Stefano Andreani

Augmented Urban Experiences Harvard Graduate School of

Design
Allen Sayegh
Technologically Enhanced Design Research Methods for Revealing Harvard Graduate School of
Hidden Qualities of the Built Environment Design

ABSTR ACT
The built environment is a complex juxtaposition of static matter and dynamic flows, tangible 1 Urban proxemics and sensory expe-
rience: analysis and representation
objects and human experiences, physical realities and digital spaces. This paper offers an alterna-
of proximity data and EEG readings
tive understanding of those dichotomies by applying experimental design research strategies that in relation to typologies of urban
combine objective quantification and subjective perception of urban contexts. The assumption environments.

is that layers of measurable datasets can be afforded with personal feedback to reveal "hidden"
characteristics of cities. Drawing on studies from data and cognitive sciences, the proposed method
allows us to analyze, quantify and visualize the individual experience of the built environment in
relation to different urban qualities.

By operating in between the scientific domain and the design realm, four design research experi-
ments are presented. Leveraging augmenting and sensing technologies, these studies investigate:
(1) urban attractors and user attention, employing eye-tracking technologies during walking; (2) urban
proxemics and sensory experience, applying proximity sensors and EEG scanners in varying contexts;
(3) urban mood and spatial perception, using mobile applications to merge tangible qualities and
subjective feelings; and (4) urban vibe and paced dynamics, combining vibration sensing and observa-
tional data for studying city beats.

This work demonstrates that, by adopting a multisensory and multidisciplinary approach, it is

possible to gain a more human-centered, and perhaps novel understanding of the built environ-
ment. A lexicon of experimented urban situations may become a reference for studying different
typologies of environments from the user experience, and provide a framework to support creative
intuition for the development of more engaging, pleasant, and responsive spaces and places.

82
INTRODUCTION in between the scientific domain and the design realm, these
The built environment is one of the most fascinating yet studies allow us to merge quantitative and qualitative anal-
enigmatic artifacts of the human being. It fuses the physical ysis into a hybrid form of design research that can eventually
characteristics of a space with the immaterial properties associ- support creative intuition for the development of more engaging,
ated with that space—what Gilles Deleuze would call “intensive” pleasant and responsive spaces and places.
and “extensive” qualities (Deleuze 1994). We perceive our
surrounding world as a complex entity resulting from the juxta- BACKGROUND RESEARCH
position of static matter and dynamic flows, tangible objects and Objective Quantification of Urban Qualities
human experiences, physical realities and digital environments. Over the last few years, research interest has grown on methods
and tools to capture key criteria, parameters, and indicators for
Each urban context possesses certain qualities, and even though depicting and quantifying the specificities of cities in order to
shared characteristics do exist, those qualities vary from place better explain the functioning mechanisms of urban environ-
to place. To capture what makes built environments unique is a ments (Bettencourt 2013). The assumption is that, by drawing on
matter of both quantitative knowledge of their tangible aspects insights of urban dynamics, flows, and activities, the use of "big
and individual perception of their immaterial properties. In the data—a cumulative aggregation of information provided by urban
field of architecture and urban design the tendency has always systems and users—can improve city management and enable
been to emphasize this dichotomy. In fact, scientific methods the development of fine-tuned regulations and the prediction of
are mostly employed in relation to the technical, physical and future needs (Glaeser, Luca, and Naik 2015).
material aspects of the built environment, whereas the individual
perceptions, emotions and responses conveyed and provoked by The first hints of this tendency to measure and quantify urban
architecture are a matter of design intuition (Pallasmaa 2013). parameters can be traced back to the cybernetic movement
of the 1950s and ‘60s. The emergence of computer systems
Peter Zumthor famously stated: “I enter a building, see a room, opened up new possibilities for urban designers and architects
and—in the fraction of a second—have this feeling about it” to explore correlations between design plans and actual urban
(2006, 13). Do urban contexts embed the same evocative activities. In these cybernetic experiments, “the computer could
power? What is the impact of the built environment in shaping further enhance connectivity while allowing a highly customiz-
individual and collective experiences? The complexity of today’s able management of ambience parameters” (Picon 2010, 32). In a
urban dynamics calls for alternative methods of understanding way, the cybernetic ideal has been replaced today by the "smart
the human experience for better informing the design of spaces city" concept, employing technology as a strategy to optimize
and places. In particular, this paper argues that novel digital processes and operations, increase the efficiency of systems, and
technologies and augmenting tools offer unprecedented oppor- monitor urban dynamics (Picon 2015).
tunities for merging quantitative measurements and qualitative
analysis of urban contexts to enrich design research processes. As cities become more automated and embedded with sensors,
data is being generated in real time as a by-product of commu-
Cognitive science claims that the built environment changes our nicating the results of such automation processes (Batty 2016).
brain’s structure by modulating the function of genes, and there- This understanding of the use of technology in urban contexts
fore affects our behavior (Gage, quoted in Farling 2015, 183). is supported by urban theories that employ complex numerical
Without discussing the details of the psychological and biological models to describe networks of systems and flows—the “science
aspects of human perception, we attempt to offer an alternative of cities” (Batty 2013). By applying the principle of “scaling,”
look at the experiential nature of cities through experimental consistent correlations emerge between morphological charac-
strategies. We argue that, by articulating, mapping and exploiting teristics of cities—their size—and socioeconomic markers—such
the specificities of places through a multisensory and multidisci- as creativity and wages (Bettencourt 2007).
plinary approach, it is possible to measure and elaborate on the
subjective experience—eventually revealing "hidden" characteris- Technological innovations in data science have also enabled the
tics of cities. automatic collection and visualization of multiple datasets on
urban dynamics at various levels of aggregation (Andrienko et al.
To validate this assumption a few design research experiments 2013; Sun, Wu and Liu 2013). These tools can then be used to
performed by the authors’ lab are presented, exploring the role make comparisons and extrapolate information about collective
of augmenting and sensing technologies in mediating the interac- urban activities that address, for instance, the vitality (De Nadai
tion between people and the built environment. By operating 2016), rhythm (Miranda 2017), or safety (Naik 2014; Salesses

