How the iPad Affects the Built Environment

The increasing ubiquity of screens in our daily lives and architecture changes the way we experience the built environment, argues Christopher Hawthorne.

1 minute read

January 27, 2010, 2:00 PM PST

By Tim Halbur

iPads, digital billboards, TV on public transportation- these are just a few of the screens competing for our attention in public.

Hawthorne writes, "The appearance of all these screens is not some harbinger of cultural decline. It doesn't signal the end of architecture or even, necessarily, a cheapening of it. What it does mean is that more and more we find ourselves estranged from the physical, bricks-and-mortar life of buildings -- and that we look at the cityscape not just with divided but with fully fractured attention. Even a pedigreed piece of architecture by a famous designer is no longer simply an object that we confront directly or consider whole: It is often something either hidden behind digital walls or half-glimpsed in the background as we direct our main attention to the flickering object in our hands or laps."

Thanks to Samps

FULL STORY: Digital video runs a screen on the cityscape

Sunday, January 24, 2010 in Los Angeles Times

Architecture Technology Urban Development California Apple Digital Billboards iSlate View More

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Start Learning

Advertise with us

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.