Month: September 2019

Not drinking enough water each day has been a recurring problem for me, to the point that on some really bad days, I get headaches.

So I had always wondered what if there was a water bottle that reminds you to drink up whenever necessary throughout the day?

And that was when I found the Hidrate Spark Smart Water Bottle; now in its third edition, the Hidrate Spark 3.

What does it do?

• The water bottle glows to remind you to drink some water
• Tracks your water consumption through a sensor which is then recorded into an app

Would I use it?

If I had USD$54.99 to spare?

Most definitely.

Unfortunately being a poor university student means I can’t afford the luxury of a smart water bottle. My tumbler from Typo will do for now.

Taking into consideration that this is the third edition of the smart water bottle, naturally, we expect that it has when through many scrutinies from users of the earlier editions in order to develop an improved edition. So let’s discuss the pros and cons of these improved Hidrate Spark 3 smart water bottle.

PROS

1. Availability of many colours to choose from allows for some form of customization for customers.
2. The ability to be integrated into other apps such as Apple Health, Under Armour Record, FitBit, enables users to conveniently check their health records under one app. They do not need to keep switching apps to check their heart rate in Apple Health then change to the Hidrate Spark App for their water intake.
3. The silicone material of the sleeve and also the structure of the sleeve with indents allow for an easy grip.

Cons

1. Expensive. USD$54.99 for a water bottle is not something everyone can afford.
2. One review I read mentioned that the water bottle leaked a little because the lid of the water bottle was loose.

SUGGESTIONS

I think one issue that many people often find is that we can’t find a water point to refill our water bottles. An idea (a little far fetched) I would suggest is that the app could show where the nearest water point is whenever the bottle is running out of water.

Another improvement I would suggest is the addition of a temperature sensor to ensure that the water is at a suitable temperature. Studies have shown that drinking lukewarm water is better for your health as compared to cold water. Hence, with the temperature sensor, users can fill up their water bottles to a suitable temperature. (Personally, I only drink cold water, so I figured this could “train” me to drink lukewarm water more often instead.)

I believe that the glowing of the water bottle to remind users to drink is quite attention-grabbing enough. However, I might suggest adding maybe some form of a sound cue for visually impaired people.

Another suggestion would also to include a cleaning kit for the water bottle. Especially since it is a nozzle, it gets dirty easily. I would suggest exploring other bigger nozzles so that the cleaning process would be easier. The detachable lids would also mean the possibility of leaks, hence exploring other designs where users do not need to detach the lid would be feasible.

Special mention:

to another device that I thought was super interesting.

 

Ah, it was a joy to read what I describe as a very dedicated and personal piece of article, full of passion.

In the beginning, I was wondering why I was reading something about architecture. But slowly, as I continued reading on, I noticed how Peter Zumthor’s ideas about architecture could be assimilated into creating Interactive Spaces.

Essentially, architecture is a space, right?

With all spaces, there is an atmosphere. The atmosphere affects the emotions being felt by those passing by. The removal of an atmosphere essentially changes the emotions felt.

Now, how do we make a space have an atmosphere?

Here are his thoughts on ways to generate a certain atmosphere:

(1) Body of Architecture

(2) Material Compatibility

(3) The Sound of Space

(4) The Temperature of Space

(5) Surrounding Objects

(6) Between Composure and Seduction

(7) Tension between Interior and Exterior

(8) Levels of Intimacy

(9) The Light of Things

Out of these 9 ways, I highlighted 3 that resonates with me the most; the sound of the space, surrounding objects and the light of things. Nonetheless, I’ll briefly go through each way followed by my opinions.

(1) Body of Architecture

“The material presence of things in a piece of architecture”.

Essentially, the materials used in the creation of a space, can have a “sensual effect” on people.

In my opinion, this is one of the most important ways to establish an atmosphere. The material of a space will change how people perceive a space. For example, if we want a space to be warm and homely, the material, I would think is suited for the space would probably be wood. Concrete or steel will not be able to instil that same homely feeling as wood.

Nonetheless, materials can be perceived differently in the different cultural context based on history, existing or past architecture, etc. Hence, we should look into the culture of the city or country that we are building the space in.

(2) Material compatibility

The possibilities of the use of materials are endless. However, using different materials requires some form of compatibility where it is enough to react to one another without killing the other.

In a way, I kinda get what he is trying to say. The usage of the two materials should work together and they should not be in dissonance.

(3) The Sound of Space

I did not realise this, but I was subconsciously pretty particular about the sound of a space. I cannot stand libraries or quiet lecture theatres, it gets suffocating being in that kind of space. It feels like everyone can hear my movements or my breathing. I had always thought that it was attributed to the silence in the room. However, could the “silence” be considered the sound of that space?

