TES [The Empathetic Space]

The TES project was imagined in order to produce an enhanced awareness of one's spatial environment through the creation of a responsive, interactive architecture. It was intended that this spatial intervention would both alter the patterns of behavior within the space and enhance the user's understanding and awareness of space in their daily lives.

A team of 2 professors, 2 teaching assistants and 11 second or third year students assembled in January to design, build and install this project in the lobby of the Hampshire College Library within a three week period. The course and project was funded by a grant for the study of Design, Art and Technology [DART] at Hampshire College.

Movement and Function
The overall design for TES responds to both the existing movement paths as well as the established functions of the lobby space. We noticed that the space was "tragically efficient" as a hub of movement, which denied the user the opportunity to enjoy and partake in the space's features and moments of beauty. These alternative functions tended to take place when the rate of movement in the space was slowed and paths of vision were redirected. Altering the pace of movement through interaction and reconstructing hierarchies and lines of sight became key elements in the overall design.

Form, Image and Associations
The form and spatial image of the project evolved in response to many different design ideas. Of these, the most prominent are its response to the environment and the existing topography that lay below the building and beyond in the powerful view of the Holyoke Range. The project intended to reflect the rolling topography and begin to re-imagine the experience of it in a new way. Simultaneously, work with light and material produced a form reminiscent of a paper lantern with deformable organic forms. Combined, the contouring of the landscape and the extrusion of the lantern layers produced a new visual language that was beautiful, functional, organic and effective in animation.

Behavior, Response and Deformation
The design process unveiled a multiplicity of opportunities for movement, responsive to both the environment and individual action. It was important to the group that the final behavior be something that was not overly controlled, but rather embedded this new spatial construction with its own new behavioral and personality. It is not tasked with a function or information to share, but intends to simply engage visitors in its own life and activity. In the end, the design team set up an emergent system made of several small input-output components to generate complex movement and behavior based on the actual complexity of behaviors in the space. Rather than design the behavior, the collective activity in the space produces the complex, 3 dimensional animations.

Looking Forward
While the project generated a specific experimental artistic product, it is critical for us to recognize the significance and potential realized by the project––we can produce spaces that respond to behavior and the environment. From this final product, one can imagine the infinite potential of this creative act. We can imagine architectures that respond to subjective behavior or to environmental conditions. We can imagine artforms that transcend mediums or evolve over time. We can imagine product design horizons that respond to changing social conditions or physical limitations. Through this project we can not only imagine these things, but we proved that one can learn about them, explore them and execute them within Hampshire College.

Project Team
Faculty:
John Slepian, Five College Assistant Professor of Art and Technology
Thom Long, Five College Assistant Professor of Architecture & Design

Teaching Assistants:
Lindsey French (DivIII)
Rachel Schapira (DivIII)

Student Design/Build Team:
Whitney Brooks
Zach Clemente
Virginia Lunt
Brian Martin
Marcel McVay
Mike Meo
Joe Oakley
Clay Royse
Arielle Soutar
Audrey Weber
Ben Yellin

Dart Program/Project Coordinator:
Carla Costa

Installation Team:
Rick Stempel
Bill Kalmakis
Chris Soutra