
Urban Echos is a series of sculptural storage objects that makes the hidden dynamics of Nicosia visible. Drawing on live feeds from air-quality sensors, motion detectors and transport logs, the project reveals interlaced patterns shaped by diurnal shifts, social activities and natural processes. By transposing streams of raw data into three-dimensional forms, each work invites viewers to experience the city’s living infrastructure as a tangible presence.
Cities are an interesting cyborg hybrid entity that fuse human, technological, and ecological components into a single, adaptive system. This approach pushes us beyond seeing cities merely as collections of buildings, highlighting instead their qualities as living, adaptive.
The rise of Smart Cities initiatives has given birth to living socio-technical ecosystems. Projects aimed at hyper efficiency surveillance and control now weave human and machine parts ever more tightly together. Yet these integrated systems carry new vulnerabilities. When sensor readings and algorithmic outputs are treated as neutral truths we ignore the decisions that shaped them. Overlooking these factors creates an illusion of objectivity that can conceal hidden assumptions, biases and privacy risks.
The pieces function like physical archives of urban life. Informed by the Smart Nicosia initiative, they encapsulate fluctuations in environmental metrics alongside the ebb and flow of people and traffic. The resulting ensemble becomes a multisensory composition, where the interplay of forms and materials mirrors the city’s milestones, daily routines and collective rituals.
At its core is a bespoke, end-to-end design pipeline that fuses data analysis with digital fabrication. Raw datasets are fed into custom computational tools and refined through CAD workflows, ensuring each form faithfully embodies its source signal. A paneling technique derived from advanced architectural manufacturing defines the sculpt intricate surfaces with millimetric precision, transforming abstract metrics into tangible, dynamic artifacts.
Over the course of a two-week residency at CYENS | Centre of Excellence in Cyprus, the installation was meticulously assembled from 7,840 individually fabricated components. Each module was digitally modeled, precision-cut and hand-fitted on site.
In parallel to the main Totem, a series of smaller sculptures was produced for each individual dataset. Each companion artifact distills a single metric whether particulate‐matter concentration, pedestrian flow or vehicle count, into a minimalist form. By isolating the amplitude, frequency and rhythm of each signal, these objects form a constellation of data‐driven pieces that complement the Totem’s overarching narrative.
Co-producers Thinker Maker Space: CYENS
In collaboration with Smart City Program Nicosia
Concept Design, Software Development - InDialog Team