INTERIOR DESIGN/ LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE/ INDUSTRIAL DESIGN STUDIO 2016

FEEDBACK

ross mcleod + charles anderson + chuan khoo

The FEEDBACK studio engaged in the design and construction of feedback systems that mediated the relationship between architectural environments and their occupants. The studio explored the creation of new sensory relationships between people and place which build a sense of belonging to the larger community through the built environment. This investigation was animated by three conceptual concerns: site-specificity; sensory experience; and individuals’ connections to place. Students studied the psychological and social aspects of interaction and were involved in developing digital tools that translated human responses to the built environment into sensorial spatial effects.

The central concern of the studio involved the identification and understanding of modes of interaction and the subsequent development of feedback and translation devices that express, generate, materialise and embody attitudes, feelings, affects and dispositions as spatial and temporal atmospheres. To this end the students were introduced to a range of modes of interactive design. These included the analogue, the social and the digital; which were understood through the engagement with particular materials, techniques and technologies.

In this undertaking a thematic approach was taken to the identification of sensory input and outputs. Students were asked to consider how the ocular, aural, haptic and olfactory senses engage in the perception of our surroundings. They were asked to consider feedback loops; in which our physical interaction with objects and spaces triggered specific visual, aural, and kinetic effects which in turn prompt further human interaction.

AFFORDANCE

At the core of the studios concerns was an investigation into how people interact with their environment and how that interaction can foster a form of social expression. In order to address these issues the studio unpacked the ideas of people’s engagement with the physical world and how objects and spaces invite us to engage with them.

In ‘The Theory of Affordances’ James J. Gibson suggests that the world is perceived not only in terms of object shapes and spatial relationships but also in terms of possibilities for action (affordances) in which perception drives interaction. An affordance exhibits the possibility of some action. While Donald Norman in ‘The Design of Everyday Things’ points out that our interpretation of and actions toward a particular object or spatial environment is not only shaped by physical capabilities but also by our particular goals, plans, values, beliefs and past experiences. Both theorists suggest that there are systems or ecologies of perceptions that shape our interactions with the world. That perceived affordance are relational rather than subjective or intrinsic.

EMBODIED SOCIAL INTERACTION

The studio encouraged students to deepen their understanding of the potentials of interaction by investigating and exploring the historical, social and cultural aspects of the urban environment. This included understanding how people relate to the material environment, how they relate to other people and what immaterial elements might shape these relationships. This involved focussing on how spaces are organised and what happens in them. In these studies the student/observers were encouraged to use their own body as an ‘instrument of research’. In such auto-ethnographic approaches, the researcher attends to their own experience, one that acknowledges that ‘being and knowing cannot be easily separated’ (Longhurst et al 2008, 208). Such approaches also involved the observation of how other people use their bodies, how they move through space, what objects and materials they use and how.

DIGITAL MEDIA

These studies into the nature of our interaction with spaces and places was partnered with the familiarisation of Digital Technologies used in the creation of Interactive Art and Design. The students were introduced to the basics of electronic prototyping and digital media in order to experiment, iterate, and reflect upon the core concerns of the studio. Using a thematic approach to sensory input/outputs (ocular, aural, kinetic), the students tackled the creation of interactive systems by building on ‘black-boxed’ C code and prototype circuits using breadboards, microcontrollers and sensors. Students were expected, with guidance, to research and source sensors specific to project needs. As we were using WiFi-enabled microcontrollers, opportunities existed for students to explore rich loops and mappings between real-world sensing, and that of the internet.

Affective Gestures - Nicholas Perillo, Jessica Novia, Sophia Horomidisllo