Project Overview
Advances in computing and the internet have enhanced the way that humans connect. Why shouldn’t our physical spaces evolve digitally as well? My Master’s thesis maps the interactions of humans through their use of chairs to create social groups and the digitization of these physical interactions via Twitter.
Inter[ACT] - embodied interactions in post architectural space (2013)
Year
2013
Contribution
I concepted this project after a semester of research. In two months, I designed, prototyped, and built nearly every component of the project. I would not had been able to complete this project without the freedom and support provided by my thesis committee. As well as some great friends that helped with late night sewing, being sounding boards, and volunteer actors in my thesis presentation.
Process
After a semester of research and experimentation, I developed this project to synthesize a concept based in the idea that architectural space is dynamically generated by human micro-interactions. I chose to work the chair as object that humans use to interact and re-organize socially everyday. The chair also has historical significance in architecture experimenting with a concept at a smaller scale. Every famous architect has designed a chair and used it as a small scale prototype to explore a larger idea.
Through observation of thesis studio of how we organically created our own spaces and analyzing existing floor plans that were designed for specific social functions (programs), I was able to derive social patterns based on proximity and orientation. I was able to translate that into an algorithm that grouped the chairs together using computer vision via openNI and processing IDE.
How do you know when someone has sat in a chair?
How do you know when someone has stood up?
Does it matter who moved the chair?
How do you know who is sitting in the chair?
These questions informed the design of the chair, sensors and the hardware required to collect this data. The use of three chairs showed how this system could scale to infinite chairs.
As the teaching assistant for media robotics, I developed an understanding of hardware via the Arduino platform. I was able to use my knowledge of Arduino to construct hardware to control lights, read in RFID cards, and interface with the Processing IDE to connect to the twitter API and cameras.
Results
I presented a live performance of the chairs for my thesis presentation in front an audience of 20+ of people consisting of peers, invited critics, thesis committee and professors from both the media studies and architecture department. The discussion of the thesis focused on the implications of a future where this technology were to be actualized at a larger scale:
automation of room controls to support different social activities
understanding how users self organizing in spaces in support of different use cases
with any new technology, it can be misused with concerns for surveillance and privacy
Data is generated through all of physical and virtual actions, how can that be used to benefit society?
The project was also installed and displayed at the Big Orbit Gallery in Buffalo, NY 2014.