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Here are some photographs I found of tree sculptures that I like the look of for my design. 

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Design Fiction Idea

Watching The Social Life of Small Spaces has really helped me in deciding what to design. I want to design some kind of seating area in a section of the open grass land of the Meadows that attracts people as well as keep them warm and dry. 

With inspiration from this film I have decided that that my design will lure people in with some kind of sculpture or water fountain. I also want to incorporate some kind of motion detection or pressure sensing technology to effect lighting on the sculpture/sculptures. 

The theory behind my idea is that having an interactive sculpture or sculptures will attract more people onto the grass. Having more people on the grass, and giving people a place to sit, will in turn increase the amount of activities there. As well as this I think illuminating the area will ultimately make people feel safer when walking through at night time. 

The seating areas I design will only succeed if I manage to make them dry and warm in the cold and wet weather without excluding people from each other or making them undesirable in the warmer, dryer months. 

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Visit 14 - Friday 18th March 2016, 6pm. 

I FORGOT ABOUT THIS VISIT. This is a visit I took on Friday but forgot to post. Although it says visit 14 it actually happened before 12 and 13, which are actually supposed to be 13 and 14. 

I had my final weekday visit on Friday. I wanted to visit on a weekday between 6pm and 8pm. It was a miserable day which will of course effect my findings somewhat however it was actually very busy. Lots of people commuting (majority walking but lots of cycling too). There were very little exercisers out today, probably because of the weather and for once I didn’t see anyone walking their dog. So lot’s of people but almost all of which were commuting were A to B. 

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Visit 13 - Sunday 20th March 2016, 8.30am. 

I decided to have a visit to my spot on Sunday morning before work and I’m really glad I did. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and it was very, very quiet. I didn’t expect to see many people here at this time but had it been this warm later in the day then I think there would have been quite the turnout similar to, if not busier than, Saturday evening (visit 12). 

There were a few people walking around, some looked like they had places to be, people walking quickly with suitcases or backpacks. But most were just strolling, enjoying the sun. I saw a few families on walks with young children. The majority of people were exercising (cycling and running) and although nobody chose to sit on the grass, there were a few people scattered around sitting on benches simply taking it all in, myself included. 

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Visit 12 - Saturday 19th March 2016, 8pm.

I came back on Saturday, after first hour long visit, at 8pm for a shorter 30 minute visit. I was interested to see how much had changed in such a short amount of time. It was a bit colder now and as result most of the groups that had been drinking and socialising earlier in the evening had moved on leaving only a few pieces of rubbish as evidence that they had been there. I was actually very surprised that there wasn’t a lot more rubbish lying around. The last few groups and ‘couples’ left did not seem as lively, they were not laughing or playing music, they weren’t drinking. It seemed that they were just trying to summon up the energy to actually move somewhere else. Eventually they did. 

This turned the Meadows into the place that I recognised again at this time of day. A busy highway that people use to get from place to place. Although admitedely it wasn’t too busy. There was an increase in cyclists (commuters and exercise), a decrease in running and a decrease in people walking.  

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Visit 12 - Saturday 19th March 2016, 6pm.

My 12th visit to my spot was a busy one. It was a nice evening, dry and warm. I know now from studying the meadows so many times to expect to see many people at this time. I did not expect however to see so many students and people using the grass. We are now slowly but surely getting into a warmer season and that shows in my last two visits. The past two visits have felt like different places entirely. The Meadows wasn’t just a commuting route and a running/cycling track on Saturday night. It had been taken over by young people. Students socialising and drinking on the grass. There were many people wondering around in groups laughing and enjoying themselves, people drinking as the walked around or sat on the grass on on benches, one group was playing music on portable speakers, it felt like I had gone somewhere on holiday. There were of course still quite a lot of runners around on such a nice evening. There were cyclists too but not quite as many, and the majority of cyclists looked like people commuting rather than the ‘exercisers’. 

There was also some interesting activity. I saw two guys balancing on a slack line tied at either end to two trees. This is something that I had heard was a regular occurrence at the Meadows in the summer months. 

