#responsiveenvironments

[ianfulgar]

Get ready for a new era of architecture with kinetic pavilions that respond to the environment and create an adaptive experience for visitors.

[lancj]

Hour 2 - The Battle of the Profile Picture

04/03/2020

16.30-17.30

Just did my second hour up at Calton Hill!

Like to start this off by saying it was a nicer day than last time, a nice sunset to draw the couples out. One could say that a lot of people found their Sol-Mates out there.

I sat on second bench in front of the City Observatory so I could get the best view of people coming/going.

I made a lot of interesting observations today, some more interesting ones compared with last time as the public came out with a vengeance. Some of the observations I made were that: -

1. Numerous people still enjoyed standing on the Peninsula War Memorial.

2. Numerous People seem to believe that the cannon was used as a riding apparatus, not sure they’d survive back in the day, a few fell off, not sure they should take up riding.

3. The benches in front of the City Observatory had become the designated “Man Zone” as they waited for their partners to stop taking pictures.

4. Partners left and right were being dragged for their camera mastery of taking photo’s and subsequently chastised if another couple would get in a better position.

5. More people today noticed that the signs in front of the structures existed and were reading throughout the hour.

6. Someone played Hide and seek hiding behind the cannon, 10/10 strategy using the Flamingo effect, not sure it’s so effective for humans though 0/10 execution.

7. Couples galore! possibly one of twenty-two single people I saw on the hill!

8. It’s finally happened! After 12 minutes I saw people go to the Nelson Monument, after which a steady stream of people followed, the new frontier appears to have met approval.

9. A riskay group photo taken as close to the edge of Calton Hill as possible, pretty sure the group had 8 people to begin with, only saw 6 return.

9. A Man ruined people’s photo’s left and right by walking his dog, how rude.

10. Finally! An ecstatic pair of gentlemen began an unspoken competition of who could get the best picture of the skyline, no patch of grass was unused as they raced each other, one with a DSLR and one using his mobile, looks of frustration as they cut each other off, will continue later.

11. After noticing the pair a group of people rush on over to jump into the fray, taking photos left, right and centre, the competition intensifies as green space becomes worth its weight in gold.

12. A Lone Seagull sits atop the Lighthouse beacon structure overlooking the city, looking down at the carnage below, I wonder if anyone’s noticed it.

13. A Mum and her daughter dive into group from the right, forcing them to retreat down the hill, as their turn to take photo’s comes in, the daughter takes the photos as the mum herds people away.

14. In the background I notice a couple of ladies taking photo’s of each other, wisely staying out of the front line trenches, refusing to take a step back, the camera holder bends backwards at a seemingly impossible angle to get the best photo of her friend, I feel a Possible friend of the year nomination for risking her spine.

15. Throughout all of the ongoing chaos, a dog runs into the mix, where it’s owner is I don’t know, the photographers don’t even pause to look at it however, more irritated by the furry friends presence as they continue their photo streak.

16. A few minutes later the owner is yelling for said dog, Photographers unmoved, they pretend to ignore the owner until, covered in mud, the dog is lead from the battle.

17. Seeing the ever-growing scrap from afar, one lady leads her partner in by the hand looking determined, she uses the wind for her picture to blow her hair from the side as the partner is almost resignedly kneeling into the mud. Poor jeans, but clever use of natural resources, quickly noticed by the other photographers, soon hair is being blown all around as the other ladies start following suit.

18. One man stands near me on facetime with someone to show them the view, a very nice thing to do considering the bitingly cold wind.

19. A new breed of photographer arrives, a group of ladies who wait until the majority of the previous carnage has moved off to find easier prey, who than form up in a firing line and volley their photographic shots into the Edinburgh Skyline, very efficient when comparing who has the best positioning later.

20. I look left towards Nelsons Monument and see a man standing on a rock holding his camera like Simba, highly confused as I’m not hearing the “Circle of Life”. Maybe it’s being sung too quietly.

21. To my right, (about 40 minutes in) I see a new group of people mount a camera on a slight “dink” in the wall as they take a group photo, guess they didn’t trust the photographic skills of the other men in the “sin bin” on the benches, they made a good call.

