REAL Researchers, Isa He, Humbi Song, Zach Seibold, Ibrahim Ibrahim, and PI Allen Sayegh will bill be presenting at the XXVI SiGraDi Conference Critical Appropriations 2022.

Register here to join us at the Interdisciplinary Design and Codesign session (D2.S2.B) on Thursday Nov 10, 2022 at 13:00.

The Laboratory for Design Technologies (LDT) is a collaborative platform that brings together Harvard University’s research units with a select group of industry advisors to engage in forward-looking, speculative, and imaginative research. Discussions with industry advisors took place on June 2022, with REAL Lab members Allen Sayegh (PI), Humbi Song, and Isa He participating and presenting.

We are excited to have been selected to present our research, “A Biometric Method for Spatial Experience Analysis: A Case Study of Airport Design and Traveler Stress” at The European Conference on Arts, Design & Education 2022!

Join us if you can! 

A Biometric Method for Spatial Experience Analysis: A Case Study of Airport Design and Traveler Stress

Abstract

Why do certain built environments and events induce stress? How does the design of our spatial environment affect our mental state? What can we do to measure and understand these interactions? Interdisciplinary collaborations between architecture and psychology have given rise to a new frontier of architectural research, and emerging biometric sensor technologies lead to innovative research methods that can provide a unique insight into human spatial experiences. This research uses the passenger experience of air travel as a case study for prototyping methods of quantifying and understanding individual spatial experience. The airport presents a potent case study environment; though significant energy has gone into engineering the passenger experience, the prevailing cultural perception of air travel remains tinged with unease and anxiety. The presented research outlines a methodology for quantitatively measuring the passenger experience of the airport design: equipping passengers with biometric electrodermal activity (EDA) sensors – a biomarker significantly correlated to emotional stress response, analyzing first-person video footage worn by participants to map contextual information, and conducting interviews to assess the participant’s perception of the air travel experience. A dashboard was then developed to facilitate visual cross- referencing and analysis of aspects of airport design and social stressors at airports with the biometric data of the passengers and their self-reported perceptions. The overall aim of this research is to identify key elements to help rethink and redesign airport architecture and experience. Future research can utilize this methodology to facilitate speculations on alternative scenarios for designing not only airport architecture but also other analogous public spaces.

Author Information:

Humbi Song*, Isa He*, Zach Seibold, Allen Sayegh.

* Co-first authors

Read the full paper here!

REAL Lab PI, Allen Sayegh was invited as the keynote speaker for the Rizomas International Conference at  Universidad Diego Portales.

REAL Lab PI, Allen Sayegh, presents in Chicago.  Shaping the City: A Forum for Sustainable Cities and Communities is a forum organized by the European Cultural Centre in collaboration with the Chicago Architecture Biennial.

If you are at the Venice Biennale, come see our exhibit at the European Cultural Centre! Our research on Responsive Environments and student work is showcased as part of the Time Space Existence Exhibition.

Please join us for the projects showcase of our course “Responsive Environments: Episodes in Experiential Futures” at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Addressing multifaceted aspects of our experience of the built environment, over the semester students have envisioned human-centered and technologically-enhanced scenarios of responsive spaces, systems and artifacts.

This course introduces to the students the tools and necessary thinking framework to create technologically driven speculative environments in the near future of the built environment. The course takes a critical approach on technological augmentation that is valid spatially, socially and psychologically. By putting the human experience at the center and forefront, from the immediate body scale to the larger environment encompassing buildings and the urban spaces, the course examines new and emerging models, technologies, and techniques for the design of innovative architectural human interfaces and responsive environments.

Taking a holistic view, the class will address multifaceted aspects of our experience of the built environment and how the rapid pace of technological innovation affects our relationship to our daily lives and spaces around us. The course takes advantage of the resources offered by the ongoing research project at the REAL lab with the Italian City of Bergamo, and aims to build on that research and open up new research and speculative design opportunities. Bergamo – a typical mid-size European city – offers an ideal case study for prototypical interventions that can be possibly replicated in other contexts.

We are excited to share some of the research pursued with our colleagues at the University of Bergamo through a new article on the Journal of Technological Forecasting & Social Change.