ACADIA 2017 | DISCIPLINES + DISRUPTION 83

2013) of cities. built environment in the experience of spaces (Arbib 2015, 75).
Because we respond to environmental fields of stimuli through
Subjective Experience of the Built Environment multiple senses neurologically interconnected, these studies
At the other side of the spectrum of this objective, data-driven prove that emotions are deeply embedded in every urban
approach is the fact that living in cities is undeniably an expe- experience with a dynamic relationship between the individuals
riential act. As human beings, we are hard-wired for sensations and the city (Mallgrave 2013). Such new levels of understanding
and emotional states, and these result from the interaction support the evocative power of the built environment with
with other people as much as by our own experience with the potentially profound implications in architecture and urban
built environment (Ingold 2011). In that regard, architecture and design.
urban design play a crucial role for the experiential and ambience
qualities that places embed. By extending our bodily self through METHOD
our senses and technological extensions, we are able to grasp This study introduces an applied research method to analyze,
qualitative atmospheric entities of complex environmental situa- quantify and visualize the individual experience of the built envi-
tions (Pallasmaa 2014). ronment in relation to different urban qualities. The assumption
is that the combination of objective and subjective datasets can
An earlier attempt to better understand this experiential char- help reveal a more comprehensive understanding of spaces and
acter of cities emerged in the Psychogeography movement places within the city, opening up for novel research and design
of the 1960s. Articulated by Guy Debord as “the study of the opportunities that leverage "urbanized" technologies (Sassen
precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, 2011). Rather than a top-down collection and aggregation of
consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of large amounts of information, the attention of this paper is
individuals,” the research pursued by the related Situationist mainly on intangible urban qualities that can be captured at the
International was indeed looking at the spatial arrangement individual level.
of the elements of the urban setting in close relation with the
sensations they provoke (Sadler 1998). A few experimental projects share some characteristics with the
presented work on the investigation of the emotional aspects of
Acting as a modern version of the urban flâneur, William H. cities (Hauthal 2016; Nold 2009; Quercia et al. 2014). Several
Whyte showed that through the power of simple observation, studies also attempt to quantify the states of mind of test
recording and interviews, one can derive meaningful conclu- subjects during, for instance, walking or biking in urban streets
sions on the impact of the built environment in the behaviour through interviews, surveys, or mobile information (Christiansen
of people (Elsheshtawy 2015). Jane Jacobs further explored 2016; Evans 2011; Lin 2010; Ma 2015; Schreuder 2016).
this sensorial character of cities arguing that not just sight, but Recently, wearable sensing tools such as EEG scanners have
instead all the human senses should be taken into account when been employed as well in public places (Cernea 2011; Collins
observing how people interact with places (Jacobs 1961). All et al. 2014; Mavros 2012). Experimental art projects then offer
these studies eventually translated into planning recommenda- interesting cases of sensory experiences through technological
tions and urban policies with the work of Jan Gehl (2006; 2010; augmentation (Schwartzman 2011).
2013).
This paper discusses four hybrid experiments within the design
Cognitive science and psychology can support design with a research framework’s larger scope of measuring and quantifying
more scientific understanding of the the human experience both objective and subjective qualities of the built environ-
(Barker 1963; Gallagher 1993). Through recent technological ment, visualizing them and extrapolating meaning, and creating
developments, for instance on neuroimaging, “we can now begin correlations between those qualities and design strategies. This
to study human responses to various materials (steel, glass, methodology includes the process of "hacking" some of the
concrete, wood), the dynamics of personal and peripersonal employed off-the-shelf instruments, that is tools typically used
space, our biological responses to certain spatial settings, human for their designed purposes are specifically customized for the
responses to particular forms, colors, proportions, textures, research purposes.
light, and vegetation—in short the many enactive variables that
compose the built environment” (Mallgrave 2015). As prototypical case studies, each of the four experiments
focuses on specific qualities of the built environment and subjec-
The emerging “neuroscience of the experience of architecture” tive responses, and creatively employ sensing and augmenting
addresses the very question of the emotional impact of the tools:

