Usman Haque

Usman Haque (born 1971) ^[1] is an architect and artist who works with technology. He is known for designing large scale interactive installations and his contributions to Interactive architecture and the Internet of things. ^{[1] [2]}

Haque's interactive art has appeared at the Singapore Biennale (2006), ^[3] London Fashion Week (2007) ^[4] and has been exhibited at KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art Aalborg, ^[5] NTT InterCommunication Center, ^[6] New York's Museum of Modern Art ^[7] and Barbican Centre. ^[8]

According to author Owen Hatherley, Haque’s work “defies conventional classification” and “is not what you would immediately think of as architecture”, ^[9] often overlapping both digital art and interactive architecture. ^{[10] [11]}

Haque’s contribution to interactive architecture is to distinguish between ‘circular mutual reaction’ and ‘linear causal response’ in designing architectural structures and environments, ^{[12] [13]} building on Gordon Pask’s cybernetics theories in creating interactive spaces. ^{[14] [15]}

Education

Haque studied architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture ^[16] and was part of the Bartlett Interactive Architecture Workshop. ^[17]

Selected projects

• Sky Ear, “a cloud of 1,000 helium balloons launched into the evening sky with a payload of mobile phones, sensor circuits and flashing LEDs” ^{[18] [19] [20]}
• Open Burble, “a 70m tall structure consisting of 1000 extra-large helium balloons, supported by 140 carbon-fibre hexagonal units” ^{[21] [22]}
• Haunt, “a scientifically haunted room” ^{[23] [24]}
• Evoke, “a riot of projected colours...on the imposing 60 metre-high front of York Minster” ^[25]
• Reconfigurable House, “an environment constructed from thousands of low tech components that can be “rewired” by visitors” ^[26]
• Natural Fuse, “ a network of houseplants attached to the electrical system, which monitor energy use” ^{[27] [28]}

Others include Another Life, one of Haque’s permanent interactive installations, ^[29] located in Bradford, UK; Assemblance, which “lets visitors sculpt and shapes beams of lasers” [sic]; ^[30] Cinder, an augmented reality cat designed "to get students interacting closely with the modern technology"; ^[31] and Starling Crossing, an “interactive road crossing that only appears when needed”. ^[32]

In the internet of things he is known for founding Pachube in 2007, ^{[33] [34]} an IoT data platform that “enabled hundreds of Japanese civilians to quickly and easily share weather and radiation data in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster”, ^[35] acquired by LogMeIn in 2011, ^[36] renamed Xively and sold on to Google in 2018. ^[37] He also founded Thingful, a search engine for the internet of things, in 2013. ^{[38] [39]}

Awards and honors

Haque won a Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Award in 2004 ^[40] and was a Brit Insurance Design Awards winner in 2008. ^[41] He was appointed a Design Council Ambassador in 2021 ^[42] and in 2022 he joined the London Mayor's Data for London Advisory Board. ^[43]

Further reading

• What is Interaction - Are there different types? Interactions - January/February 2009, by Hugh Dubberly, Paul Pangaro and Usman Haque
• Urban computing in the wild: A survey on large scale participation and citizen engagement with ubiquitous computing, cyber physical systems, and Internet of Things by Flora Salim and Usman Haque
• Interview with Usman Haque in Programming Interactivity ^[44]
• Designing Projects That Thrill And Empower: The Architect Who Taught A City To Fly
• The Architectural Relevance of Gordon Pask, by Usman Haque ^[45]
• Paskian Environments, by Regine Debatty ^[46]

