Master Industrial Design in collaboration with Google
This project is part of a series of 6 interactive installations on Kings Boulevard, London, alongside Google Development. Through processes of co-discovery and design, the production of each installation responded to the innovation and ambitions of the new Google Building in King’s Cross.
This collaborative challenge offers a site for participation, interpretation, discussion, and play about one of London’s pioneering architectural projects and the communities it will engage.
This project was shown as part of the London Festival of Architecture, which aims to ‘meaningfully engage the public in an aspect of their built environment’, the overall theme of the festival is ‘Act’.
Our group decided to address the feature of empowerment / enabling.
Zip-lock
sound system
the cloud's frame
3D printed connectors for fibreglass sticks
inflatables tests
inside an inflatable test
tests for reflecting fabrics
test 1:1 for one of the cloud's domes
Development
Research in addition to a community workshop we undertook in collaboration with a local table tennis club, brought interesting insight into what empowerment could mean for others. During this exploration and some performances, came the idea of applauding, as a means of positive reinforcement, encouragement, and appreciation.
To activate the audio, participants would have to clap above a detector zone, thus creating fluctuation in the light source, triggering the code, and releasing the clapping sound. You clap at the cloud, and the cloud claps back at you, creating a feeling of empowerment. The inside is reflective, to embody this sens of diversity and uniqueness present in the community of Camden.
