AT&S is a leading supplier of high-end printed circuit boards and substrates for the semiconductor industry based in Austria. The Ars Electronica Futurelab was invited to contribute to the design of the AT&S Erlebniswelt (AT&S World of Experience) in Leoben-Hinterberg – a new hybrid production and office building that also houses a visitor center. To reveal the internal processes and emphasize the core business of AT&S – making connections – the Futurelab created the permanent installation “Nervous System”.
The “Nervous System” is a metal structure with LED strips that winds its way through the building. The light signals running along the tracks – which are designed to look like circuit board layouts – represent the traffic inside the building in real time, captured by the Futurelab’s own pharus tracking system. Punctual screens on the tracks act as a signal decoding layer, revealing interactive applications that provide information about the company as you approach them. The applications allow visitors to learn about the company’s history and milestones, its people and key figures.
The aim was to create a large-scale but subtle and sustainable way of integrating information displays into the architecture. The structure is extended in a similar, but analogue way on the façade on the outside of the building, also forming a tree-like sculpture right in front of the entrance. Another key part of the Futurelab’s work is a projection environment that displays an interactive journey through circuit boards in real-time 3D. Visitors can experience the basic building blocks and functions of AT&S’s core products.
Read more about AT&S Erlebniswelt on the Ars Electronica Blog.
Credits
Ars Electronica Futurelab: Friedrich Bachinger, Patrick Berger, Samuel Eckl, Peter Freudling, Roland Haring, Peter Holzkorn, Stefan Mittlböck-Jungwirth-Fohringer, Otto Naderer, Andreas Pramböck, Erwin Reitböck, Raphael Schaumburg-Lippe