BIX goes FH: Power of Urban Interfaces

How can a facade be transformed into a living, responsive medium?

Students in the Interaction Design master’s programme at FH Joanneum are exploring this question as part of the project Power of Urban Interfaces. Their focus is on the BIX Media Facade at the Kunsthaus Graz – an iconic urban display that has been operating at the intersection of art, technology, and urban life since 2003.

In close collaboration with Kunsthaus Graz, the students are developing new design strategies that reimagine the BIX as an interactive interface in public space. More than a visual display, the façade becomes a dynamic communication surface – one that challenges conventional notions of media presence and enables new forms of digital–analogue interaction.

Following several workshops and a public test run at the façade, nine projects were submitted. Many of them reflect a strong interest in visually bold, retro-inspired aesthetics, emotionally engaging content, and concepts that invite direct – and even tactile – interaction with the building itself.

The selected project, BIG EYES by Elina Dorzhieva, Veronika Poštrak, and Genovefa Zourkou, encapsulates these qualities. Two oversized eyes scan the city, shifting restlessly across the façade.