Human Space Interaction Design

Human Space Interaction Design positions spatial sound as a medium in relation to other technologies such as body-motion tracking, position tracking, environmental sensors and haptic interface. The state-of-the-art of such devices provides far-reaching and highly detailed ways of capturing the movements, behaviour and state of the listeners, and thus allows the listener to mediate with its environment by means of one’s individual presence and behaviour.

As we edge closer to an era of seamlessly integrated ‘immersive’ media, our built environments begin to take on a new presence: that of the intelligent space. Enabled and informed by a set of sensory mediums - spatial sound, haptic feedback, mixed reality, bio-wearable media and facial recognition, amongst others - intelligent spaces can read and interpret the behaviour and psycho-emotional state of the people within it, and engage in exchange. By engaging in many repetitions of such exchanges, the machine-learning-enabled space could theoretically develop its own intelligence and sensitivity. Such process could be designed to enhance more emphatic, reciprocal relations to emerge between the environment and humans present within it.

The programme focuses on new forms of interactive design that address the active role of the listener in space, blurring the boundaries between the creator and receiver. The applications of such interaction design range from new tools that enable a more physical and immediate way of sculpting sound within space, to interactive sound installations that are navigable by the listeners, as well as study to the interconnection between environment and behaviour and how this relationship can be enhanced by the spatial manifestation of sound.


→ Key Questions

How does the environment shape our behaviour?

How does our movement, behaviour and state of mind influence and alter what we hear, and how we listen?

How can active listening lead to a deeper engagement with the environment?

How will a more active and creative role for the listener change current paradigms in composition and narrative forms?

What new modes of learning will we discern from our interactions with the space?

Can a space express itself to its inhabitants through the medium of sound?


→ Creators and Contributors

The Human Space Interaction Design programme is open to creative and scientific research proposals from a range of contributor at different stages in their career. All fields of research are welcome to apply to the programme, including but not limited to:

• Game designers & VR/AR/XR developers
• Multimedia artists focusing on the spatial possibilities of new interactive paradigms: sound designers, visual artists, 3D environment designers, experiential designers working with physical space
• Machine-learning specialists
• Choreographers & dancers
• Actors, directors and scenographers
• Physical & movement therapist