ASTROCYTE
Interactive and Kinetic Art Installation by Philip Beesley Architects Inc. in collaboration with 4D SOUND, for DX EDIT - Expo for Design, Innovation & Technology, Toronto, Canada (2017)
During my tenure as a Designer at Philip Beesley Architect Inc., I was primarily responsible for form-finding and fabrication, as well as experience design for the ‘living’ sculpture. Among the highlights of my work was the meticulous consideration and design of the user experience within ASTROCYTE, along with a fruitful collaboration with 4D SOUND to produce a spatial sound effect.
All images are courtesy of Philip Beesley. The entire team can be found here
“The work is robust, yet delicate in nature, and this seems to encourage different ways of acting… Observing people interacting with these spaces is quite striking because extraordinarily gentle and respectful responses tend to happen. Have we caused someone to experience a different and perhaps healthier form of interaction?”
— Philip Beesley, CEO, for ArchDaily Magazine
Digital representation of the concept. Image courtesy of Philip Beesley
Designing experiences inside a ‘living’ sculpture
As a designer for Astrocyte, the first-generation spherical meshwork construction with interactive light, kinetics and sound developed for DX EDIT: Expo for Design, Innovation & Technology, I was responsible for creating various elements of the installation and the user experience. This immersive environment was installed within an iconic, abandoned space at the waterfront termination of the Don Valley Expressway in Toronto, and featured a floating sculpture comprised of 300,000 components made of thermally-formed acrylic, mylar fronds, electronic sensors, 3D printed lights, inorganic chemicals, and custom glasswork.
In my role, I designed various graphical images that included representations of sequential behavior, overall interaction diagrams, and encapsulation for the sound system and assembly elements. These designs were essential for creating the distributed control systems that activated the sculpture and followed densely bundled circuits formed into branching patterns that resembled a naturally occurring central nervous system within an organism.
I also worked closely with the sound designers from the Netherlands-based collective 4DSOUND, Salvador Breed and Poul Holleman, to create a multichannel soundscape that would envelop and enhance the sculpture's system. This collaboration resulted in a complex system that was able to support varying forces and shifting motions, and respond to viewers' movements with patterns of light, vibration, and multichannel sound.
Overall, my contributions to the Astrocyte installation allowed for the seamless integration of chemistry, artificial intelligence, and immersive soundscapes to create an unforgettable experience for viewers.
Overall interactive diagram
Overlap representation of sequential behaviors
“Spatialized sound immerses the audience into a multidimensional experience: the installation space can also be explored through acoustic perception. Through interactive systems and the behavior they elicit, the team tests the audience’s relationships with the work. Multiple iterations of these installation test-beds aim to demonstrate how to create environments that can feel and think with us, empathically, with the goal of enriching our interactions not only with each other but with the spaces we inhabit.”
— Salvador Breed, on the sound experience of the installation
Photography taken at EDIT - Expo for Design, Innovation & Technology, Toronto. Image courtesy of Philip Beesley
