on a downtown Toronto retail building in a rather vulnerable state. This is the side of media architecture that we don't see documented on design blogs as failures, glitches and malfunctions don't exactly reinforce the idea of building envelopes as a surface for a seamless media experience. There is something unnerving about error messages at an architectural scale - perhaps they are flickering reminders that even the city needs an occasional reboot. [via blogTO]
media / material
Great image. I'm like a broken record on this but for me this goes straight to materiality again. "Mediatecture" deploys media as another one of architecture's (usually material) resources, but especially with screens, treats it in a way that sidesteps its materiality, instead treating it as a sort of virtual window. A crash like this is, after all, a little slice of local material specificity, just like the soot accreting on the masonry and the renovations on the second floor. Architecture is often good at embracing materiality and variability - patina and whatnot. The challenge with media elements is for it to apply that same sensibility. The current wave of LED installations is one sign that this is happening. Maybe Matthew Chalmers' "seamful" design is relevant here too?
Windows
You are definitely on the money with the "virtual window" comment (for example, Anne Friedberg's reading of the window metaphor in architecture/media). I guess the direction we are moving is towards informatic (or decorative) skin rather than a "digital aperture". It is an interesting challenge though, to reconcile architectonic expectations as to how a facade "reads" with our new school GUI-honed sensibilities derived through engaging new media.
Somewhat related: Toxi shared this link with me over twitter when he read this post. I'm not sure if you've seen it or not Mitchell, but it is up your alley given your reading of the Olympic pomp and circumstance.