Totem: An Evolution od Spectatorship & Play
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Totem: An Evolution od Spectatorship & Play
Name: Loh Tze Yang Glenn
Thesis Supervisor: A/P Dr. Joseph Lim
Site: Hudson Yards, New York City, USA
Project Cluster: Speculative Environments
The days of video games being played in computer rooms are over. Rapid growth in competitive gaming has brought these virtual contests to real, heart-racing episodes held in front of deeply passionate live crowds. Prize pools reach tens of millions of dollars, not only making them comparable to more “traditional” global sporting events, but also representing a new sporting dream.
While this growing phenomenon presents an opportunity for media industries to expand, architecture of the Esports facility is only just starting to respond. Consequently, although more purpose-built Esports spaces are beginning to be built, its biggest annual events still tend to be held in retrofitted professional sporting venues. However, these facilities are not designed to respond to the new nature of screen-based spectatorship.
Sited in New York City, Totem represents a new standard in the future of game spaces. The project demonstrates the creation of an urban event that draws upon the escapism of “Play”. The novel large-scale stadia typology serves as a convergence of industry agents – creators, publishers, gamers, spectators and the general masses – in the celebration of the Making, Playing, Watching and Living of games. With its distinct focus on screen and projection technology, the new hub illuminates the way forward in our increasingly digitalized society.
The Totem Towers
A reimagination of the Esports Stadium, the Totem Towers represent not only a novel way to consume gaming, but also immersive screen-based experiences. Its modular nature allows for efficient seating allocation, allowing for multiple smaller scale events to occur. Through stacking, seating capacity is also intensified while the small building footprint frees up the ground floor for the public podium.
“Beta Test” Podium
One of the distinctions of game development is the importance of “testing”. From internal “Alpha” testing to external public “Beta” reviews, these processes are critical to debugging and game polishing. As such, the podium block incorporates the smaller scale Totem Pods to facilitate solo and group “Beta Testing”. These play test spaces generate the Urban Event by activating the large arena ground floor spill over that is required to facilitate high spectator numbers.
Boutique Capsule Hotel
The Hotel is broken down into the basic unit of a room. Each capsule room has 2 main full-height windows that double as projection screens. Like the “Beta Test” pods, the 3 room sizes all contain their own screen-immersion zones. The cores house hologram projectors that transform the central void into a “Hologram Atrium”, populating the space with larger than life projections. Sitting below the block is the Permanent Temporary Exhibit that warps around an anchor interactive virtual arcade space.
As singular entities, each capsule unit serves its occupants within; but is part of a larger collective as a whole. The external facing window/screen hybrid gives the capsule a pixel-like nature, in effect transforming the facade into a giant screen. Because the visibility of the hybrid window is user-controlled, the resultant “image” is organic in nature. The facade becomes liminal – a canvas of internal activity.