(4) The Temperature of the space

What comes to my mind? ADM

One joy that comes out from entering ADM’s building is the air-con. After walking in the heat, it feels super refreshing to open the Gallery entrance door into a cold building.

(5) Surrounding Objects

I believe what he is trying to say here is that the objects in the space should be for the audience. The purpose of these objects should serve the audience and it should exist without the designer; “a future that happens without me” as what he would describe it.

As a space designer, I think understanding our audience is important. Hence, in an interactive space, the objects in that space should bring some meaning or narrative to the participants. They can look around in a space, and understand the correlation between the objects and the space.

(6) Between Composure and Seduction

The movement of visitors through a space should not appear to look directed, but instead seemingly natural. Creating spaces that allows visitors to let go is the form of seduction he is referring to.

As much as we can paste directional arrows on the floor, I think a space is more encapsulating when you “don’t know” where you are going.

Why is “don’t know” in quotation marks? Thats because an effective space should be designed to have a natural direction without any signals. In a sense, the space should have a directional flow that visitors naturally gravitate towards.

(7) Tension between Interior and Exterior

Place someone between 4 walls, and what do you get? An inside and outside.

This chapter reminded me of the phrase “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. The exterior of a building/space has their own personality that can have a different outlook or impression from the interior. In a way, the exterior can act as a mask to what is actually inside.

Interesting to think about how we can “decorate” the exterior of the space to attract visitors to venture in to find out what’s lurking behind the door.

(8) Levels of Intimacy

“proximity and distance” – I believe it refers to the sheer size or scale of any objects in the space in relation to a human.

Naturally, when we are faced with objects that are on a much larger scale than us, we feel intimidated and vice versa.

Objects should not only be in relation to a human, but it should also be in relation between one human to another.

(9) The Light on Things

He shares two ideas on how to work with light:

• “to plan the building as a pure mass of shadow then afterwards to put in light as if you were hollowing out the darkness.”
• “to go about lighting materials and surfaces systematically and to look at the way they reflect the light.”

Quite straightforward to me. The usage of material can greatly impact the atmosphere of a space, according to how reflective it is.

And there is just something about natural light that is so captivating. That’s why we see so many architectures incorporating daylight into their spaces.

Conclusion

These factors in determining the atmosphere, should not only apply to architecture but can be incorporated into a space. In designing an interactive space, the message of the interactive piece is important, however, the atmosphere sets the mood. Also, the atmosphere can also have an effect on the message being delivered.

There must be a reason why that piece of artwork is placed into that space. The atmosphere of the space should provide a meaning to the artwork. Hence, I believe the atmosphere and context of the space should work together to deliver the message an artist wants. This reading definitely opened my eyes on how to manipulate a space.

 

 

 

In this reading, the main gist of it is the idea of “measuring technology’s impact on the senses”. Cardiff and Miller mainly focus on immersive multimedia works that invoke a multisensory experience.

Two artworks were described in the reading, the Janet Walking tour and the Opera for a Small Room.

Janet Walking Tour

It is interesting how just with the simple use of sound as a medium can create an immersive experience.

As mentioned in the reading, the different layers in a sound sculpture can invoke the other senses. “Within a clean and tidy place, we may sniff the stench of rotten food or inhale the scent of a long-lost loved one.”

These sound sculptures are so immersive that it becomes “true to life” as said in the reading that we start questioning “actuality and invention”.

In the modern-day context, technological advancement in sound has allowed for the creation of 8D audio. I can’t imagine how even more immersive and ming-boggling the walking tours would be if 8D audio was added in. Participants would be turning heads to check whether what they are hearing is real or part of the work.

Now, what does an immersive audio experience has anything to do with interactive spaces?

I think in many interactive artworks, there is a sort of narrative that the artist wishes to convey to the audience. I believe immersing the audience into a character will help them understand the narrative better as compared to viewing it from a third-person perspective. In the walking tours, participants metamorphosis into Janet. While in the headset, they are experiencing Janet’s perspective. This can often be found in games as well where players are given an identity in which they follow their story.

Furthermore, the form of the immersion into a narrative need not only be just using visuals, but audio is also a powerful tool.

Opera for a Small Room

Making a return to a theatrical experience – “returned to the traditional audience role of sedentary receiver of experience.”

Common throughout their artworks, they like to question what is real and what is in their heads.

What is interesting to me about this artwork is the medium that they used. In a way, constructing that room where there is a divide between the audience and the artwork highlights the artifice of it all. It creates a distance but at the same time, audiences are drawn in through the sound. They designed it in such a way that the audiences are made aware that they are watching a “play”.

In an interactive space, when we’re creating a replica of an existing location, naturally the artificialness of the space is obvious.  Nonetheless, the space should still draw the audience in. The Opera for a Small Room is a good example of how to draw the audience in through sounds.