22. Simultaneously another group enters the fray, two boys gallop straight for the cannon, these bucko’s must’ve clearly ridden before as they mount it with ease and make it look easy. Two girls head straight for the National Monument, they look annoyed that their photographers/bagboys are distracted but accept that they’ll be better at taking each others pictures and abandon their luggage train.

23. About 10 minutes after the “Simbaing” man has left, a lady stands on the same rock, looking all around her and into the air, possibly on the lookout for birds of prey so she can warn the pack? I’ll never know.

24. Two gentlemen stand in front of me obscuring my view of the skyline as they stare contemplatively over it. They are quickly joined by a group of people who take the mandatory pictures of the group where so many had fought before.

25. A lady crouches on the low wall behind the cannon, Doesn’t she know that she’s supposed to ride the cannon? Possibly not as her partner bends low, lower than I can bend without my back acting up to take a picture of her doing the peace sign.

26. As I’m about to pack up for the day, a man sets up a tripod on the battle worn, trampled grass, with a heavy duty SLR on board to take a photograph of the sunset.

[botanicexperience-blog]

Inspiration and Ideas So Far

As I’ve hit the halfway mark in my observations I thought I would have a bit of a brainstorm and explain some of ideas and throught processes so far.

One of the first ideas that srpung to mind was the mobile app “Zombies, Run!”, it is an app that encourages joggers to run faster and for longer periods of time. It does this by asking the user to put earphones in and the app plays a simulated story about the user being in a zombie epidemic, in order to increase their fitness.

It is a fun and unique idea to get people fit as well as being part of a story, and this gave me the idea for a form of interactive game or competition for joggers who run in the park to be a part of.

In the meadows in Edinburgh there is a strip that lies along the bicycle lane and counts how many cyclists have used it in that present day and over the current year. This is an interesting installation, however, it does not provide much interactivity of motivation to get more people cycling.

I was thinking that I could use this premise to develop a similar installation that would include a screen with records of joggers. Joggers could pick up a fob or enter a unique code, and it would record how long it takes them to run around a specific track in the park, (this would require GPS). This could be turned into a game, people could have avatars that they create at home and compete with other joggers throughout the day. It could also make people be more inclined to chat to one another, and offer to race eachother etc.

Graffiti walls and art murals are always a great addition into any community, as it encourages people to create art legally and mix with others to create something beautiful. I could develop on this or maybe even incorporate this into the jogging system. For example, the wall has a projector that shows the joggers avatars running around the park, and people could stick things onto their paths, and draw around the scenery. This definitely needs more thought but it could create something very fun and unique.

[alexfcuthbert-blog]

1.3 Observation

Monday 22nd February, 9-10am

The first thing that I noticed when walking towards the observation spot was that the normally overflowing car park was almost empty apart for 10/12 cars. I can only assume the only cars there are for the residents of the flats next to the car park. Although the closer it got to 9.30 the busier the car park got with mums and children going into the gymnastics centre on the opposing side to the flats.

The tide was far out again allowing more room for all the dog walkers that were out on this sunny day. When I first sat down on the bench there were about 10 dog walkers out and about but they soon started to dissipate and then there were only a few. I think that people were out walking their dog before they had to go to work or start their days so from 9-9:15am there were much more dog walkers than 9:15-10am.

There didn’t look to be any people making their way to work, everyone looked as if they were just out for the leisure of it whether they were out running or walking (or power walking in a couple of ladies case).

Halfway through my observation I tried to make myself aware of the different areas of the observation spot that people could interact with; the beach, the benches and the car park. Like I said the car park filled up a little with people going to Tumbles and the only people that were on the sand this morning were dog walkers.

There was a space of around 7-8 minutes where no one passed by me and there was no one on the beach in front. Out of this observation and the ones done previously this was the longest period of time with no one around to observe. I think this is the reason most of the people who were down at the beach this time in the morning had braved the cold, for the peace. It was definitely nice even sitting on the bench for me with no traffic noise just the sound of the seagulls and dogs in the distance barking. It definitely felt like a serene seaside town this morning.

The only types of people that use the beach on a weekday morning were owners out with their dogs, people exercising and mothers taking their children on a walk. I think these are the people who the end intervention should be aimed at since these people are using the promenade constantly.

