My sketch for a wayfinding system.

I began by trying to design an interface which started like Google Maps, but similarly to the Nolli map of Rome, it 'zoomed in' to show all public spaces, even interior ones. Then, on a per-person basis, it could show even private spaces, down to the scale of a single office, desk, or even computer desktop. The interface would have an awareness of what kind of device it was being viewed on - a public kiosk, or a private smartphone, and would show information accordingly.

I then thought of using a public bulletin board more effectively by time multiplexing it so that messages could be targeted at specific groups of people, or related in real time to events. Messages might be conditional on certain data; an author might specify that it should only show if a group of people is there, or only if a single person is there.

Follow me is a proposal for a digital wayfinding system. It would have an awareness of the individuals moving through E14, and could recognize them if they want to. It could know where people would want to go and would display information when ever and where ever they need them.
The design would consist of a laser-projected image on the ground. A person looking for a specific location would simply follow the projected image all the way to the planned destination. As it would be connected with a smart database of all rooms, and their current usage, and of all users, the system could also display spatial information about current events, the location of people you want or should meet, or an exhibit that might interest you.

The system described in the attached draft proposal addresses wayshowing as well as other roles of electronic signage and information in the E14/E15 complex. It is intended to provide, generate, and store useful information in a variety of contexts using practical and readily implementable methods.

Concept: user-contributed signage displayed according to frequency of usage at each path-decision-making point in the building

Rationale:
1. people generally don't use systemic overview maps to structure their paths. They remember turns and a sequence of points.
2. user-contributed information is most trustworthy from a user's perspective, especially when the contributions are combined over time.
3. user-contributed information is up-to-date, all the time.
4. this keeps all the benefits of tracking individuals' location without infringing on privacy because the data is anonymized in the process of extrapolation.
5. when finding their way through a building, people aren't so much concerned with finding a particular room as they are with finding the people and the events in it.
6. if people don't need directions, dynamic displays can adjust to be more ambient, while at the same time providing dynamic interesting information in a visually pleasing way.

This is a diagram for an electronic way-finding system designed for display screens on each floor of the new media lab. The concept tackles two major issues, the simple and effective representation of the spaces of the media lab as well as the tracking and layering of data over that space representing the activity occurring within the space.

Spatial representation

My process was to play with some of the graphical 2-D layouts to begin to understand the schema of the space and the context of the building, and then begin to layer on digital information to make fine-grain detail available about navigation and activities.

Right now this sketch relies on a main display, a web-based system that visitors can access, and individual dynamic door signage to highlight individual research -- the overall idea is to link visuals of the Media Lab research with particular spaces to make navigation easy and interesting for visitors, and to provide an integrated forum for building inhabitants to share information and collaborate across research groups.

Floor plans linearized to reflect experience walking from elevator.
Heart of display systems outside of elevators and labs.
Explained through animation “unrolling” a slice through a 3D model.
Forms a coherant map of interior spaces — a backdrop for context sensitive info displays.
Draws from each lab’s blog posts and posted photos to provide an up to date but mediated snapshot of what’s new. (tag clouds, etc.)
Info is tailored to each screen’s audience: unknown viewers get indication of room number ranges, known residents get more info about places where they spend less time.
Subtle changes — helpful without being creepy.

I mainly thought about how different people could use a central digital map in E14's first floor lobby (typical place) in conjunction with the auxiliary waypoint maps located on each floor (elevators, lab entrances, intersections) -- my Andromeda Strain display.

I considered four different groups of people and how they would use the same wayfinding system.

1. Scheduled Groups
   already have itineraries, but may not know building or people
2. Delivery Guys
   already have name or room#, doesn't want to explore
3. Unscheduled Visitors
   want common destinations (admin, bathroom, lab)
   may know name or room #
4. Building Occupants
   1. faculty/students
      where is staff, equip., talk, avail. room? Who has special skills?
   2. staff
      who is in controlled space (fablab), where are faculty/students?
   3. facilities/security
      who is in the building? special room requests?

The proposed wayfinding system is more of a connection-revealing system. The major aim of the system is to use the screens placed throughout E14/E15 to make the users of all of the spaces within feel more connected to the various activities and ideas percolating throughout.

All four modes are relatively rough ideas at the moment, and it may be that all of these cannot be developed equally towards the final proposal. However, the modes all try to investigate spatial activity and collect useful information in an effort to rethink the potential of flexible spaces within a static architecture.