The pervasive impact of digital technologies in all aspects of society requires us to rethink notions of knowledge and learning. The current pandemic and the forced shift to online teaching are just the latest example of an ongoing trend of digitizing learning, through online classrooms, MOOCs, video, and interactive tutorials… Digital technologies are not only affecting how we learn, but also what we need to learn, and what is doing the learning. With constant and instant access to information, traditional ways of learning focused on reproducing information are no longer valid. Furthermore, technology is increasingly learning about us, tailoring information to our personal needs based on prior behavior. In this interview with Xinyue Zhang, Yue Hua, Anqi Wang and Jindi Jia we explore the impact of media ecologies on the blurring of digital and material learning environments, questioning the role of educational institutions and infrastructures.

The project was developed within the context of UCL Bartlett under the supervision of Corneel Cannaerts, Michiel Helbig, Joris Putteneer, Provides NG, James Melsom, Sam Lavigne.

KOOZ What prompted the project?

XZ The answer to this question is structured in two parts which include an exploration of the notions of “learning” and “unlearning” for us.

Firstly, let me start with the notion of “learning”. When the pandemic hit, the act of learning shifted online, allowing us to rethink the idea and necessity of the university as an institution associated to a physical building and/or a as a meeting place.

The “emptying” of these structures led to a question of use, what else could these structures be used for? If online teaching was to become the new norm, what could our classrooms become? Contemporarily, how would this continue to affect our domestic dimension and its plurality of uses? What overlaps could be created from this shift?

Secondly, through an analysis of the notion of “unlearning”, we were able to explore how the act of learning today is no longer limited to humans alone, but rather is deeply informed and shaped by tech. Today we prioritize the memorization of valuable knowledge, leaving the rest to be learned, computed, and archived by computers.

To this end the project weaves two parallel stories, the first a shift from physical to virtual learning and the second a shift from learning to unlearning.

KOOZ What question does the project raise and which does it address?

JJ The project explores the integration of digital media with our physical environment to build a new learning platform in the absence of face-to-face learning spaces for architecture students/architects in the post-pandemic era. To this end, the project proposes a way of combining virtual reality technology and gamification mechanisms embedded within our urban environment to provide users with an open-source learning platform to help them acquire professional knowledge more effectively.

XZ The project explores the compression of physical space with gamification methods and virtual environments into a known Hybrid interface centre. The project questions the action of learning and the acquisition of knowledge by challenging the long-lasting physical and material impact of universities.

KOOZ What are in your opinion the limits of the contemporary education institution?

YH This paradigm shift towards a media ecology has led us to believe that the limits of the contemporary educational institution lie in the space, method, and content of learning. With new media technologies, students and teachers can communicate anytime and anywhere whilst also challenging the standard methodology of learning with an approach which can engage all five senses in the acquisition of knowledge. Contemporarily at a time when the student's electronic device provides almost all the required information content, the student can dedicate himself to a diverse type of learning not bound to the acquisition and communication of knowledge.

XZ In my opinion the greatest limit is dictated by the physicality of these institutions and the limits this imposes in terms of access.

Alongside this, I also believe that another limit of these institutions is the idea of learning as an activity which is confined to humans. To date there have been astonishing advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Increasingly, machines learn about us and our environments, monitoring environmental parameters, predicting changes and patterns whilst playing a wider role in our societal structure.Is it plausible that in the future the word “education” also encompasses machines and their learning?

KOOZ How and to what extent has the pandemic altered and informed material learning environments for good?

Yue Hua The pandemic signified the beginning of a paradigm shift in the way we communicate and, within the realm of academia, the method and means through which we acquire knowledge.Material environments were replaced with online learning platforms and virtual learning spaces. While learning, in its most basic sense, seems to have gone back to the space of the classroom, this shift has significantly changed the way we acquire and share knowledge beyond the physicality of the space of the institution.

KOOZ How does your project seek to challenge these infrastructures? What is the value of taking to the city?

XZ The idea of integrating the activity of learning within the context of the city is based on the notion of a memory palace whereby one places trivial information in one’s mind in different places throughout the city. The digital memory palace thus becomes a hypermedia system embedded within the city and its geography where all users can add and share knowledge.

As case studies we analyzed and combined both Pokémon Go and Mooc, to create a gamified learning experience structured into three major sections which include: communication hub, learning library and shop.

KOOZ How does “Compressed City” exploit and explore our media saturated environment?

JJ “Compressed City” directly explores and exploits the current digital city by providing its users with a virtual reality space embedded in the tangible urban geography. The project challenges the city as an information database which can be mobilised by the users through the uploading and downloading of knowledge. In this new environment, each user is the transmitter and receiver of knowledge.

XZ “Compressed City” asks what if the Amazons, Netflix, and Video Games become the shopping centres, cinemas, and arcades of our physical city

KOOZ What is for you the power if the architectural imaginary?

XZ The architectural imaginary is fantastic in that it allows us to really explore new possibilities. In my opinion the strength of speculating design lies at the intersection between science and art alongside a deep knowledge and understanding of history.

Bio

Xinyue Zhang is a recent graduate of The Bartlett Faculty for the Built Environment. Xinyue is the founder of S2 studio, a space which dabbles at the intersection between digital environments and our physical reality,

Yue Hua is a digital content creator and urban designer. Yue is devoted to exploring the relationship between virtual and physical urban space in the context of "Media Ecology". He studied Media Ecology at The Bartlett Faculty for the Built Environment, and his graduation project was shortlisted for the 2022 eCAADe exhibition.

Anqi Wang is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and architect, working in the media environment with technology-art-humanities propositions. Anqi’s fields of interest include Augmented Reality, Blockchain, and HCI. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in Web3 and Metaverse at HKUST. She graduated from The Bartlett Faculty for the Built Environment and has worked in City Science.

Jindi Jia is a digital UI/UX and space designer. Jind is interested in how digital interactions affect physical spaces and shape future urban forms under the theme of “Media Ecology”. She graduated with distinction from The Bartlett Faculty for the Built Environment and her project won a silver award in the MetaCity Innovator Competition.