TOKYO [UN]REAL ESTATE to Feature at FabCafe Bangkok During Media Architecture Biennale 2025

If someone entered your living space, what would they see? What kind of picture does your home paint of you and the times you live in? Is there a way to capture the insights of our interiors? In a world where the siren song of technology lures us in, perhaps we can harness technology to live more intentionally and even create something new from the most unassuming places.

That is the mission and guiding question behind TOKYO [UN]REAL ESTATE, a project that uses photogrammetry to archive 3D scans of Tokyo living spaces. From its origins in Tokyo, this innovative experience has been exhibited in other cities in Japan, and is now crossing borders to visit Bangkok.

On November 8th and 15th, FabCafe Bangkok will host free workshops for the public with the team behind TOKYO [UN]REAL ESTATE. As an organizer and partner with the Media Architecture Biennale 2025, FabCafe Bangkok will provide participants with a unique opportunity to experiment in extended reality (XR) with scanning and visualization techniques that can make living spaces into new forms of art.

TOKYO [UN]REAL ESTATE is a project spearheaded by MVMNT, a unit within FabCafe’s parent company Loftwork Inc., with the support of the Civic Creative Base Tokyo (CCBT) Art Incubation Program. In developing the project, MVMNT took inspiration from modernology, a type of urban sociology that emerged in prewar Japan to study its rapidly changing culture.

With 3D scanning technology, the MVMNT team is able to take detailed scans of real-life Tokyo dwellings, capturing not just the furnishings within but the lives of the people who use them. By documenting and analyzing life in actual size, the team teases out insights into contemporary culture, its characteristics, and how it’s changing.

This project is about more than just collecting data, though: the scan data is open source and freely available online. With this open approach, TOKYO [UN]REAL ESTATE aims to become a creative asset for use in extended reality, manga, animation, and more. Creative projects that tap into lived experiences can tap into this digital archive to find new ways to use it. By encouraging contemplation as well as transformative use of its materials, TOKYO [UN]REAL ESTATE seeks new potential for living spaces in the digital age.

MVMNT exhibited their project in progress at FabCafe Tokyo in December 2024, and showed the final form at CCBT in March of the following year. Now, they’re taking TOKYO [UN]REAL ESTATE to FabCafe Bangkok during the Media Architecture Biennale 2025.

The Media Architecture Biennale (MAB) is a biannual conference that explores the intersection of architecture and media, focusing on the relationship between built environment and digital technologies. MAB 2025 will take place November 18-23 in Bangkok, Thailand, and will be the first iteration of MAB to take place in Southeast Asia.

FabCafe Bangkok has joined the MAB 2025 team as a co-organizer and event venue; additionally, co-founder Kalaya Kovidvisith is serving on the executive board. 

In the leadup to MAB 2025, two workshop sessions will be held at FabCafe Bangkok for TOKYO [UN]REAL ESTATE, on November 8th and November 15th. Workshop participants will be able to try MVMNT’s photogrammetric process to create scans of a 3D space, as well as create simple XR applications using the data. Participation only requires a personal computer, with no fee to attend.

In addition to the workshops, FabCafe Bangkok will host a talk on November 8th with speakers from MVMNT and 3D scanning company FARO, as well as Thammasat University Assistant Professor Dr. Chawee Busayarat. 

Throughout MAB 2025, TOKYO [UN]REAL ESTATE will be on exhibit at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre for public viewing. Kovidvisith and MVMNT members will also be presenting during the MAB conference on November 20–21. 

Want to participate in a TOKYO [UN]REAL ESTATE workshop? Sign up here. Follow FabCafe Bangkok on Instagram or Facebook to keep up with their latest projects. Interested in partnering with FabCafe Bangkok — or one of our other global locations — for a project or exhibition? Contact us!