84 Augmented Urban Experiences Andreani, Sayegh

• Urban attractors and user attention, combining surveying and
mapping tasks with eye-tracking technologies in walking tests.
• Urban proxemics and sensory experience, using proximity
sensors and EEG wearable devices to capture the spatial
experience through different modes of transportation.
• Urban mood and spatial perception, employing mobile applica-
tions to measure tangible qualities of built environments and
the related subjective feelings.
• Urban vibe and paced dynamics, combining vibration sensing
2
and observational data in subway stations as a proxy for
studying city beats.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Urban Attractors and User Attention
In 1960 Kevin Lynch published The Image of the City, arguing that
people understand their surrounding environment in consistent
ways. There are specific elements in the urban space (paths,
edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks) that have the most
significant impact on people’s mental maps of a place and that
3
make the city “imageable” (Lynch 1960). It remains unexplored,
however, whether these findings have any implications in terms
of human visual perception of the built environment. Are there
any urban elements that are inherently more attractive to the eye
than others?

This experiment explores the use of sensor data from a wearable

eye-tracker to analyze human attention patterns when navigating
built environments. The eye-tracker is employed for non-ob-
trusive recording of gaze data during a walk, allowing for the
4
measurement of visual perception patterns in response to urban
elements. Through mapping the eye gaze of test subjects as they 2 Test subjects in the field wearing a Pupil Dev eye tracker.

walk along a familiar route, this study aims to add a measured

and complementary layer to Lynch’s arguments. 3 Overlay of the eye-tracker’s world view camera with eye gaze points (in green).

The experiment correlates gaze duration/intensity and different 4 Comparison between the visibility heat map as spatial analytic metrics and the
attention intensity maps from three test subjects.
qualities of the viewed objects (color, movement, distance,
geometry, etc.). By juxtaposing the eye-tracking results with a
map-drawing task, the visibility and the memorability of different selected street in Cambridge, MA, the 15 test subjects wore
elements are also compared. The employed eye-tracking device the eye-tracker, and at the end were asked to draw a map of
is a Pupil Dev, a product that comes with a world camera and the street. The participants were aware of how the eye-tracker
an eye camera (Figure 2). The video images taken from the two functions, and advised to act naturally. However, they were not
cameras are processed by its proprietary software that translates aware of the map drawing task beforehand, thus distinguishing
the position of the pupil from the eye image to the corre- between the long-term memory of the space and the short-term
sponding gaze position as related to the world image (Figure 3). memory from the immediate experience.
Although the tool is typically used to track eye movement in a
controlled setting, this study takes the device out of the lab and The test results offer an alternative understanding of the relation-
into the real world. ship between the characteristics of the built environment and
the visual attention patterns of users. Through a comparative
The experiment consisted of two main elements, the eye-tracking study of the eye gaze data during the street walk and post-walk
test and the map drawing task. While walking down the mapping exercise, several layers of inconsistency emerge: (1)

ACADIA 2017 | DISCIPLINES + DISRUPTION 85

the difference between what exists in the built environment and
what is seen; (2) the portion of existing information that is taken
in through the eye (Figured 4); and (3) what is remembered or
processed into memory.

