The ‘Xiamen Interactive Model’ was part of the Xiamen City Energy Master plan (2009), commissioned by the city of Xiamen, China and exhibited at the International Energy Efficiency Building Expo in Xiamen in 2010. Bottazzi was working with ‘Chora’, a research-driven practice specialising in bringing urban design and energy planning together, and the Schools of Architecture in the Universities of Tunghai, Taiwan and Xiamen, China. His installation was intended to catalyse the development of an innovative climate-change master plan for Xiamen. Working with both physical representation and dynamic real-time information flows coming from a central computer, Bottazzi’s city model responded to visitors’ input, informing them of the energy consequences of their choice of proposed projects. The combination of physical and digital modelling enabled users to interact more easily with the installation and understand the challenges of climate change in relation to their city.
There were three strands to Bottazzi’s research: a historical study of cybernetic experiments applied to urbanism, particularly Stafford Beer’s 1971–3 ‘Project Cybersyn’ for the Chilean government: a survey of digital technology that now allows implementation of concepts originally sketched out by cyberneticians 40 years ago; and a study of aspects of digital representation.
The installation went on to be exhibited worldwide from 2010–12 at Post-Oil City at ‘The History of the City’s Future’ exhibition at the IFA Gallery Stuttgart (2010); at the IFA Gallery Berlin (2010); in the exhibition hall Mirai Tube in the subway station Minato Mirai, Yokohama, Japan (2011); at the School of Architecture, Anna University, Chennai in cooperation with the Goethe Institute Chennai, India (2012); and at the Kalakriti Art Gallery, Hyderabad, India (2012). The installation was also published in Post-Oil City: The History of the City’s Future (Stuttgart/Aachen: ARCH+ Verlag GmbH, 2011).