References

1. ArtFacts. "Usman Haque | Artist". ArtFacts. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
2. "Tech Weekly Podcast: Usman Haque on the 'internet of everything'". the Guardian. 2014-01-29. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2023-02-15. we hear from architect and artist Usman Haque about his work in dynamic networked installations. An internationally reknowned[sic] technology-based creative, Usman discusses his new alpha project
3. Robinson, Walter (2006). "Uniquely Singapore". art net. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
4. Standard, Louise Jury, Evening (2012-04-05). "Fashion Week to lift off with sky of balloons". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
5. "Bevægelig og bevægende kunst". kunsten.nu - Online magasin og kalender for billedkunst (in Danish). 2010-11-05. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
6. "ICC | Usman HAQUE". NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC]. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
7. "MoMA | Talk to Me | Pachube". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
8. "(Inter)facing the future at Barbican's 'Digital Revolution'". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. 2014-06-30. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
9. Hopkins, Owen (2018-05-29). Architecture and Freedom: Searching for Agency in a Changing World. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   978-1-119-33263-3.
10. Noble, Joshua (23 June 2010). "Exploding Space: Conceptions of Space and Network in Interactive/Dynamic Architectures". Rhizome. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
11. Sansone, Barbara (2010-05-03). "The Softspace Of Usman Haque. Choreographies Of Sensations • Digicult | Digital Art, Design and Culture". Digicult | Digital Art, Design and Culture. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
12. Barra, Danniella Vizcarra (October 10, 2019). "Enhancing a Sense of Presence: An Insight into the Impact of Interactive Visual Experiences on States of Human Consciousness | Interactive Architecture Lab". Interactive Architecture Lab. Archived from the original on 2023-02-15. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
13. Bolbroe, Cameline (2019). Making Architecture Become: A performative approach to engaged encounters between inhabitants, architecture and technology. IT-Universitetet i København. ISBN   978-87-7949-028-4.
14. Temizel, Ensar (2022-02-01). "Reclaiming Machine Intelligence: The Paskian School of Architectural Cybernetics - A thesis submitted to the Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences of Middle East Technical University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture" (PDF). Middle East Technical University (PDF). Retrieved 2023-03-21.
15. Kolarevic, Branko; Parlac, Vera (2015-06-12). Building Dynamics: Exploring Architecture of Change. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-317-65078-2.
16. UCL (2021-05-20). "Alumni Interviews". The Bartlett School of Architecture. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
17. UCL (2016-12-06). "Bartlett Interactive Architecture Workshop (BIAW)". The Bartlett School of Architecture. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
18. Hamblyn, Richard. "A celestial journey – Tate Etc". Tate. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
19. McCormack, Derek P. (2018-07-27). Atmospheric Things: On the Allure of Elemental Envelopment. Duke University Press. ISBN   978-0-8223-7173-1.
20. Bullivant, Lucy (2005). "Sky Ear, Usman Haque" . Architectural Design. 75 (Special Issue '4dspace: Interactive Architecture'): 8–11. doi:10.1002/ad.6. ISSN   0003-8504.
21. "Category winners of Designs of the Year awards". Dezeen. 2008-03-13. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
22. Andersson, Lasse; Thomsen, Bo Stjerne (2008). "Performative experiments and cultural re-planning - recapturing the spectacle of the city". Nordic Journal of Architectural Research. 20 (1): 43–44.
23. Keim, Brandon. "Scientifically Haunted House Suggests You're a Sucker". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2023-02-15.
24. French, Christopher C.; Haque, Usman; Bunton-Stasyshyn, Rosie; Davis, Rob (May 2009). "The "Haunt" project: An attempt to build a "haunted" room by manipulating complex electromagnetic fields and infrasound" . Cortex. 45 (5): 619–629. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2007.10.011. PMID   18635163. S2CID   3944854.
25. "Installation sheds psychedelic light on York Minster's facade". The Independent. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
26. Vale (2008-06-02). "The Reconfigurable House, how to remain smarter than your house. | Neural" . Retrieved 2023-03-21.
27. "Sentient cities may answer back". BBC News. 2009-10-16. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
28. DiSalvo, Carl (2012). Adversarial design. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN   978-0-262-01738-1. OCLC   755213451. to use Haque's Natural Fuse is to engage in politicized interaction with others
29. Waite, Richard (2012-02-22). "Water beauty: Bradford's city centre park completes". The Architects’ Journal. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
30. Mackay, Mairi (2014-07-07). "Touch it, you know you want to. The hands-on world of digital art". CNN. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
31. Snead, Flo (2016-10-05). "Meet Cinder: Trumpington Community College's new virtual cat". CambridgeshireLive. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
32. "This smart, shapeshifting crosswalk may be the key to safer streets". NBC News. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
33. "Augmented business". The Economist. ISSN   0013-0613 . Retrieved 2023-03-14.
34. Dodson, Sean (2008-10-15). "The net shapes up to get physical". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2023-03-14.
35. Bridle, James (2014-06-18). "Beyond Pong: why digital art matters". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2023-02-15.
36. "LogMeIn buys 'Internet of Things' firm for $15M". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
37. "Google Acquires Xively for IoT PaaS Push". AB Open. 2018-02-16. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
38. Carter, Meg (May 12, 2014). "This Search Engine For The Internet Of Things Promises To Make Data More Meaningful To People". Fast Company. Retrieved Feb 21, 2023.
39. Austen, Kat (18 December 2013). "Thingful site brings linked Internet of Things to life". New Scientist. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
40. Archive, Japan Media Arts Festival. "Excellence Award - Sky Ear | Award | Art Division | 2004 [8th]". Japan Media Arts Festival Archive. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
41. Etherington, Rose (13 March 2008). "Category winners of Designs of the Year awards". Dezeen. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
42. "Design Council announces new network of design experts". Design Council. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
43. "Mayor cements London as new centre for data innovation | London City Hall". Greater London Authority. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
44. Noble, Joshua (2012). Programming Interactivity (2nd ed.). Sebastopol: O'Reilly Media. pp. 462–463. ISBN   9781449311445 . Retrieved 8 February 2023.
45. Haque, Usman (July 2007). "The Architectural Relevance of Gordon Pask" (PDF). Architectural Design. 77 (4): 54–61. doi:10.1002/ad.487. Archived from the original on 2023-02-15.
46. Debatty, Régine (2006-03-31). "Paskian Environments". We Make Money Not Art. Retrieved 2023-02-15.