thesis dana karwas dlk253@nyu.edu Kadambari Baxi Thesis Advisor baxi@imagemachine.com

Inside out the car: Personal isolation chamber as a new form of suburban community center.

Car is used as connector and component in one

diagram of technology
user interaction

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1.) laptop-connected to internet running the program Max/MSP/Jitter. This is controlling all the sounds, video, and uploading and downloading of information

2.) web interface-allows specific users to upload information to be announced(this would be given to various people in the community, and requires a password)
http://www.dk22.com/SPLO/login.php

3.) blue tooth keyboard-exploded and scaled up in order to get the input from the pods. All the pods will be wired back to the bluetooth keyboard which will be sending the triggers to the computer which will be displaying the appropriate community information.

4.) projector-projecting what users are seeing in the front on the back windshield. Showing content of the pods when pods are pressed

5.) speakers-allowing users to hear announcements when pods are pressed

6.) 2 i-sight cameras-showing live feed in on both front and back view

7.) lcd flatscreen-Embedded in the front windshield of the car showing also the content of the pods when pressed and as well as the live view of the back of the car.(see through car)
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Site
Location: Chesterfield Missouri
Chesterfield Commons Strip Mall located alongside Interstate 64/Highway 40 at the Boones Crossing Exit.
Chesterfield Commons is a 2.5 million square foot retail power center, Chesterfield Commons considered the largest shopping strip in the US
aerialPHOTOS of site
Site Photos
Night Photos
info/research/zoning/permits

Physical Design

A structure of density and adaptive response

Information Design
aspects of information

Users
USER Participation and Interaction: uses can choose to participate on many different levels with multiple platforms to choose from
-on site-through direct contact and interaction with the object and its input devices

-off site-through the internet and cellphones
Weather Bear Experiment
Daily Routine Experimentt

Existing Situation
identity as it exists in the suburbs
Future Situation
what the “object” is reaching for
Renderings
site context renderings
3d model renderings

The object is going to work for the people of the suburbs, it will be a way for them to gain information about the past present and future events of their community through the objects that are familiar to them. In coming to this conclusion I thought about what types of information is willingly shared by the people in the suburbs…..honor student status, baby on board, sports teams, types of cars, bumper stickers, simple signs, posters, I will term this suburban flare. Most of this flare is exhibited or broadcast through cars or as quoted in suburban nation…."private isolation chambers". As an extension of the car, (motorist) such things as front yards, backyards, 20 minute houses get placed in the public appearance. If one is not a motorist or with a motorist they become stranded and dependent on the motorist. People will go to the object, to go and be with a density of objects that they are familiar with. These familar “back yard, garage, suburban product” type objects will directly inform the suburban resident of information either by embedded screens, speakers, or remote information that is sent to the object itself. Each object will have an information relay of its own suggesting for the users to interact with the everyday suburban objects to gain more information about their community. For example you pet the big stuffed dog and images of lost pets appear on the dogs back. Users put their hand in the baseball glove and the can hear the scores of the latest little league and softball game. Users turn the hose on and they hear the latest weather conditions…etc. Each object will take on an event of infromation distribution.

Aerial Photos of Site
3D views and models
Story Board of User Scenario
Pre concept/function sketches

In order for users to get immedate feedback from the “object” it will be necessary to incorporate a moving structure. This will happen very slightly, but the movemnets will be noticed. A bunch of expanding and contracting little pieces of structure could essentiall compose the entire structure. These little structures would be held in by some type of mother skin, and the skin would be a protection from the elments that may arise as a result of nature and street life in the suburb….storms, rain, heat, wind, vandalism, fender benders,realestate, shopping carts, kids, etc.

The exterior skin needs to be tough, and durable, and be able to give with a little resistence. At the same time flexible and approachable:
Possibilites would include rubber, latex, mesh, canvas, plastic and possibly fabric. (more…)

In order to create a working prototype for the thesis project, it has been determined that the “object” will have to have a few main functions. The functions will be determined by the following two conditions:

1.) how will a collective social space be created-will this make people socialize?
2.) how will the structure directly related to the function of use and function of users

THe object has many potential functionalities. Below I have analyzed these functionalities through the Default and Active Modes of the suburban parking lot object.

