BALLS! Is an interactive installation piece in which mechanically directed light spheres move based on data gathered from within the building, using input from physical sensors that measure energy consumption, number of people working, internet traffics, meeting room noise levels, and the amount of coffee being consumed. The staff working in the building played an important role in determining various behaviors for the motion and application of the spheres. This type of passive yet constantly changing and moving structure creates a dynamic space that directly feeds off the actions and interactions of the people seeing it, not because they are intending to interact with it, but because it is the everyday interactions of the people in the building, that powers and directs it. In this, they can see their own actions and those of others throughout the building in an exceptional way.
Webpage: http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/lab-projects/balls
Light Touch
What I find fascinating about this piece is the combination of these controlled light systems and the much more (in a way natural) and uncontrollable properties of smoke (in how it moves, and the textures it creates). The relationship between this type of traditional, almost sauna-like setting as an architectural space with the artificial, moving lights creates a very interesting tension between the elements. The smoke and the way it interacts with both elements and rooms (being released when people sit in the back area, increasing in amount to create a haze with the lights) pulls it together into a very interesting single interactive space.
Webpage: http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/lab-projects/light-touch