About the Project 

The Built/Unbuilt Square provided a journey into Rittenhouse Square’s historical landscape with the help of augmented reality technology. Passersby were invited to look into a pair of viewfinders—a traditional device often placed on the edge of important monumental vistas— with each facing inward at the park. Within the scope of each viewfinder, the park could be seen as layered with archival images of historical gatherings, renderings of constructed and proposed structures from past eras, and animations conveying the square’s vitality and mythos. Users could shift the angle of the viewfinder to reveal multiple views of the location they were currently inhabiting. Together, the viewfinders of The Built/Unbuilt Square attempted to collect the stories, fragments, and numerous evolutions of the park into a shared frame.