[stewartr7-blog]

Obs. 9 

How the bottom of the canal would look during a summers day. 

[tdui2015-blog]

final

[lancj]

Hour 1

25/02/2020

13.30-14.30

Just did my first hour up at Calton Hill!

Like to start this off by saying it was so incredibly cold and windy that it really was Snow Joke.

I sat on second bench in front of the City Observatory so I could get the best view of people coming/going.

I made a lot of interesting observations despite the bad weather and watched as the general public baffled me and braved the elements! Some of the observations I made were that: -

1. Numerous people enjoyed standing on the Peninsula War Memorial.

2. Numerous People Enjoyed standing on the Cannon.

3. People went into the City Observatory throughout my sitting.

4. Numerous people took photo’s of the city skyline.

5. Numerous People took photo’s with the War Memorial.

6. A father was taking his two children around the hill, I believe teaching them about the artefacts on it.

7. Bad weather chased most people off Calton Hill, watching them struggle down the hill did bring me a form of happiness as I was stuck.

8. A madman stood on the wall at the bottom of the hill so that he could see the sheer drop of the edge of Calton hill (very wet and slippery wall!).

9. Strange moment as I looked up and numerous people at different positions surrounding the War Memorial were simply staring at it (all groups were unrelated) almost eerily.

10. Observed a Lady with a walking stick struggle to walk down from the City Observatory down the hill.

11. Observed an unofficial Photo shoot as a lady got her partner to dive in all forms of acrobatic positions to get the best photo of her, got very mucky very quickly, arguably romantic, possibly just whipped.

12. Two individuals read the description about the cannon! (40 minutes in and they’re the first!)

13. Lady was walking her dog, it pooped, she ran to clean it up.

14. A group of people read the sign at the entrance to Calton Hill explaining what everything was (first people to do so that I’ve seen 45 minutes in).

15. Man does James Bond Pose with Cannon, very impressed tat his creativity, not sure if it’ll replace the Beretta 418 though,

16. As I left, half frozen, half soaked (was being attacked from the right by the wind/rain), left a dry patch on the bench where I sat, will call it Jamie’s Island.

[botanicexperience-blog]

Thursday 18th of February

5:13 - I came today on my way home from university to get an observation in late before they shut the gardens. It was still surprisingly light considering the time and time of year. The sun was just beginning to go down as I took my seat on the all too familiar bench, got out my notepad and pen and a coffee.

5:20 - My friend has come along with me and has just got a new phone so she is trying out all the new features and taking lots of selfies beside me. The glass houses are stilll only open until 4:30pm so there isn’t much movement around them. There are lots of people walking their dogs, and i’m trying to get a few pats in every so often.

5:33 - The sun is just about gone, I light a cigarette and a young guy comes over to ask if he can borrow my lighter, my friend tries to flirt with him a little and he sits down. I take this opportunity to ask him some questions, and be a third wheel...

I will post my interview in a separate post, we chatted for 20 minutes and then he had to go to work.

5:57 - We see the parks security begin to make a sweep of the park to check is there are many people left inside, and from previous experience of being locked in this park I know that he will be going to lock up the furthest away gates. This gives us about twenty minutes before closing time.

6:18 - The guard comes up to us and tells us the park is shutting in ten minutes, I think he is pretty desperate to get home as fast as possible so we pack up our stuff and leave.

[alexfcuthbert-blog]

