Naoki©
2023
(Harlé, 1993, p. 418)
“These spaces are often eerie in ways it appears to be monolithic or under-detailed. [...] They do not connect to historical, cultural, or human values making them
alien
to the people that experience them.”
(Prabhu, 2022)
“My belief is that stairs are one of the most important places within a building to build community, offering opportunities for chance encounters and informal conversations while connecting people visually and conceptually to multiple levels within a structure”.
(Mclennan et al., 2018, p. 10)
“[...] everyday life is made up of traversing various buildings. LivingSpace is constituted by connections between various adjacent environment conditions, rather than by any single building”.
(Kaijima et al., 2001, p. 13)
“A good public space in the vicinity would, therefore, be the one which enables and allows behavior to be developed.”
(Harlé, 1993, p. 418)
After extensive research to understand how, in fact, they influence human behavior, my goal was to find simple, tangible solutions to transform awkward In-between spaces into truly pleasant Living Spaces.
To start the experiments, a poster printed on embarrasing, plain white A3 paper was hung in different corridors, corners and elevators at Design Academy Eindhoven. Using design as a tool to enforce a code of conduct, the idea was to poke at people's subconscious and promote unexpected interactions.
After five days, multiple traces of interactions could be seen. I wonder to which extent this 1st experiment was able to raise laughs.
TALK here
A3
Service Elevator
(DAE. NL)
“Someone has a crush on you”
”NEVE(R)”
Lockers corridor. 3rd floor (DAE. NL)
Alternative Entrance. 1st floor (DAE. NL)
For the next experiment, a reward system based on small interaction challenges was created. “Take a selfie with a stranger”, “make 15 seconds eye contact with a stranger” and “talk about Shrek with a stranger” are some examples of the tasks to be completed in exchange for a lollipop.
The experiment took place in the service elevator at Design Academy Eindhoven. For one day, from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., I took the elevator every 30 minutes.
DO Lollipop
A3
collage
A lollipop for a Challenge
50x15cm
Compliment a Stranger
13:54 - 15:13
Take a Selfie
16:22 - 17:16
Make 15 sec Eye Contact
17:55 - 18:05
Scream
19:22 - 20:16
A few times, I took the elevator just as a spectator. People usually read the poster and simply took the lollipops. And smile. However, when they were with someone they knew, they usually completed the challenge with each other. And laughed. In total, I saw 5 interactions like this.
However, the most interesting interactions happened when I was replacing lollipops. In these situations, people would engage in the challenges with me. Some people complimented my glasses. Some people stared at me. One person even shouted. In total, I experienced 6 interactions like that.