As an ongoing experiment in the application of eye-tracking

techniques in urban studies, the results are preliminary and
could be improved in accuracy if provided with more advanced
technologies and a more rigorous scientific analysis. However,
5
findings so far already suggest the effectiveness of this combined
research methodology (wearable sensor along with interview/
survey) in exploration of human spatial perception. In fact, this
study reveals the subconscious layer of information hidden from
commonly used spatial representations—a deeper reading into
the effects of design, circumstance, or chance on human cogni-
tive mapping.

Urban Proxemics and Sensory Experience

Experiencing the city is most heightened during transit, where
6
different layers of spatial experience are activated and different
dimensions of the built environment are exposed. The objective 5 Measurement of the test subject’s sensory experience during walking, driving,
and riding the subway.
of this experiment is to better understand the varying experi-
ences of each of the primary modes of transportation in the 6 Details of the test subject’s setup with a proximity sensor and an EEG scanner.

city of Boston. This research draws on the aforementioned

Psychogeography studies as well as research on proxemics that The analysis of the readings and spatial scenarios are rein-
sets a particular hierarchy of physical proximity: from the intimate terpreted through a lexicon of urban compositions and their
space closer to the body, through the personal and social space, deduced impact on the mind. This taxonomy juxtaposes the
to the public space (Hall 1966). spatial condition, proximity, and state of mind to generate 99
cases observed in the study (Figure 7). Some cases introduce the
The experiment investigates the mind’s response to the indi- impact of people which are by proxy a result of the setting, while
vidual presence within varying typologies of urban environments, others are purely based on proportion and surroundings. These
intersecting the proxemics zones with different dimensions of findings at once suggest an enhanced knowledge of the urban
mobility. This dynamic experience of the city is also affected by fabric and a critical perspective of transit modes.
the flow of others in relation to the spatiality of the environment.
In the study, a test subject followed a specific route in downtown The accuracy and consistency of the experiment results can
Boston travelling through three unique neighborhoods, each certainly be improved, but the large scope of the study allows
time using a different mode of transit—cycling, driving, riding the us to shed light on experiential patterns. In particular, each state
subway, and walking (Figure 5). of mind is most commonly induced by a specific spatial situation.
Highest levels of meditation are achieved in calm and quiet areas
Proxemics was studied through a set of proximity sensors but with a certain static object to help orientation and create
directed at the four corners to create a circumscribing illustration a sense of scale. Engagement is most commonly associated
of the intrusions into the personal space. In order to investigate with people, thus forcing the subject to be alert and engaged in
the relationship to the mind, an Emotiv EPOC EEG brain scanner whichever transit activity is being undertaken. Excitement relates,
was used to track brain activity throughout the experiment and most often, to unexpected or agitated spatial circumstances,
against proximity (Figure 6). The results of the EEG scanner including heavy flow of people in the immediate surrounding of
readings were categorized as meditation, excitement, frustration, the subject. Finally, frustration is most common when people or
and engagement. This data was then studied in alignment with objects traveling at different velocities are nearby. The outcomes
the readings from the proximity sensors in relation to first-person then suggest an inherent relation to flow, whereby the temporal
footage collected from the experiment (Figure 1). transformation of space is created by people and impacts the
state of mind instantly.

