Above: an age old moral tells us that we need to be on our wits when people flatter us. These images capture this in a contemporary way. Below: supporting images for a New York Times article on the misconceptions about violence in modern day television.

setup & result

One part of the project was to explore possible low-cost and feasible modifications to a shipping container such that it could facilitate various community activities such as dancing performances and food festivities. I proposed a flexible furniture system consisting of lightweight, foldable, interlocking benches and tables that can be hooked onto rails on the shipping container.

On the other hand I explored a more radical concept of what a flexible community center could look like. One of my ideas proposes two opposing units with a grid of drawers that can be pulled out. Configuring this Live House becomes a playful group activity.

Next to work on a conceptual level, an actual shipping container was modified to function as a pilot to inform later implementations of the project.

result

Initial excited movement of the tentacles entice the user to come closer and touch. While interacting, a dialogue emerges through curious action and reaction. Unpredictability of the reactions and movements keep the dialogue engaging. The lively and fluent movements, and the fact that there is a whole “crowd” of tentacles makes that people project human qualities onto the behavior. As a result, surprising perceptions of different personalities and emotions emerge.

result

The scenario uses cast shadows in an interplay with projected light to indicate movement of the interactions and hint toward functionality. Objects shown in the movie are a socket, razor, a Philishave, a hair straightener and a remote control.

The design consists of two glass vases holding marbles, their number equal to the numbers of members of a family. One vase represents “home”, the other “away”. By rolling marbles from one vase to the other when people leave or come home, and gently tilting the vases up and down in the meantime, a soundscape is created according to the presence of people. Based on patterns in when people are home/away, a change in texture of the vases causes sounds to become more irregular and noticeable if these patterns are broken.

Sounds Like Home provides an aesthetic information display and emotionally enhances the experience of coming home or leaving.

See paper (presented at ISon conference 2010, Stockholm)

The message stimulates the child’s imagination and provides handles for conversation about the activities of the absent parent, providing reassurance of safety. The bulbs left make the number of days before the parent will come home visible and tangible.

Interactions with the bulbs have a calm and intimate quality, matching the going-to-bed atmosphere. At the end the light can literally be blown off, providing a fun and magical end to the ritual. Lumi-Us us doesn’t replace, but rather complements phone calls.

Various families where involved throughout the design process, and took part in a user test at the end in which messages recorded by a parent were used to see if children would indeed from stories about the absent parent.

The project aimed to design a space divider that captures the subtle and dynamic qualities as found in humans’ own ways of dividing space. Ultimately the intent was to give people back perceived control over their space, a vital part of which turned out to be finding ways of diminishing the social barriers involved with closing yourself of from someone else.

concept

Mimosa is a space divider that is subtle in its movement an interaction, and modest in its physical presence. Where space dividing screens are bluntly put in between people, mimosa gradually closes or opens up in fluent movements. It is controlled with quick and light interactions, using its touch-sensitive leafs. Moreover it can be moved around freely to block our vision only where needed. Its layered and open form allows people to peek through as they move their head, capturing a similar sense of privacy felt when laying amongst high grass. All in all the act of dividing space is given an aesthetic quality, and is made into something nonchalant and non-distracting, minimizing social barriers and allowing us to flexibly control our space without interrupting our work.

See project report