School of the Future
On Air

The industrial design department of the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart is teaming up with Florence based audio-solution manufacturer K-array to explore the future of loudspeakers. The students have to examine how and where sound is consumed, how the listening habits have changed over the time and what could be the answer to the emerging needs and wishes in the new conditions, starting to dedicate special attention to everyday noises that usually go unnoticed but have an immense emotional value.
Sound, tone, frequency, rhythm-the task is to bring the intangible into shape.

Spatial Interface

“Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening.” –

Tom Goodwin, Zenith Media

 

Architects and designers are very comfortable thinking of the way spaces enable users to engage in activities. Some spaces are highly mediated and tailored to specific uses while others are more flexible and open. Scale is another key property of the designed environment. Designers apply their skills to everything from the object to the room to the building and the city which contains all these individual elements many times over.

However, the digital layer is transforming the way people interact with spaces at all scales. Taxi stands, information booths, queuing lines, concierge desks, receptions, and lobbies are all spaces which have been transformed by new digital tools and experience layers .

 

Schools, however, don’t seem to be on par with this transformation through the tools at hand. Schooling environment since theindustrial revolution has done very less to revamp their gloomy,isolated and lifeless spaces. This virtual architectural design study searches for ways of implementing the missing digital layer into the schooling system of today and exploring its potential in the digital age.