86 Augmented Urban Experiences Andreani, Sayegh

7 Taxonomy of urban conditions in relation to sensory experiences.

Urban Mood and Spatial Perception interests, desires, patterns, and habits. Active measurement is
The way in which we receive information and data about our achieved through a mobile application specifically designed and
interaction and relation to the built environment is largely fed to prototyped by the research team to get a deeper layer of subjec-
us through systematized, sensor-based statistics. The common tive inputs.
static methods of data collection leave little room for interpreta-
tion, and fail to consider the complexities and variables that may The app is based on the premise of engaging individual users
influence the ways in which people perceive their surroundings. to input basic descriptions of sensorial perceptions through
In fact, each individual experience, perception, and view of places valuation of the varying intensity at which they experience
is colored by a personal, subjective interpretation. stimuli. The interface is designed to negotiate through a gradient
of two extremes, allowing for the translation of intuitive experi-
This study addresses such additional layers describing the ences into measured information (Figure 8). When users enter a
subjective views and attitudes that could potentially have an predominant mood or feeling, a correlation between the experi-
impact on and influence how urban data is collected, interpreted, enced phenomena and the emotional response is also created by
and used. In this experiment, "objective" data is quantified by the app, therefore facilitating the personalization of an individual
measuring parameters that can offer an overall representation cognitive landscape (Figure 9).
of the analyzed place. In particular, measurements of tempera-
ture, humidity, spatial qualities, brightness, and sound levels are To test the validity of the research method and tools, a
performed via smartphone apps that employ embedded sensors few experiments were performed in different places within
or add-ons. These parameters and their combination result in a Cambridge (Figure 10). The implementation of the app’s subjec-
quantitative description of tangible features of the environment. tive data in conjunction with the more passive, objective dataset
extracted from complementary sensors, resulted in a series of
The more complex "subjective" experience is instead quanti- urban conditions. This alternative understanding of everyday
fied through two modes of data collection—passive and active. spatial perception allows for novel opportunities and poten-
Passive measurement involves processing existing information tials to enhance the interactions between the user and the city
that is already being transmitted and collected from personal through the recommendation and curation of experiences that
digital devices. These means of data collection are commonly are personally catered to the individual. By revealing the "mood"
utilized by social media, search engines, and apps for extrap- of urban environments, this real-time data could also be used by
olating information about the users and learning more of their city planners to better inform urban strategies and interventions.

ACADIA 2017 | DISCIPLINES + DISRUPTION 87

 Urban Vibe and Paced Dynamics
Cities have a beat, a pulse created by the speed, forces, and
intensity of flows and circulations. Our daily experience is in fact
a sequential series of rhythmic routines, in which commuting to
work plays a crucial role. In this sense, subway stations provide a
unique indicator, a microcosm where to explore these dynamics—
the city "vibe." Travellers and commuters fleetingly inhabit these
transitional spaces in environments of variable density, mood,
noise level, and pace at all times of the day. However, engrossed
8
in their own trip and isolated by media, subway users do share a
space, but not a common experience.

This study explores the use of vibration sensing and obser-

vational data collection in subway stations to develop a new
understanding of the sensory experience of Boston’s T users.
Through documenting the composite "vibe" or "beat" of three
sequential stops, the experiment develops a mode of comparison
between the experiential qualities of stations and the related
sensed data to riders’ behavior and interactions. In the study, the
stations are divided into sensory zones, and both rider behavior
and vibration data are tracked in each zone (Figure 11). These
nested areas include the platform, parts of the station where the
9
user can see the train, and parts of the station where the user
can only hear the train. The investigation also spans across four
time periods, and data was collected during each of these time-
frames at the sensory zones in all the three stations, developing
a matrix of variables that shape the vibe of the T.

The "objective" data collection initially relied on a geophone, a

seismic sensor that converts ground movement into voltage via
an oscillating magnet (Figures 12). In order to measure usable
data in a short period of time, the team eventually employed
the built-in accelerometer in smartphones via the iVibrometer
app (Figure 13). The results show dramatically different vibration
profiles for the three stations. For instance, train arrivals and
departures cause the greatest vibration when measuring at the
platform, but as one moves further from the platform, vibration
levels decrease very differently depending on the morphology of
each station (Figure 14).

On the "subjective" side, the study results in a new under-

standing of the way users experience and inhabit subway
10
stations. For instance it was discovered that, contrary to expecta-
8 Interface of the designed mobile application prototype, allowing for the inputing tions, during rush hour stations remain almost entirely deserted
of basic descriptions of sensorial perceptions.
between trains, as crowds disperse quickly to their destinations.
9 Information flow diagram for the creation of individual cognitive landscapes. The team also identified and documented a series of idiosyncratic
user activities that usually remain unnoticed through sectional
10 Data collection and field experiments’ map of study places in Cambridge, MA. drawings of the stations.