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Coursework 2 Phase 2

This is the patch I made for Phase 2 of Coursework 2 for Responsive Environments. I used my patch from phase 1 but adapted it so that when random audio recordings of Edinburgh were played, they triggered a random video file (of Edinburgh) instead of a piano chord and kick sound. I still have volume and reverb controls for the audio as well as the playback speed which effects audio and video playback simultaneously. 

I have also added controls for the brightness, contrast and saturation so that the user can control the visuals as well as the audio and speed. 

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Coursework 2 Phase 1

This is the patch I created for Phase 1 of Coursework 2  for Responsive Environments.

It randomly selects a number of sounds, placed in a folder, that I recorded around Edinburgh and plays them. Each time a sound is played it randomly selects another one and plays that continuously looping until stopped. 

Each time a sound is played a button is triggered that is connected to a separate similar set up with a folder containing four piano chords. These chords were created by recording a virtual piano instrument in Logic Pro then cutting the audio files to be in time with the samples used in the max patch. A random piano chord is selected and played simultaneously with the samples to make it more musical. There is another simple set up located in the bottom left of the patch that plays a looped kick in time with the samples and the piano chords. 

I have given the user the ability to control the volume of all three sounds being played (sample, chords and kick). As well as this, the user can control the playback speed of all the sounds together as well as add reverberation to make it seem like the sounds are coming from a larger space. 

To use the patch, you simply drag and drop the samples and piano folder into the appropriate folder in presentation mode, open the kick file and hit the start button.

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Visit 11 - Interesting activities. 

During visit 11 I noticed someone throwing a large stick-like object around so I went to have a chat with him. I didn’t have any consent forms with me at the time so unfortunately I couldn’t interview about the meadows but I did get the opportunity to find out what he was doing. Turns out he is training to be a fire performer and he was practising some of his moves with his staff. He told me he liked practising in the meadows because of the big open space which was much safer than his living room. 

I also noticed two people playing Frisbee which I didn’t think much of at the time but when I went over to speak to them I discovered that they were in the Edinburgh Ultimate Frisbee team. They also told me that they were practising in the meadows because Edinburgh University wouldn’t give them a space to practise like they do with other sports teams. 

I was given permission by all of the people mentioned to take their photographs. 

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This is a video I took of the meadows during visit 11 at 3pm.

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Visit 11 - Monday 7th March, 2.30pm

People are using the grass! I hadn’t planned on doing a visit today but I thought since it was such a nice day that I might catch something interesting, and I was right. Today was the first day I saw anyone (besides dog - walkers) using the grass, and there were lots of them. There was some on there own relaxing, reading, writing and there were others in couples or groups socialising, all of which looked to be aged between 20 and 30 as far as I could see. 

There was however a whole range of age groups there today. The meadows seemed to be flooded with parents and grandparents out with children (all looking younger than 5). There were many cyclists out today understandably but interestingly there were only a couple runners. I expect that on a sunny day mid- afternoon it might actually not be so great running on the walkways of the meadows because you have to avoid so many people. Cyclists at least have the cycling routes that are meant for cycling on. 

I also saw some interesting activities happening on the grass which I will talk about it my next post. 

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Visit 10 - Friday 4th March 2016, 7am.

Had my tenth and earliest visit on Friday. It was a very cold morning, I saw one runner.The fitness-folk hadn’t got up yet I don’t think. The students definitely hadn’t. All I saw was people (looking between late 20s and early 50s) commuting, presumably to work. I also saw a couple dog-walkers in the hour I was here too. Closer to 8am a yellow truck arrived and three men in fluorescent jackets got out and started having a chat. At first I assumed they were emptying all the bins along the walk they were still there five minutes later when I had to leave, maybe they were on a break.  

Now that I have done a very late and very early sitting I have a good picture of when activity starts to increase and die down throughout the day here.

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Visit 9 - Thursday 3rd March 2016, 11pm.

Had my ninth and latest visit to the meadows on Thursday. I’ve mentioned in previous posts that even in the evening around 10 pm the meadows is being used a fair amount, but between 11pm and 12am on a Thursday evening it is dead besides a rare few using it to commute. When I first arrived however I did see a group of young people (16-18) hanging around talking but after I sat down they quickly moved on - probably thought it was strange seeing someone going to the meadows on their own, sitting on a bench then just watching people at 11 o’clock at night (I’d move away too). I also saw one brave woman taking advantage of the un-business of the meadows by going on a run. I say she was brave because I admittedly didn’t feel very safe hanging around there at that time on my own. 

