Tom Barker

Tom Barker (born 1966) is a British designer and academic. Head of the Industrial Design Engineering departmentcite web |url= http://www.rca.ac.uk/pages/study/staff_382.html |title= Industrial Design Engineering Department |author= Royal College of Art |work= Staff page |quote= ] at the London Royal College of Art.cite web |url= http://student.independent.co.uk/future/careers_advice/article350035.ece |title= Design engineers are now making a difference globally |author= Alex McRae |work= The Independent |date= 9 March 2006 |quote= ] cite web |url= http://www.britishdesign.co.uk/index.php?page=newsservice/view&news_id=3920 |title= Royal College of Art appoints new Head of Industrial Design Engineering |author= News release with statement by rector Sir Christopher Frayling |work= British Design Innovation News |date= 5 March 2004 |quote= ]

Barker invented SmartSlab,cite web |url= http://www.eurekamagazine.co.uk/article/11487/Dazzling-future-on-display.aspx |title= Dazzling future on display |author= Tom Shelley |work= Eureka engineering design magazine |publisher= [http://www.findlay.co.uk/Magazine/EU/Home.asp?mnuMenu=7 Findlay Publications] |date= 24 September 2007 |quote= Massively large displays have been developed that are strong enough to mount on the sides of buildings—or even form the floors of virtual reality environments. They are based on hexagonal LED cells in a honeycomb, which are optically more efficient than square cells and are addressed using a form of Ethernet. ] a multimedia large scale digital LED display panel system,cite web |url= http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=482&storycode=3090584 |title= Slab happy |author= Alistair King |work= Building |date= 6 July 2007 |quote= The inventors of SmartSlab describe it as an all-in-one, load-bearing, moving-image display slab. It’s also the only system that provides animated displays while retaining all the features associated with external cladding. The problem first presented itself to professor Tom Barker when he collaborated with architect Zaha Hadid on the Millennium Dome’s Mind Zone. The ambient light of the dome prevented many exhibitors from projecting images onto screens, so simple LED display boards tended to be used. But Barker, then a full-time engineer, and Hadid wanted to show moving images on a floor that visitors would walk on, so a more innovative solution was needed. ] cite web |url= http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/7.html |title= SMARTSLAB |author= Ruairi Glynn, The Bartlett |work= Interactive Architecture |date= 13 May 2005 |quote= ] cite web |url= http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=1194 |title= Light Tiles: SmartSlab LED panels flaunt superior graphics for everything from small-scale interiors to billboards |author= Laurie Manfra |work= Metropolis Magazine (subscription only; [http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/magazine.php?issue_date=2005-04-01 April 2005 table of contents] ) |date= April 2005 |quote= ] in 1999, whilst working on a Millennium Dome zone with architect Zaha Hadid. Barker also developed the V/SpaceLAB virtual reality system for architecture which artists Langlands and Bell used for an exhibit at the Imperial War Museum in 2003.cite web |url= http://collections.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.913 |title= The House of Osama bin Laden - Langlands & Bell |author= Imperial War Museum |work= IWM Collections |date= 2003 |quote= Working with Tom Barker's V/SpaceLAB, Langlands and Bell used an interactive digital model to create a virtual exploration of the house and its surroundings. ]

In 1997, Barker founded DCA-b (later called B Consultants Ltd.), a multidisciplinary design practice which was liquidated in November 2005cite web |url= http://bankrupt.com/TCREUR_Public/051107.mbx |title= B-Consultants Limited: Liquidator Enters Firm |author= |work= Troubled Company Reporter Vol. 6, No. 220 |publisher= InterNet Bankruptcy Library |date= 7 November 2005 |quote= ] .

Book

* "Weird Scenes from Inside the Goldmine: Innovating with Futuristic Technology and Amazing Materials in Design." Shoreditch: Black Dog Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1906155278.

References

External links

* [http://www.rca.ac.uk/images/lib/D_Barker.pdf Profile of Tom Barker] at the Royal College of Art