Digital Suprematism Using Internet Browsers as a New Architectonic Medium

It is widely held that sometime around 2006, the World Wide Web as we knew it mutated into Web 2.0. This colloquial label signaled a shift from an Internet designed for us to an Internet designed by us. Nowhere was this more explicitly stated than in Time Magazine's 2006 Person of the Year selection: You. More than a decade later, Internet browsers have evolved into ubiquitous interfaces accessible from mobile devices, tablet computers, public kiosks, workstations, laptops, etc. It would, therefore, not be an overstatement to say that the browser is the most widespread content canvas in the world. Designers frequently use web browsers for their ability to exhibit and organize content. They are the sites for portfolios, announcements, magazines, and at times, discussions. But despite its flexibility and rich infrastructure, rarely is the browser used to generate design elements. Thanks to advanced web development languages like JavaScript and open-source code libraries, such as p5.JS, Matter.JS, and Three.JS, browsers now support interactive and spatial content. Typically, these tools are used to generate gimmicks or visual effects, such as the parallax illusion or the infinite scroll. But if we perceive the browser as a timebased picture plane, we can immediately recognize its architectonic potential. This paper puts forth a method for engaging the creative potential of web-based media and Internet browsers. Through example projects, I argue that the Internet browser is a highly complex spatial plane that warrants more architectural analysis and experimentation.