Conclusion

Cardiff and Miller are key figures in displaying how the use of sounds can create an immersive experience. This is something that should be considered in an interactive space. As much as we have the sensors and outputs to deliver our message, it is important to create the environment in line with the space. Making use of sounds can help our audience immerse themselves and also strengthen our narrative.

Yi Fu Tuan’s chapter of Body, Personal Relations and Spatial Values, took me a while to comprehend, so do forgive me if I had misinterpreted some things.

In the first section, he highlights the two principles of spatial organization:

1. the posture and structure of the human body (biological needs)
2. relations between human beings (social relations)

In essence, “man is the measure of all things”.

He proceeds to talk about the idea of the upright human body and how we have identified the different directions of the body with something positive or negative. It is interesting because I never thought to associate my body directions with these. However, we unconsciously do so. For example, when we tell someone to move forward and don’t look back, we subconsciously are associating what is in front of us as something positive and leaving the negativity behind us.

This concept is parallel in the movie “Meet the Robinsons”.

As what Walt Disney said, we shouldn’t look backwards for too long and to “Keep Moving Forward”.

In the next section, he speaks about the idea of ‘high’ and ‘low’, and the association of being tall with superiority.

A primary example of this is by how countries are obsessed with building tall buildings.

Currently, the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world, standing at a staggering 828m. Saudi Arabia is fighting for that title by currently erecting the Jeddah Tower with a whopping 1000m in height, set to be completed by 2021.

Just in 2018, China had erected a total of 88 skyscrapers, US with 13, UAE with 10, Malaysia with 7, Indonesia with 5, and Thailand and South Korea both with 3 each.

In our current context of the world, we can evidently see how countries are investing in erecting tall buildings as “a potent marker for good economic might”.

Linking back to Yi-Fu Tuan’s principle of spatial organization, we can observe how this obsession with tall buildings is based on the social relation between countries.

Moving forward (notice that reference), the chapter speaks about distinguishing front and back. Explaining how a space can be divided into front and back for the division of “status”.

In a way, we see this being exemplified in many commercial spaces, such as restaurants, museums, amusement parks, airports, etc. There is a clear demarcation between what the public can see and where the “behind the scenes” is.

For example, in the context of a restaurant, as a customer, we enter through the front door and have our meal in the dining room. A staff member, on the other hand, will use the back door instead to access the kitchen or staff room which is not open to the customers.

This act of demarcation establishes a relationship between people – a customer and a staff member, where Yi-Fu Tuan’s concept of spatial organization by social relations between humans comes into play.

Let us look at a context closer to home, the ADM building.

There is the establishment that the front door is the ones at the lobby or the gallery. Why? Because this is where the majority of people arrive at (roundabout or bus stop). This is in a way related to the spatial organization towards biological need. Naturally, the front door of a building should be at the place where our body first arrives at.

Since, the lobby and gallery doors are basically the gateway to ADM, I think that is why our big screen is at the lobby to capture visitor’s attention and the Gallery, is situated there to invite visitors of ADM to stop by to take a look.

Then, the back doors can be considered the doors at basement towards Sunken Plaza or the carpark, where students or staffs who are more familiar with the building uses.

As a “result of the direction and traffic flow as of architectural symbols”.

Next, he speaks about how right and left is perceived. In most cultural context, right is perceived as “good and legitimate” while the left is perceived as the antithesis.

Then I thought, does this apply to the left-right political spectrum?

Interestingly, the history behind the term ‘left’ and ‘right’ stems from the French Revolution where the ‘right’ refers to the supporters of the king, while the ‘left’ refers to the supporters of the revolution.

In the modern-day context, the leftist support equality while the rightist supports social hierarchy.

Even in this context, we can see how there is a perception of direction.

This next point might be a little far fetched, but what if this perception could also stem from the sun position?

While facing the north, the sun rises from the east to the west, meaning it rises from the right and sets in the west. This also symbolises the movement from day-to-night or light-to-dark. Naturally, day or light is perceived as positive, while night or dark is perceived as negative.

To summarise the entirety of what I have written so far, I would like to bring us back to how this all relates to Interactive Spaces.

What does an interactive space have anything do with spatial organization?

I think understanding how people perceive their space will help us understand how to create an immersive environment. Assimilating their perception of space into an installation will aid their comprehension of a space. However, if we want to create something chaotic or disorganized, I imagine doing something opposite of their perception that will cause a shock to our audience.

 

 

References:

• https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/property/2018/12/20/worlds-tallest-buildings-2018/
• http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20141216-skyscrapers-the-race-to-the-top
• https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/theres-a-global-rush-to-build-ever-higher-skyscrapers