Drawing on our REAL Lab-UniBG multiyear collaboration, the paper explores design research strategies for the creation of citizen-centered scenarios of responsive environments and enhanced urban experiences, focusing on the longevity and sustainability of technologically driven design.

Are we sure that the cities of tomorrow will be smart, sustainable and responsive? Or will they rather be global networks where social processes are determined by induced transnational dynamics?
Stefano Andreani in conversation with Domus director Walter Mariotti addressed these and other questions at “The future of cities: a new urban paradigm” conference at the Feltrinelli Foundation for the Brera Design Days 2018.

More info on Brera Design Days and Domus.

We‘ve enjoyed helping passionate students from CAFA Beijing speculate on the future of technologically enhanced places and experiences. The workshop design concepts will be exhibited at the Central Academy of Fine Arts along with the work by other schools’ international collaborations.

On June 28 in Milan Allen Sayegh and Stefano Andreani will give a talk and run a design workshop on “the future of shopping”, as part of the Architecture Meets Fashion executive master organized by Accademia Editoriale Domus.

http://www.accademiaed.com/en/master/2018/architecture-meets-fashion.html

Read the Harvard GSD news here.

“Responsive Environments” looks into the future of the built environment from a technologically augmented point of view, with a strong focus on what makes technologies stick and sustainable. By taking a holistic view and putting the human being at the center and forefront, the course examines new and emerging models, technologies, and techniques for the design of innovative architectural human interfaces and responsive environments. This year the topic of investigation will be on the question the shopping experience at the intersection of digital and physical realms. The course is part of “REAL Cities / Bergamo 2035,” a multiyear research collaboration between the REAL Lab and the University of Bergamo with the support of Pesenti Foundation.

Read more of the course here.

UrbanNext interviewed Stefano Andreani within the Smart City Expo World Congress, Barcelona, Nov 2017.

Watch the interview here.

The Harvard Gazette covered the PULSUS project by INVIVIA+REAL through an interview with professor Allen Sayegh.

“The piece acts essentially as a conch shell for urban activity, or as a stethoscope: a new way to listen in to the city’s activity.”

Read the full interview here and enjoy the following video!

Allen Sayegh joined a round table discussion at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing with global design leaders and experts, including Kevin Kelly, Fan Di’an, Joichi Ito, Anthony Dunne and Sputniko! (Hiromi Ozaki).

More info here.

Tomorrow we will be presenting our research on Measuring the Unseen at the Responsive Cities Symposium in Barcelona. Looking forward to discussing the exciting future of technologically-enhanced built environments!

This Saturday morning we will be presenting our research on “augmented urban experiences through technologically-enhanced design research experiments” at the ACADIA conference at MIT Media Lab. We hope to see many of you there!

Please join us next Monday 25 from 5-7pm at the Harvard Design School for the opening reception of PULSUS.

Come sit, press your ear against the concrete, and listen…

Final review of the REAL Lab ‘Responsive Environments’ course. Within the framework of the “REAL Cities | Bergamo 2.035” research program between Harvard GSD and the University of Bergamo (with the support of Fondazione Pesenti), this year the students developed design projects on urban safety and augmented experiences.

DDes 30 event at Harvard GSD organized by prof Martin Bechthold.

GSD design research at its best applied all over the world by innovative leaders.

Presentation of the ongoing research work of the lab at the Research WIP event at the GSD, sharing ideas and projects with the other Design Labs.

GSD and UNIBG students met in Bergamo for a Design Research Workshop within the “Responsive Environments: City eMotion” course and the “REAL Cities | Bergamo 2035” research initiative between the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the University of Bergamo.

A great start of the semester for the 2017 Responsive Environments class!
The course looks into the future of the built environment from a technologically augmented point of view, with a strong focus on the sustainability and longevity of responsive spaces and artifacts.
With the City of Bergamo as playground for the development of alternative research studies and design solutions, this year the class will pursue research on urban safety — particularly on the perception and experiential aspects of safety in both physical places and digital realms.
This course is part of “REAL Cities / Bergamo 2035,” a joint research program between the REAL Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Università degli Studi di Bergamo, with the support of Fondazione Cav. Lav. Carlo Pesenti.

