A new communication tool in urban space: Interactive media facade

The role of architecture in communication and prominent position of building facades throughout the history by their shell function as well as communication function have always been a topic of discussion. Advertising became more important with capitalism and globalization and projection and LED technologies started to be used with digitalization leading to covering of architectural facades in the metropolis centres by media displays. Interaction design turned the facade into a controllable structure. My objective in this thesis is to study the use of architecture for communication purposes in urban space throughout the history and to evaluate the social and cultural changes brought by the recently emerging interactive media facades. The relevant literature was accessed by using the keywords "urban space, interactive architecture, media facade and media architecture" and the examples of other countries were studied as there were no popular and remarkable example yet in Turkey. Evaluation was made under six topics; the transformation of architectural structure to a communication tool was evaluated within historical process, the interaction models, the term Media Facade was explained by one-way and reactive facade examples. The interactive media facades were categorized and their technology, way of construction and way of users to interact with the media facades were explained. The topics of significance in the design of interactive media facades were discussed. In the conclusion, I commented on the new dimension that communication achieved by interactive media facades and their effect on social and cultural aspects in urban space. Keywords: Media facade, Interaction, Architecture, Digitalization