LADOT Bus Maintenance & CNG Fuelling Facility
City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs _ Public Art Commision

City of Bits is an interactive permanent media art installation on the facade of new LADOT building.
The ambient qualities of urban ecologies―as we as civilizations create them in specific geographic locations―are coming to the forefront of cultural production. With the advent of digital media and
environmental consciousness we now are able, more so than any at other point in human history, to access the formal qualities of the ambient environment in terms of the built, social and natural environments . Through sensors, databases, and visualization we can collect information on the real-time dynamics of cities: sound, light, air quality, acoustics, human movement, ecological dimensions, social preferences, and their multiplicity of interactions. Additionally, while social media and global commerce have transcended the confines of place, their impact on culture has made physical place-centric experiences and spatial awareness more important than ever.

Media facades provide new opportunities for communication in public space. A building whose surface, and hence character, changes continuously will generate new relationships between users and their surroundings, and will provoke interactive participation. The structure and the facade present new challenges for artists, architects and technical services engineers.

Using a system of LED lights, custom designed programming, and real-time information feeds, City of Bits will bring the new LADOT building to life, creating a dynamic, fluid visual experience to compliment the architecture of the building and engage the public in a brand new way.

Traditionally, architecture has been unable to produce buildings that transform themselves in response to an environmental data feed. The architecture of the future, however, promises to be enticingly malleable and increasingly collaborative, gathering architects together with artists, designers and engineers. For these collaborators, City of Bits offers a decidedly public canvas on which they can observe how their creations can come alive. For the public, it offers a glimpse into the future as we explore a new model of Art in Architecture, the two working in harmony to create memorable and profound experiences.