Jordan Donald

Kyle Heikkinen

Karlton Lattimore

Research Infused Design: Sharks (11.18.2010)

The use of research was coupled with our study of art in a way that
supported one of our key design aspects: ‘change.’ This aspect of our design
utilizes the three key components of our project (art, nature, technology) in a
way that inspires change. Given the suggestions from our interview, the
environment that we are creating needs to incorporate a constant cycle of
flux, which allows the user to re-invent their experience and re-invent their
inspiration. It is under our assumption that this process could lead to greater
design solutions and more dynamic thinking within the Haworth Ideation
Group.

Within our design, change is accommodated through the use of

artwork in a significant way. We feel that through participation of the SAIC,
we could incorporate a system in which existing pieces of Roger Brown
artwork as well as other interior pieces could be rotated, bi-weekly or
monthly, to create a degree of revelation and suspense to the users.
Research came into play here to highlight the importance of Art and
Interpretation.

In Gordon MacLellan’s article “Is it Art or Interpretation,” he mentions

different implications of art (specifically installation) and how they it should
actively interpreted be interpreted by its recipients. He mentions that good
environmental art needs to “enrich visitors’ experience” and to do this, it has
to “serve an interpretive end.” He also begins to highlight moral values of
the use of art as he claims “art isn’t there to provide answers to questions. It
should be there to generate emotional response.” This also highlights the
investigative character of art, which is just the purpose we are attempting to
use it for (how it can inspire design innovation through active interpretation).
Through and all, we used this research to validate our design idea of
‘change’ in a way that is described below (drawn off our initial presentation
at Gensler):
The images were used to suggest that the rotation of art could create
another dimension of sensibility (almost as a “5th wall”) which is constantly in
change, thus inviting new interpretations and fresh ways of thinking. The
research provided a solid foundation on how and why to incorporate art into
the grand scheme by highlighting its interpretive character as a potential
tool that could be used to inspire the Haworth Ideation workers.

Nature was also incorporated in the same way to highlight another

aspect of our design solution: personal vitalization. Based on a study
completed by a group of social scientists (cited in Works Cited) entitled
“Vitalizing effects of being outdoors and in nature,” we developed a place in
our scheme that would accommodate nature’s ability to re-invigorate its
inhabitants. Such spaces would be spread across the site and would act as
meditative portals, away from the workspace.

The ideas this study suggested were crucial to the formulation of our
‘outdoor meditative’ concept. One result shown was that higher levels of
vitality occur outside even when controlling for social/ and physical
circumstances. It was also indicated that those participants exposed to
natural images also experienced an increase in vitality. A final point to
mention was that nature mediated this effect of outdoor vitality, making it a
potential tool for energizing the employees of the Haworth Ideation group, as
in our meditative spaces. We used this information to propose the idea that
the vast outdoor space could potentially be used as ‘vitalization zones’, once
explained in this diagram:

The area in red indicates the possible location for outdoor reflection space,
based on our inferences from the vitalization study.