Cultural Cognition and Smart Space Design Culture

Spatial design in the 20th century implied a profound concern with form.The aesthetics of the analog artifact became the exclusive milieu in whichartists and designers could present identity, order, and provoke visual emotions.Design occurred typically only before fabrication and usage. Oncethe analog piece was built its design would remain frozen in time and couldno longer be modified.In this paper we will argue that the act of design in the 21st century will inevitablydevelop a parallel creative process. Human space is changing froma collection of “dumb” analog artifacts into networks of “smart spaces” inwhich human, products, and places can interact in real time. The paper introducesthe historical foundations of “augmented reality” that began to beintroduced with terms such as “ubiquitous computing,” “calm technology,”“third paradigm” by authors such as Mark Weiser, Alan Kay and researchcenters such as Xerox PARC more than 30 years ago. But it also argues thatdespite de accelerated lowering of price per bit and atoms per bit and theevident miniaturization of computers the design of “augmented reality” hasmaintained a very narrow design vision of space production.The paper is based on an extensive review of more than 400 prototypes of“augmented reality” projects. We argue that this “hybrid” world is emergingas a gradual accumulation of technologies. This signifies not only a clashbetween two types of human environments and technologies but a collisionof detached design cultures, traditions, and understanding of humanfactors. Relationship, timing, and bonding experiences between humanactions, consciousness, and spaces are more important than technologicalsolutions. The whole subject matter of this new computing age is transformingdata into cognition.But what does it mean to transform data into cognition? Computing thoughtuntil the 1990s has been based mostly on “a-corporeal” vision of the world.Most of the traditions of digital computation have been based on a symbolicrepresentation of cognition. Its future will be based on defining the experienceand the emotional value of physical interaction.We are critical with most “smart space” or “augmented reality” projects.We believe these are mostly object and function centric. We show how a significantnumber of prototypes we have analyzed develop a deep engagementor create wonder users but just minutes. The novelty usually wears quickly.A few more mature pieces, the ones that are able to engage the body, usuallyhave a series of combinatory tricks that move the user into a cognitivenarrative. The more engaging projects blur the user into a story. The mostengaging projects have a universal language and an intricate story that canalso be found in large art pieces such as the weather project by Olafur Eliassonor the cloud gate sculpture by Anish Kappor. We finalize the paperby presenting how a more centered body-experience vision of computationcalls for a more clear understanding of the field of “cultural cognition” thatare related to our self-defining values.

Volume Editors
Martha Thorne & Xavier Costa

ISBN
978-0-935502-83-1