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Conclusion from interviews/ visits so far. (Not finished)

After 8 visits to the meadows and 3 interviews with different members of the public I have learned:

The meadows is mainly used for

Commuting (Walking/ Cycling)

Exercise (Running/ Cycling)

Dog Walking

Socialising 

It always seems to be being used. This is how it seems to change throughout day and week. 

Weekday early mornings- mainly commuters to work/uni, not very many exercisers around yet, although many cycling as a means of commuting. Some school children but so far I haven’t seen many at this time. 

Weekday late mornings- No more school children, significant decrease in people commuting, a lot more people running/cycling as means of exercise.

Weekday early afternoon - Very quiet. Not many people around at except randoms passing through and a decreased amount of exercisers. Starting to see business types out for there lunch, some school children out for lunch too but not many.

Weekday late afternoon. Much busier. Students and workers out for lunch, School children on their way home, Slight increase in people exercisers. A lot going on. 

Early evenings - Even busier. People commuting back from work/uni. Very popular time for cyclists/runners. 

Late evenings- Fairly busy. A lot less runners but a lot more cyclists. Still quite a lot of 20-30 year olds wondering around, a lot of people commuting. 

Weekend early mornings - Lots of young people commuting to work

Weekend late mornings- quietened down but very popular time for exercise. 

Weekend early afternoons afternoons - busier again, all age groups of people pass through. very popular for exercise and people going for lunch. You see quite a lot of teens wondering around socialising too. 

Weekend late afternoons - about the same as early afternoons if not a bit quieter.

Weekend early evenings - busier from people commuting home from work. Decrease in exercisers but not by much. Less teens. 

Weekend Late evenings. Quieter but still a lot of 20-30 year olds passing through.

Dog walkers seem to be around throughout all times of the day all days of the week. There’s never very many of them but they are always there. There is of course a slight decrease in the evenings. 

After all my visits and interviews I have discovered lots about the meadows, however there are two main points that I noticed and that all three of my interviewees said or touched upon.

1. The meadows is a great space for socialising and relaxing however this only ever seems to happen much in the summer. The rest of the time the grounds are damp, cold and muddy. There aren’t many benches or places to sit and the grass definitely isn’t being used as much as it could be. Some people may resort to taking couches to the meadows themselves (Interview 1) but the majority of people will only use it for socialising when the weather is suitable to do so. 

2. Most people don’t like walking through the meadows when it is dark. Although the meadows does have lights along the side of it’s path. It is still a huge dark space and it is impossible to see who is wondering around there at night. It doesn’t feel like a safe place to be. 

I still have some visits to go and I may even do some more interviews but I am now focussing all my ideas for my design fiction to socialising and safety in the meadows. 

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Interview 3 

I did my third interview during my eighth visit of my spot. I made sure to ask only open questions this time.

Overview:

Q1: How often do you use the meadows?

Answer: Twice a day

Q2: What do you use the meadows for the most?

Answer: Walking the dog (mostly), might occasionally commute through, would use it recreationally in summer

Q3: What times of the day do you use the meadows?

Answe: Around 8.30am and 3pm

Q4: What times would you not use the meadows?

Answer: Night time

Q5: What times of the year do you use the meadows?

Answer: All throughout the year

Q6: What do you like about the meadows?

Answer: The big open space for walking the dog, using it recreationally in the summer

Q7: What do you dislike about the meadows?

Answer: Nothing

Q8: How would you improve the meadows?

Answer: More seating/benching/picnic areas/ chalet areas.

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Video of my spot at 3.45pm on Friday 12th February 2016.

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Visit 8 - Friday 12th February 3.30pm.

My 8th visit on Friday was a relatively nice day, the sun was out and it wasn’t too cold. It was busy, mostly young (student looking) adults. By this time in the afternoon, I had missed all the ‘workers’ getting their lunches. Surprisingly only saw one or two runners for the hour I was here but as usual there was plenty of cyclists (mostly commuters) and a few people walking dogs. I actually did my third interview with a dog walker today too.