Default Mode:
What can people do while the object is being ignored? THis leads to the idea of calm technologies. In the article The Coming Age of Calm Technology by Mark Weiser and John Brown the idea of “the periphery” is fundamental to the calm technology. Brown and Weiser state the following,

“What is in the periphery at one moment may in the next moment come to be at the center of our attention and so be crucial. The same physical form may even have elements in both the center and periphery. The ink that communicates the central words of a text also peripherally clues us into the genre of the text though choice of font and layout.
A calm technology will move easily from the periphery of our attention, to the center, and back.” (more…)

MIT bubble machine
nice interaction
lighting project bubble
screaming object
mirror tv project
big box recycling this project is working with recycled big box
architecture buildings, working for the community finding a re-use for the dead walmarts, and K-Marts. I really like this project becasue it is a an attempt at suburban renewal for the better of the community.
uberorgan
son-o-house

the suburban public space will be a large object that allows for manipulation by users in the parking lot and also has a second form of self control and action caused by remote users and sensing devices.

the object will be touchable/effective/emotional/have character/simple to interact with/ and easy to manipulate.

similar to the objects that we place emotion onto in everyday life this will be a big object for the suburb which lives in the parking lot. The object will be constructed out of durable materials so if the teenagers want to kick it they can and if the dads want to punch it they are more than welcome to.

structually the object will be approachable, sensitive, and loving. and emotional object for the suburban residents to interact with in the parking lot

Splintering Urbanism networked infrastructures, technological mobility’s and the urban condition by Stephen Graham and Simon Marvin

Global cities Cinema, Architecture and Urbanism in a digital age

The Death and life of great american Cities by Jane Jacobs

The Unknown City by Borden

Learning from Las Vegas Venturi, Brown

Warped Space by Vilder

A Pattern Language by Alexander

Telecommunications and the City by Stephen Graham

The Unknown City by Borden

Ideal Cities

Me ++ by William Mitchell

Suburban Nation by Duany, Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck

THe Rise of the Network Society by Manuel Castells

Slow Space edited by Michael Bell and Sze Tsung Leong

material innovation site
transstudio

this project uses gps to navigate around a bleak la parking lot to tell the areas history
http://34n118w.net/34N/
http://www.34n118w.net/
ghost parking lot in Hamden, Connecticut: the cars are burried under asphalt…..
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/CTHAMparking.html
Shipwrecked in a parking lot……..Coltsville, Massachusetts
The ship’s plaque informs the curious that Shuler “believes in art that puts everyday things out of context, such as a ship rising out of the sea of cars in the parking lot of a mall.”
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/MACOLship.html

Instead of using the word disposable I realized that temporary would be a better word for the description. The suburbs are based around the concept of disposability but this space is not to be thrown away as a commodity, but rather it is to leave a residue so it can begin to build a history.

The users will be controlling the space through the vantage point of their speeding car as well as from the street/parking/no speed level. It is a public space that is defined by interactive “public objects” that move and shift depending upon who is using the space and who is directly in the presence of it or passing by. It is about networking the people together that are in the proximity of each other, and allowing for information to be sent and received by the changing boundaries of collective objects, creating a public space. (more…)

A controlled, disposable, public suburban space that mediates the chance encounter by creating a central “public stranger” for the suburbs. The Suburban Renewal Stranger will serve the suburbs and create collective public stranger objects, temporary social organization, vitality, and meaning for the vacuums and dead spaces of the suburbs.

Suburban renewal Stranger is also a community, identity, and place temporarily sited for the suburban residents based on adaptability to use. Each unfolding event of the suburban renewal stranger will control the physical state of the structure. Disposing, reforming, and responding to change. Sensitivity to the users and non users. (more…)