Blog

Miles was featured in Arch Daily on February 15, 2012.

Digital technology touches nearly everyone’s life. Be it delivered through cell phones, home entertainment devices, ATMs, storefronts or countless other means, digital design is big business and Robert Miles Kemp is at the forefront of that exploding movement.

The son of a carpenter and general contractor, Kemp visited job sites from the time he was small. At nine years old, his father gave him the challenge of designing a structure for a neighbor, which was subsequently built. Kemp loved both the process and the end product. Thus began a career in architecture. More after the break.

Starting as a teenager, Kemp worked in nine architecture firms of various sizes, specialties and markets (New York, Los Angles, DC) before going out on his own. He participated in more traditional residential and large apartment building design at SOM, then moved over to more modern design projects that included flexible, modular spaces and his passion; interactive design.

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Miles spoke on the future of interactive architecture and spatial media.

Presentation

http://class.lecturecapture.uh.edu/uh/Viewer/?peid=70f6a3b3f12740379296f482a73e04d11d

Audience and Presenter Dialogue

http://class.lecturecapture.uh.edu/uh/SilverlightPlayer/Default.aspx?peid=7ad1b21a1f7d4a6db165ac1ddaf4f2761d

Miles was featured in Icon Magazine 99 on the future of Interactive Architecture.

words Mark Dery

top image Dan Tuffs

If Miles Kemp were a tag cloud, he’d be a collection of buzzwords and catchphrases associated with the emerging field of interactive architecture: modular robotics, biomimetics, morphing furniture, smart goo, embedded computation, augmented reality, kinetic architecture, responsive environments. Here and there, in the whirl of words, we would catch glimpses of the surfer-dude speak he has picked up in southern California, where Kemp’s multi-disciplinary design company, Variate Labs, is based. “Awesome” is a frequent superlative, “majorly” the default intensifier. He recently remarked to a friend on Twitter that he was “down to hang”.

In person Kemp is a boyish-looking 32-year-old with a seriousness of purpose that belies his years. Interactive architecture’s most fervent evangelist grew up on a farm in Easton, Maryland. By the age of five, he was “swinging a hammer”, helping his father build their house. At 14, he knew his way around AutoCAD software and was working for an architect; at 21, he was a junior architect for Skidmore Owings and Merrill, “working on skyscrapers as one of the lead designers in the office in New York”. In 2003, he enrolled at SCI-Arc because he knew they’d let him do his thesis on robotics. He graduated in 2005 with a master’s degree.

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Miles was recently interviewed by Andre Nitze for alligator magazines second issue on Print versus Digital. Here is a copy of the interview. Download the digital magazine for iPad.

Because of the advancing development of technical possibilities, the demands on processing digital contents are constantly expanding. We talked to Robert Miles Kemp from Variate Labs about this topic. Variate Labs developed an interactive and communal learning tool for the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.

We designed and developed the new user experience strategy for the new LAMH. We worked closely with the museum and architect to design how visitors would experience the museum’s content before, during and after a visit to the new museum. We put emphasis on creating an experience that would feel personal to every visitor and would let the content speak for itself. We also wanted visitors to have the feeling that all of the content in the museum, both digital and physical, felt like one unified content set. Variate Labs designed, developed and oversaw the creation of the new museum database, database standards, digitization workflow, website, print exhibits, spatial audioguide, ‘World That Was’ interactive table, ‘18 Camps’ networked exhibit, individual exhibit video displays, audioguide takeaway and logo.

We were constantly editing our designs and process throughout the design process. To us, the artifacts and images in the new LAMH are the most important part of the experience. We used the latest interactive technologies to enable a new dialogue to take place between visitors and content but did it in a way where the technology did not overshadow the physical content. For example, you can see photographs in the ‘World That Was’ interactive table and learn about the stories and themes behind the people and scenes in each of the 25,000 images. We want visitors to connect with the content and relate to the subject matter.

We constantly evaluated our designs to simplify and strip out all unnecessary elements. As much as possible, we made sure that all digital content was shown at it’s true one-to-one scale and designed our experiences to utilize gesture and touch that mimickes the way that visitors interact with physical objects. We made a lot of prototypes and worked closely with the museum to test our ideas with an audience that mirrored our research.

