The prototype space
is on the UCSB campus. It has similiar properties to a public, urban space. People frequently walk across the site to go from place to another. Although there is never more than 10 people at one time. The location is surrounded by high buildings and has some plants. One side is quite open to a larger path, which is used by many pedestrians and cyclists. The place offers banks to seat, which are mostly empty. Placed in the middle of different department buildings the place serves mostly as a crossing point for people, students, faculty and staff, but one sees people rarely rest or chat. We've chosen this place because it has this variety of important characteristics for the project and it is near by the new MAT building.
The idea is to benefit from the places vital structure, but to enforce the social qualities of the site. The used technology and the installation is conceived to bring up the spacial patterns that we know from other urban environments. We are thinking of the idea of italian piazzas, which serve as an open, public space, but not only as transit spaces. People regularly spend a few minutes waiting, observing, sitting or standing, sometimes to get in contact with other people. Taking the metaphor of cities as a network, streets operate as paths, to organize the flow of people. Places function as nodes where people change directions or can stay outside the flow.
Further steps in the development would include research of social behaviors as well as the study of history of architecture in regard to the emergence of places. This project has a strong emphasis on the role of Information Technology in public space. Therefore it will indirectly investigate the effect of mobile communication devices as a way to connect to the physical world and to create location awareness.