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this section and the 'technology' section are, in essence, distillations of my full thesis documentation. you can view the full documentation here.
personality and the 'mood grid'
contemplace began as an experiment in creating space that can dynamically redesign itself based on its interactions with its inhabitants. i had two major questions to consider in my investigation: the first, what kinds of interactions are most meaningful in the context of a conversation between a space and its visitors? and the second, what will the physical form of this space be, and how will the form manifest itself over time?
in my consideration of the first question, i chose to continue developing ideas about interaction that i began to explore in an earlier project. grove is a spatial scultpure that responds to its visitors in a non-linear manner. rather than mapping grove's motion directly to the motion of its visitors, i programmed it to consider its own state of mind before deciding how to react. when a single visitor approaches grove, it reacts with welcoming gestures and tries to establish communication with the visitor. if many people are present, however, and their motion is continuous, grove will likely become frightened or shy and stop moving until the room calms down. this simple abstraction of mood and personality lends a more human quality to grove's interaction; i opted to bring these qualities into greater focus with contemplace.
contemplace's personality eventually developed into a two-axis 'mood grid'. along one axis lays a continuum between introversion and extroversion; the other moves from friendliness to hostility. at any given moment, contemplace occupies a mood state represented by its position within the mood grid. its mood is displayed with a combination of projected graphics, four-channel spatial sound, and physical motion of the projection screens that act as wall and ceiling. contemplace's mood is determined by a combination of the activity of its visitors and its own internal mood swings. the diagram below summarizes the mood grid with a graphic and audio sample for each mood state.
|
introverted |
extroverted |
|
|---|---|---|
| friendly |
 [i1] infatuated, warm click to listen |
 [e1] entertaining, showing off click to listen |
| indifferent |
 [i2] distracted, daydreaming click to listen |
 [e2] busy, occupied click to listen |
| hostile |
 [i3] sullen, passive-aggressive click to listen |
 [e3] angry, violent click to listen |
the 'mood grid'
physical form
with ideas about contemplace's personality and voice in place, i began to consider its physical design. normally, i begin with a thorough investigation of site, coupled with considerations of the mass and form the program might take as a physical intervention within the site. without either a site or a definitive program, i opted to move directly into what is typically my next design phase: circulation studies. the motion of people through space is the primary force that drives my design process. transitions from one space to another are always the most dramatic moments in any built environment, and often serve as defining moments in the determination of physical form.
while sketching some abstract circulation studies, i noticed a dichotomy between the active, heavily traveled spaces, and the quieter, more out-of-the-way areas. contemplace's two-sided personality developed from these studies, and its physical design followed shortly after. i began to imagine a room given two personalities -- one more quiet and introspective, the other active and outspoken. like humans, who often exhibit the same duality, the room tends to alternate between states of mind.
initial design sketches and installation process
the major space-defining elements of contemplace are its projection screen wall and ceiling. the photograph at right shows the screens partially installed; the sketches at left show contemplace's two primary spatial configurations. at one edge of the installation is a projector at approximately eye level, focused on the vertical screen. depending on the position of the horizontal screen above each projector, the projected image falls either in focus on the vertical wall screen, or partially out of focus on the horizontal ceiling screen. in addition, there are four audio channels along the perimeter of the space, which generate spatial sound to complement the projected graphics.
based on the room's interpretation of the activity within, it may be in either an extroverted or introverted state. when extroverted, contemplace opens itself up physically and seeks direct interaction with its inhabitants. at these times, the ceiling screen is fully horizontal and is out of the way of the projection, casting shadows of its visitors onto the vertical projection screen and allowing more room for movement. as visitors move through the space, their shadows are tracked by a camera, and the projected graphics and spatial sound follow their motion. while contemplace feels introverted, the ceiling screen angles down to below eye level, bringing a substantial part of the space to below standing height and blurring the projection onto the ceiling. the unfocused images and the more intimate spatial configuration combine to create a softer, quieter space. motion between states happens at varying speed, depending on the intensity of environmental change perceived by the room.
for a more detailed technical description of the installation, view the technology section of the documentation.