Education researcher Edith Ackermann awarded lifetime achievement award from FabLearn at Stanford GSE

Read more here.

Next Monday July 4th, some of the design concepts developed in the “Responsive Environments: Bergamo eMotion” course last semester will be shared with the City of Bergamo for a discussion on potential further improvements.
The event will be attended by the Mayor of Bergamo, the President of the University of Bergamo, representatives from Fondazione Pesenti as well as relevant stakeholders involved in this conceptual phase.
The event is part of the “REAL Cities | Bergamo 2.035” research initiative between the lab and Università degli Studi di Bergamo

Next Thursday 26th at the University of Perugia, Stefano Andreani will give a lecture on Responsive Cities and will guide a workshop with the UNIPG students for the development of design proposals to rethink Fontivegge ‒ a key area in Perugia that includes the train central station and a controversial square designed by the renowned architect Aldo Rossi.
The outcomes of the workshop will be discussed on Friday 27th with representatives of the Perugia Municipality and the Umbria Region, as well as with the UNIPG President and faculty from Rome and Milan Universities.

Please join us next Tuesday April 5th for a conversation between Chris Bangel, Principal of Chris Bangel Associates and former Chief Designer at BMW, and Allen Sayegh, Professor in Practice of Architectural Technology and Director of the Lab.

The conversation, titled Mobility, Emotion and the Built Environment, is framed within the context of Allen Sayegh and Stefano Andreani’s GSD 2314 Responsive Environments: Bergamo eMotion course, which investigates future urban mobility scenarios and experiences through the lens of human-centered responsive technologies.
The course is part of the “REAL Cities | Bergamo 2035” joint research initiative between the GSD REAL Lab and the University of Bergamo.

On March 3rd at the University of Perugia, Stefano Andreani will give a lecture on the design of urban campuses and will guide a workshop with the UNIPG students on the design of speculative visions for the future evolution of the University urban campus in the historical center of Perugia.

In Responsive Landscapes, Cantrell and Holzman explore the various approaches taken to apply responsive technologies in current landscape-architecture practice. The book is organized into six sections, framing projects through a series of six terms: elucidate, compress, displace, connect, ambient, and modify. The result is a comprehensive view of landscape design projects using responsive technologies and their relationship to landscape and environmental space.

Click here to know more.

Stefano Andreani presented to Italian journalists the 2015-2016 research and teaching activities for the “REAL Cities | Bergamo 2035” initiative.
Hosted by the Italcementi Innovation Lab, the press conference featured speeches also from the Major of Bergamo, the President of the University of Bergamo, the Director of Research and Innovation of Italcementi, and the CEO of Mosaicoon.

GSD and UNIBG students meet in Bergamo for a Design Workshop within the “Responsive Environments: Bergamo eMotion” course and the “REAL Cities | Bergamo 2035” research initiative between REAL and the University of Bergamo.

“LED has become considerably cheaper in the past 10 years,” said Allen Sayegh, an architect and an associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. “It’s exciting on one hand, that you can have all these buildings being lit up, but it’s also very problematic because it’s pollution. The Empire State Building and these iconic buildings do a good job, but when everybody else is doing it… it becomes almost this light-junk.”

Read more here.

How can we capture and map out hidden qualities of the built environment?
How can we measure the ‘unseen’ in alternative ways?
How can we create correlations and find consistencies?
The GSD “Genome of the Built Environment: Measuring the Unseen” will explore new methods for the understanding, augmentation, and evolution of urban contexts through the use of responsive technologies.
For any questions please contact Prof. Allen Sayegh ([email protected]) or Stefano Andreani ([email protected]).

Find out more here.

How are responsive technologies going to affect mobility modes in the city?
How can we design in an environment of rapid technological evolution?
How can we address technological longevity?
How is our experience affected by new disruptive modes of transportation?
If you want to help us answer those pressing questions, consider enrolling in the GSD “Responsive Environments: Bergamo eMotion” course.
The course is part of a joint research initiative with the University of Bergamo, and will ultimately result in the development of design solutions envisioning alternative urban scenarios. It’s the year 2035.
For any questions please reach out to Prof. Allen Sayegh ([email protected]) or Stefano Andreani ([email protected]).

Find out more here.