design

Synthetic Architectures +

Jonathan Turner | Syllabus | ITPG-GT.2177 | Thur 3:20pm to 5:50pm in 370 Jay St, Room 409 Meetings:14
3d, 4 Point, architecture, art,, challenging, design, design, Elective, engine, experience, fun,, futurism, Graduate, imagination, immersive, In-Person, interaction, interactive, maya, media, modeling, philosophy, psychology, reality, social, space, speculativedesign, Spring 2025, technical, theory, thoughtful, ue4, unreal, unrealengine, virtual, virtualreality, vr, xr, Yes
Last updated: November 11, 2024

For better or worse humanity is heading down the virtual rabbit hole. We’re trading an increasingly hostile natural environment for a socially networked and commercially driven artificial one. Whether it’s the bedrooms of YouTube streaming stars, the augmented Pokestops of Pokemon Go, the breakout rooms of a Zoom meeting, or even the “airspace” of Airbnb; we are witnessing a dramatic transformation of what occupying space means. The socially distanced measures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have only accelerated this societal embrace of the virtual.

So where are these dramatic spatial paradigm shifts occurring? Who owns and occupies these spaces? Who are the architects and what historical and ethical foundations are they working from? What world do they want to build for humanity and where does the creative individual fit into it? Will it be a walled garden, a role-playing adventure or a tool for creating more worlds?

The course will ask students to embrace the role of virtual architect, not in the traditional brick-and-mortar sense of constructing shelter, but in terms of the engagement with the raw concept of space. However this virtual space must be considered and evaluated as a “site,” that is activated and occupied by real people and all the limitations of physical space that they bring with them from the real world. This is the foundation of synthetic architecture; simulated space met with biological perception.

This conceptual architecture is free from the confines of physics but host to a whole new set of questions: How do we embrace the human factors of a dimensionless environment? How do we make or encourage meaningful interactions within the limits of current technology? New models of interaction must inform and shape the architecture of virtual space – what does that look like? How can architecture and aesthetics inform the creation of virtual environments and immersive narratives? How do we acutely consider the psychological and social impacts of the worlds we design and what is the metaphorical ground plane to make sense of this virtual world, unbound by physics?

About Jonathan Turner: http://www.jonathanwilliamturner.com/about/

Collective Play +

Mimi (Yue) Yin | Syllabus | ITPG-GT.2176 | Wed 12:10pm to 2:40pm in 370 Jay St, Room 411 Meetings:14
4 Point, abstract, analog, challenging, collective, collectiveplay, communications, computation, design, dynamics, Elective, game, gamedesign, Graduate, group, groups, humanbehavior, In-Person, interaction, interactiondesign, interactive, javascript, mind, node, nodejs, of, p5js, philosophy, play, playful, relationships, self, server, sockets, Spring 2025, systemdesign, theory, thoughtprovoking, websockets, Yes
Last updated: November 11, 2024

Rules of play shape competitive games from checkers to football. But how do rules of interaction, both stated and unstated, shape everyday life? What happens when there are no established conventions and the rules are being made up as we go along? And last but not least, can we invent and facilitate new social norms through unconventional uses of technology?

In this course, we will design, code and test strategies for playful, serious, and bizarre group interactions drawing inspiration from daily life. We will interrogate both what it means to play and how individual identities and group behaviors emerge. What motivates participation? What hinders it? When does participation become oppressive? What’s the difference between self-consciousness and self-awareness? Who has power? Who doesn’t? Are leaders necessary? What’s the difference between taking turns and engaging in conversation? What happens when the slowest person sets the pace? What happens when there are no explicit rules? And how do we set the stage for breaking social conventions?

Class time will be a mix of technical material, play-testing, improvisation and movement work adapted from acting and dance training. All projects will be done in groups of 2-4.

We will work with both mobile sensors and traditional keyboard/mouse interaction with p5.js, socket.io and node.js to enable real-time interaction. Our challenge is to design technology-enabled interactions that encourage participants to be even more present in the physical world with each other.