Monday 20 August 2012

Introduction

At the start of this year I created a project with an Xbox Kinnect and a projector which turned a dull lobby at  newActon into a lively engaging space. The things that were limiting was my amateur understanding of programming and the hardware that was available. Design, Interaction and Environment was an attractive option because it allows me to understand how to manipulate the hardware whilst programming concurrently.

My interests are in Architecture and I would like to understand the new aesthetic available with digital design. If you take a curtain - it is essentially an environmental control with you as a monitor. It is available in many shapes and sizes, it is adaptable to many situations and adds an aesthetic to the space it is hung. There can also be made by anyone with limited sewing and carpentry skills.

Environmental monitoring systems available to the public lack some of the curtains aspects. Many people do not know how to use them, program them, where to place them, what they actually do and only a handful of people would know how to build them. Thus you have to employ a company to install them and tell you how to use them in a specific way. This creates a gap between the maker and the user which makes the product expensive and inefficient. However the Air Quality Egg is a step towards solving these issues.

Have you ever wondered what the air quality is out there? With open source hardware and the infrastructure in place (internet) a few clever communities in NYC and Amsterdam where able to develop a sensor that measured the air quality around there city - both net and local. The designers focused on producing a product which is: easy to use and therefor more accessible to the masses, able to compare data amongst other users which increases the users ability to understand the output information, it is platform focused which means that it can be updated/expanded and not become superfluous and thrown out, and finally it is community funded.

 The main topic this article raised for me is that data is everywhere. At the beginning of Digital design I believed data was this source of info that you grabbed off the internet, however with the ability to create data catchers and monitors data is available anywhere!

The air quality egg helped me understand how digital design can be directly applied to the architecture in a new and exciting way. It will hopefully open up peoples eyes to what happens in there dwelling and the potential of a new digitally enhanced architectural aesthetic.