In trying to draw conclusions from this data, one might be

88 Augmented Urban Experiences Andreani, Sayegh

tempted to correlate user activity to the vibration profile of a perception and behavior, eventually fostering enhanced design
particular station. However, to do so would discount the impact methods in which the human experience—and even emotions—
of other senses—sight, hearing, smell—on the subway experience, are placed at the forefront of design decisions.
and would overgeneralize the behavior of T riders. Nevertheless,
this juxtaposition of subjective and objective observations in ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
subway stations, and the pursuit of a composite result, might This work draws on ongoing research at the Harvard Responsive
serve as a reference study for future experimentations in the Environments and Artifacts Lab (REAL) and on outcomes of the courses
understanding of the beat of the city. "Responsive Environments" and "Genome of the Built Environment"
offered by the authors at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The
CONCLUSION authors would like to thank former students: Lezhi Li, Xiaodi Yan and Jake
This paper presented a multidisciplinary approach that creatively Rudin, for their contribution on the urban attractors and user attention
combines "scientific purposes" with "design strategies" for a section; Myrna Ayoub, Timothy Logan and Ramzi Naja, for urban proxe-
better understanding of the embodiment of immaterial elements mics and sensory experience; Chrisoula Kapelonis, Natasha Polozenko and
of the built environment with the subjective experience of cities. Stefan Stanojevic, for urban mood and spatial perception; and Shaunta
The contaminations between different fields and approaches, Butler, Jana Masset and Scott Smith for urban vibe and paced dynamics.
these "détournements or unorthodox misappropriations" (Picon
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———. 2010. Cities for People. Washington, DC: Island Press.
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Glaeser, Edward, Michael Luca, and Nikhil Naik. 2015. “Big Data and Big ———. 2014 “Space, Place and Atmosphere. Emotion and Peripherical
Cities: The Promises and Limitations of Improved Measures of Urban Perception in Architectural Experience.” Lebenswelt: Aesthetics and
Life.” NBER Working Paper 21778. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Philosophy of Experience 4: 230–245.
Economic Research.

90 Augmented Urban Experiences Andreani, Sayegh

 11 Diagram of the identified sensory
zones in subway stations.

12 Geophone setup for sensing ground

movements.

13 Vibration level measurements in a

subway station using a smart-
phone-embedded accelerometer
sensor.

14 Comparison between two of the

studied subway stations, showing
vibration levels and user activities.

14

Picon, Antoine. 2010. Digital Culture in Architecture: An Introduction for the “The Shortest Path to Happiness: Recommending Beautiful, Quiet, and
Design Professions. Basel: Birkhäuser. Happy Routes in the City.” In Proceedings of the 25th ACM Conference on
Hypertext and Social Media, 116–125. Santiago, Chile: ACM Hypertext.
———. 2015. Smart Cities: A Spatialised Intelligence. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
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IMAGE CREDITS
Rasmussen, Steen Eiler. 1962. Experiencing Architecture. Cambridge, MA: All drawings and images by the authors and the research team of the
MIT Press. Responsive Environments and Artifacts Lab at Harvard GSD.

Sadler, Simon. 1998. The Situationist City. Cambridge: MIT Press. Stefano Andreani is a licensed architectural engineer and educator
Salesses, Philip, Katja Schechtner, and César A. Hidalgo. 2013. “The interested in technologically-driven architectural design, exploring

Collaborative Image of The City: Mapping the Inequality of Urban human-centered design strategies for the built environment and

Perception.” PLoS ONE 8 (7): e68400. augmented experiences. He is a Research and Teaching Associate at
the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and the Project
Sassen, Saskia. 2011. “Open Source Urbanism.” Domus. Accessed May 12, Manager of the Responsive Environments and Artifacts Lab (REAL) at
2017. http://www.domusweb.it/en/op-ed/2011/06/29/open-source- Harvard. Merging research and practice, Andreani designs and consults
urbanism.html at INVIVIA – a global architectural design, user experience and design
Schwartzman, Madeline. 2011. See Yourself Sensing: Redefining Human research studio based in Boston.
Perception. London: Black Dog Pub. Allen Sayegh is an architect, designer, an educator and the principal
Schreuder, Elaine, Jan van Erp, Alexander Toet, and Victor L. Kallen, 2016. of INVIVIA – an award winning global design firm. He is an Associate
“Emotional Responses to Multisensory Environmental Stimuli.” SAGE Open Professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design and the director of REAL
6 (1). doi:10.1177/1754073915572690. the Responsive Environment and Artifacts Lab at Harvard. His courses
and practice explores the potentials of media and technologically-inte-
Sun, Guo-Dao, Ying-Cai Wu, Rong-Hua Liang, and Shi-Xia Liu. 2013. “A
grated built environment, interaction design and the study of architectural
Survey of Visual Analytics Techniques and Applications: State-of-the-Art
and urban space thought through the impact of changing technology.
Research and Future Challenges.” Journal of Computer Science and
His work is characterized as the synthesis of architecture, digital art and
Technology 28 (5): 852–867.
design in coming up with innovative architectural human interfaces and
Quercia, Daniele, Rossano Schifanella, and Luca Maria Aiello. 2014. responsive environments.

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