Eleventh Planet

The client first proposed tracking the mirrored sphere, which is (using current smart phone technology) next to impossible, and so we suggested a range of sculptural forms to juxtapose the sphere to afford the trackability of the surrounding environment.

After a range of paper prototypes, we arrived at a mosaic floor in the water feature and surrounding low wall. The final mosaic effect was achieved by embedding individual water-cut tiles—chosen to invoke the local basalt of Melbourne—into the lining of the concrete casting.

Each generatively designed tile is an individual, one-off shape. This surrounding mosaic visually suggests the stony accretion ring around the fledgling Earth, while technically maximising the affordance of orientation for the real-time rendering of the augmented reality application.

The design of the interactive application and the creation of the artwork was developed around the themes of deep time and our material inheritance as Earthlings. As the work developed, the passage of time was further layered into the work through the inclusion of portals that the audience is able to pass through, entering a different phase in the Earth’s evolution. This narrative device brought forth a science fiction turn, and the creation of a series of orbital worlds gently drifting around the sphere.

The graphical rendering of the artwork represents the gentle arcing motion of the Sun (tracking the actual astrological position of the sun according to the sculpture’s location), planets, and moons across beautiful compositions of virtual media. Within this scheme is glimpsed an imagined world; the Eleventh Planet.

Eleventh Planet is an immersive, site-specific work that has been carefully crafted to activate the local site and the nearby built environment. More than a graphical overlay, the virtual elements of the work are sculpted to register with the presence of each built element, including reflections and shadows on the mirrored sphere and the turbulent surface of the pool.

As the built form itself is the tracking marker, the work can only be experienced at the site, investing the encounter with a particularly unique spirit-of-place. The work is available for free through accessing an on-site QR code, leading either to Google Play Store (for Android users) or the Apple Store.

The work has been crafted with attention to efficiency of download, use, and accessibility for a wide range of mobile devices and user experiences. The work has been designed and tested to reward both dynamic, playful interaction or calm, contemplative dwelling.

The methods used to create a volumetric tracking of the site constituted an innovation in methods for complex volumetric site survey using low-cost tools. Whereas entry-level tools for augmented reality authoring work on flat, 2D tracking markers, they do not allow for tracking large, complex three-dimensional sites.

The design innovation within the Eleventh Planet project used an original sequence of methods that began with a video site survey, followed by camera and motion tracking, from which was derived a complex 3D model of the site. This 3D model was then compared with photogrammetry models of the site and traditional survey measurements.

When an accurate 3D virtual twin of the site was derived from this cross-disciplinary approach, multiple tracking markers in multiple (virtual) planes of different orientations were created, making for an interlocking set of 3D tracking markers that could be incorporated into the application for accurate tracking on site ‘in the round’.

This series of methods developed a low-cost alternative for independent digital art-making that typically requires expensive, high-end LIDAR scanning and expensive software.

Eleventh Planet was launched as part of Melbourne Design Week, through National Gallery Victoria, in 2024. Over 100 people attended the opening; artists, designers, researchers, students, and members of the public interested to experience the adaptation of AR to a permanent hybrid sculpture and digital place-making experience.

This work represents contemporary exploration of digital placemaking, using contemporary forms of media engagement to return attention to located, site specific presence. This work has been developed as part of a continuum of research on the use of digital media for calm applications of urban place making and has so far attracted interest and dialogue with design students, artists, and researchers wishing to develop their expertise and practises in this domain.

The concepts demonstrated in Eleventh Planet have led to development of speculative projects in other areas of design including immersive public placemaking, virtual tourism, and calm interfaces for non-pharmacological treatment of pain and recovery in care contexts. Sited directly adjacent to an inner-urban tram stop, the work has been embraced by locals as an intrinsic element of the locale and identity of the urban place.

Eleventh Planet invites the audience to contemplate the cosmic and awesome significance of our material inheritance on Earth. Through the narrative presentation of our connection to deep time, members of the public are invited to contemplate the wonder of the resources we might take for granted.

Such creative use of contemporary media for digital place-making can invite awe, empathy, and perspective taking in ways that encourage healthful, sustainable attitudes towards material resources.

In winning the commission, we devised a ”sustainable practice pledge” that is bound to this project, wherein we, as designers, have invested in tree planting to offset the estimated carbon footprint exerted by the production of both the physical and virtual extents of the artwork. This sustainable practice pledge has informed our ongoing design thinking and communication with clients.