Collection-In-Play
Create a spatial + interactive experience for the Special Collection at Posner Center CMU. The project is all about solving the challenge of making special collections accessible and engaging to a wider audience.
Duration: 4 weeks
Skills: Motion Tracking, Projection Mapping, Rhino
Process - Click here
Vision
I took this as an opportunity to create a collaborative experience between researchers and visitors. By using technology like real-time projection and motion tracking, I aim to make the experience more interactive and engaging, allowing visitors to not only learn about the research but also to actively participate and contribute to it.
Spatial Design
I have designed a space where visitors can walk through, see research, and communicate with each other, while also being able to work and gain more knowledge about different collections. The space allows for a feedback loop between the researcher and visitor, creating a valuable learning possibility for both.
Interaction
This project is valuable to the users, the CMU community, the clients, and the world as it brings together people from different backgrounds and disciplines, creating a space for knowledge sharing and collaboration. I have created a space that not only targets a particular collection but can be used for the entire collection.
The space is open from the center, allowing for easy movement and communication between people. The research and study areas are located to the side, providing a quiet space for deeper engagement with the collections.
I have focused on creating an experience that is accessible to everyone, regardless of their level of expertise, making it easy for visitors to navigate through the collection and find what interests them.
The partition that separates the side from the center is glass and thus the whole space feels big. Despite the number of projections in the space, it is not overwhelming. The glass wall allows visitors to see through the research and study space. This makes the collection visible as well as creates an opportunity for visitors to see how and what the researcher is working on.
The study space is more open and has free access and can be used to perform functions like teaching for curators.
However the research space is private and has restricted access . The research space is close as the special collections account for a lot of care. The room will thus be climate and light controlled. Within the room there is a big shelving for the collection. As mentioned earlier, the space is not only created for a particular collection but can be used for the entire collection. For example the research space can be divided into different sections based on different collections or to say the Shakespeare folios has four books and each table could be allotted to a particular folio, this depends on the number of researchers in space as well.
Technology
As visitors enter the space, they grab a physical page that is tracked by IR cameras. The page displays real-time projections of what the researcher is currently working on. This technology allows visitors to gain insight into the research process and see firsthand how research is conducted.
The interactive tables located in the collaborative center provide visitors with an opportunity to work on the data they have collected. They can transfer the data from the pages onto the interactive tables and use them as digital workspaces. This provides visitors with a more immersive and interactive experience with the collections.
Finally, these pages will also have a system for people to collect the knowledge they have gained from their visit and take it with them and continue to explore the collections on their own.