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We are excited to share that two of our projects at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust won Muse awards from the American Association of Museums. The Audioguide, we designed, won a Gold Award and the 18 Camps Exhibit won a Silver Award. We are proud to have worked with the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, Belzberg Architects, Potion Design and the Tech Consultants to see these projects come to life.

Want to learn about what we did? Here is what the judges said:

Audioguide: Gold Award

This was a highly innovative product that effectively enhanced the visitor experience. By integrateing technology to replace labels, this device encourages and enables visitors to have a private and contemplative experience worthy of the subject matter. This is especially relevant for the particular collection objects that relate to extremely difficult and potentially upsetting content. Another good feature is the ability to sync to videos already playing near-by. It is highly appropriate to the content, with ability to hear stories direct from witnesses. A major attraction is that content is completely updateable via the CMS which enables it to be remain current in a sustainable way. The ability to track user behaviour, provide metrics and easily make changes based on user-data is another outstanding feature.

18 Camps Exhibit: Silver Award

… developed an engaging, emotional installation that allows visitors to experience the exhibition both as individuals and as a group. This is achieved with beautiful interface design and visual unity across heterogeneous physical devices. The various elements of the presentation convey a large amount of information: statistics, geographical, personal, and historical information in an uncluttered, effective way. This submission was exceptional for the unity of the presentation of its content, its design, and the degree to which it accomplishes its overall objective: a simple, smart and powerful presentation that brings all elements together brilliantly. There is clearly a technical achievement in the execution, but is made to look simple and easy, a mark of expertise.

It is 2011 and we are looking for new partners to collaborate with to develop next generation spatial experiences. We want to work with you and will gladly respond to any RFP opportunities. We love to design and innovate and we want to share our thinking with you. If you have an RFP and would like a proposal, please email our President, Miles Kemp at miles@variatelabs.com

The last year was awesome. We worked on a number of different projects ranging from strategy work and exhibit development in a new museum, to designing and developing a flagship interface for an upcoming social media startup. We also built a number of new websites, interaction models, physical prototypes and interaction concepts at a wide range of scales for many different clients.

At Variate Labs, we walk the line between digital and physical. Our clients range from Fortune 500 corporations and entrepreneurs to museums, designers, architects, interface developers, media companies and hardware manufacturers. We offer two different types of services to our clients.

1. We can work with a museum, pioneering company or entrepreneur see a project from concept to reality. We work with our clients directly to see our vision from beginning to end.

2. We can advise companies on both sides of the digital (agencies and designers) and physical (museums, architects, engineers and product designers) fence on how they can use the latest technologies to enhance their offering and workflow.

We have recently created a capabilities presentation that walks potential clients through the services we offer. You can download this document here: capabilities brochure

We want to work with you. Call or email us!

Miles was recently interviewed for an article on the future of personalization in stores, restaurants and public spaces for the tech magazine T3 in London. Here is a copy of the interview that talks about Miles’ thoughts.

1. For this my editor has asked for me to write about ‘soft architecture’ and how cafes/stores/public spaces will be personalised in the future – in a similar way to the way the iPhone is the same for all (from a hardware perspective) but all are completely different and personalised (thanks to the software). Would you agree with this analogy? If so, can you say why, & if not, why not!

Yes, I think that spaces like shops, cafes and public spaces will continue to become more personalized through the use of technology and software. All of the interfaces that I have designed and developed over the past years have been about personalization or at least have a personal component. People want to feel a connection with content and the means by which they access content. The means or standards (touch motions, gestures, etc.) for interaction are becoming standardized through use but the way we visualize and consume information is still a very personal thing. I think that spaces like shops, cafes and public spaces will see the most change in the areas of visualization and the consumption of information. I think the next years will be about taking personalization off of our devices and empowering the space with our settings. Our mobile devices are extremely personalized and already employ many of our personal preferences for the way we individually interact with and consume content.

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After months of searching, delays, false starts and snags with the building department, we are excited to announce that we are opening our new studio space! We’ve put in a ton of work into the new space, and we’re very excited to start showing it to our friends and clients. In the past week the plumbing and cabinetry has been installed, exterior and interior painting has been done, heating and air conditioning installed, and the furniture assembled. We even passed the City plumbing inspection – we’re going legit! Now we have to get the alarm and wireless internet hooked up before we’re fully in business on Beverly Blvd. Can’t wait!

The new address is:

Variate Labs, LLC
8451 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Look us up on the contact page!