At Expu 2015, there will be an interactive forest dependent on the pace of the visitors

Design of a forest laboratory for the Czech pavilion at EXPO 2015, visualization by CTU

Prague - An interactive forest, whose form will depend on the pace of passing visitors, will be part of the Czech pavilion at the World Expo 2015 in Milan. The details of this audiovisual design system will only be seen when the visitor stops. The project, which won a public competition, was developed in collaboration with FullCapacity and also involved students from the Czech Technical University (CTU). This was reported by the spokesperson of the university in Prague, Andrea Vondráková.
    The system is designed to behave similarly to nature, so the slower a person walks through it, the more it reveals itself. If a visitor strolls smoothly, they will see a patch of forest vegetation, behind which a forest with loud soundscapes will be projected. However, as soon as they stop, hidden cameras will begin to zoom in on the details of the plants. At the same time, the soundscape will also slow down. "The magic is that the slowed-down sound of a cricket sounds like a church choir," the project authors stated in a press release.
    Students and doctoral candidates from the Faculty of Architecture and the Institute of Media at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at CTU worked on the project. "The system expresses the current trend of reflecting the world, where we have techniques and technologies that can reveal hidden beauties and the poetry of everything around us. The art and uniqueness lies only in the idea of using technology for a more human perspective of the world," said Vladimír Soukenka from the Faculty of Architecture at CTU, where some of the students are based.
    Alongside the Prague CTU, the competition also involved the AAAD (Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague) and Thomas Bata University in Zlín. The winning team must prepare a functional prototype by October, which will be displayed in Prague. From May to October 2015, the complete project will then be installed in the Czech pavilion at Expo in Milan.