Portland State University Environmental Studies Professor John Reuter has called for the creation of new metaphors and the identification of characteristic patterns that will allow people to grasp the immensity of natural processes. Intellectual Ecosystem adopts the metaphor of the ecosystem, as a way of capturing the intertwining strands of research and thought that characterize the modern university and its relationship to the city.

Video projections on the glass façade of the University Academic and Student Recreation Center reinforce the University’s identity as an institution at the cutting edge of contemporary computer science and digital communication. The moving images animate the plaza, engaging both students, and the public that passes through campus on the streetcar or come to PSU for events, reinforcing the identity of PSU as a source of energy and activity in the city.

Eighteen different faculty researchers and an equal number of student cultural groups were involved as advisors and subjects to develop a series of dreamlike vignettes. Faculty research using advanced digital imaging system is another important strand woven into the experimental video system. The vignettes are remixed constantly so the video program is never the same.. The screen is transparent even when the projector is active allowing the activities of students inside the building to become another layer in the composition.The projections also pass through the screen, animating the surface of the plaza below.