Nota Bene: A Virtual Notary
on the flight path from the telehub to the notary
A Civic Business
As pointed out in the competition brief, the line between public and private space in virtual worlds can be very blury. Even in the real world, a notary blurs the distinction: It is on the one hand a business, but on the other an important civic service.
Site
In the Second Life virtual world avatars can fly. When people wish to visit a location, they are immediately teleported to the nearest "telehub" and then fly the remaining distance. The notary design takes advantage of two consequences of this: First, the line of approach is generally well known. Second, access from the air is easier than from the ground.
The notary owns the two plots shown in turquoise. The open waterways on two sides of the notary build are right-of-ways and will not be built on. The empty plot is held by the notary to ensure that the approach line is not obscured.
The large scale design of the notary is biased toward the approach direction.