Interior Media Architecture: Using Social Media as a Tool for Data Informed Design Solutions

The practice of media architecture has evolved as new technologies and media are changing the relationship between the built environment and the inhabitants. Despite the wide range of topics covered within the media architecture discourse, there has been no investigation to date into ‘interior media architecture’. Interiors form a fundamental part of our urban fabric, from our museums, and libraries, to the cafes, restaurants, and shopping malls we inhabit daily. In an urban setting, our everyday experiences and social practices either occur in or transgress an interior environment, whether you're meeting a friend for a coffee or commuting to work, it is hard to imagine our everyday lives without some sort of interaction with our urban interiors. In these spaces, media has always existed, playing a critical role in the enhancement of usability, experience, or functionality, such as providing wayfinding through interactive displays. Concurrently the interior has always been a conduit of communication, an object and a subject of media representations and culture creation. However, with the development of web 2.0, new media and increasing usage of mobile technology, the way we interact with, and consume urban interiors has changed. This transformation has been largely enabled by mobile technology and social media. Through social media, the interior as a material object is hybridised, creating new ways of experiencing, perceiving, and engaging that has resulted in emerging typologies and changing interior architectural practice. This digital transformation triggers a need to examine how our urban interiors are designed within new media constructs. This paper examines the relationship between urban interiors and social media, providing a critical discussion on how social media is transforming both the interior and the practice of interior architecture. Through a series of examples, we illustrate how interior architects can critically engage with social media within their practice and principles. We propose an interior media architecture approach to grapple with these emerging interiors and design practices. We contribute to the media architecture discourse by encompassing and considering the urban interior as a unique typological construct and interior media architecture as a line of inquiry.