1.2 Second Visit

This second visit occurred on Monday 15th of February at approximately 12.30. When I first got to the spot the most notable thing was how busy it was compared to last week, especially with children which I thought was strange considering they should be in school. The tide was much farther out than last time and there were much more people out on the sand but again as normal the only people on the beach were dog walkers and parents with very young children who were probably forced by their children to take them to the waters edge considering how cold it was Almost all of the children that were going by me were either on scooters, roller blades or bikes with barely any of them walking. its a very popular place to ride bikes, even for adults as its flat and there're no cars and I must have seen at least 30 adults on bikes in the time I was sitting there. I took an instantaneous mental tally of how many dogs were in a 25-metre radius and there were 11. Quite a lot considering its a Monday. Sitting on the bench I started to realise that there was a lot of children and it wasn’t until much later on that I pieced it together that it might be half-term for the primary school and as it turned out it was. Halfway through my stint an old couple looking over the fence separating the sand and the promenade watching the dogs play and the children chase each other around whilst eating ice cream (which I thought was insane considering how cold it was). but then I began to wonder why they had the ice cream. was it some type of routine that they had, to go have a walk along the beach on nice days and get an ice cream? they could have been tourists thinking that because they were t the seaside they should participate in tradition by getting ice cream? maybe it's for nostalgia? can only wonder. I was thinking about some of the features that the interactive intervention for the design fiction should have and I came up with 2 mini-conclusions: 1. the intervention cannot take too long to interact with as the temperature at the promenade is not always very warm (especially on the day of this visit) and people would get cold quick 2. and that no one uses any technology down there. I noticed during my period sitting on the bench that not 1 person was looking down on their phone (apart from me when I was taking notes) because everyone is either occupied with children/dogs or taking in the beautiful scenery which can be seen in the time-lapse and picture posted after this post.

[alexfcuthbert-blog]

1.12 Observation 10

Friday 1st April, 11.15pm-12.15am

I decided to go down to the beach, the latest I would dare on a Friday night to see what is going on.   I could smell smoke which made me hesitant when turning the corner to get onto the promenade and on further inspection turned out to be a group of mid-teenagers lighting a fire further down the beach.

I took my seat to begin the evening’s observation.   When I first sat down no one passed by for 15/20 minutes.   In this time I got up to walk about and keep warm in the cold night wind and whilst doing this I counted to see how many lights were broken along the length of the prom that was visible and I counted what I thought to be 4 broken lampposts, including the lamppost that was broken next to me.   It was either that or there weren’t lampposts in the places I thought there to be but was too far away to tell.   This goes with what people were saying in my interviews about the beach needing better looked after.

The first person that passed me looked to be the same age as the kids lighting fires along the beach seemed to be.   He didn’t stop for any reason as I'm guessing he was just heading home.   

After the boy walked by no one walked by for another 20/25 minutes until a middle-aged couple looked to be returning home from a pub or something in portobello via the beach.   I only guess this because of what they were wearing and where they came from but maybe I’m wrong.   They weren’t walking particularly fast and were looking across up at the sky and over towards Fife.   After they went by no one went by until the end of the shift but I could hear the shouting down at the fire on the beach and the occasional drunk up on the high street.

[alexfcuthbert-blog]

1.11 Interview 3

Friday 29th March

What brings you to the beach this morning?

Sprints, I play American Football for the East Kilbride Pirates and I come here to train sometimes.

Why do you like training here?

Harder on the muscles.

Less strain on knee and ankle joints.

Helping to prevent injury as much as possible.

How often do you come here?

Once a week.

What do you like about the beach/promenade?

The sand for training.

Nothing really appeals to me to me, I use it purely for training.

What improvements would you like to see in order to make the beach seem appealing to you?

Hmm, maybe a nice wee water fountain but it still wouldn’t make me come here more than just for training.

[alexfcuthbert-blog]

1.10 Observation 9

Friday 29th March

I decided to go down as early as I could muster up one morning to see what was going on at this time of the day.   I arrived at 8.15am on a foggy morning. It was dry but according to the weather app on my phone it was meant to rain later on which I am guessing is why there was a hue over the water.

There was a man running sprints between two points on the sand and he came up from the beach after about 10 minutes.   I approached him and asked him if he would be okay with me interviewing him.   He didn’t come across as the nicest guy in the world but he agreed which was good as I wanted to interview someone who used the beach for exercise which could have been difficult as people who exercise don’t tend to stop.

The was an abundance of dog walkers in the last half an hour of the observation and a few dogs started to play fight together.   No one in the whole hour used the sand apart from the man doing sprints and the 9 or 10 dogs I saw going up and down the shore.

There was an elderly couple who looked to be out for a walk making the most of the weather before it was meant to deteriorate later on but the man wasn’t able to move at a very fast pace.

No one apart from the young girl from last observation had used the beach next to where I sat for these observations.   As I have been coming to the beach for a number of years now since living relatively close I expected to see more exciting things than I have.   In the past, I have seen people swimming in the sea or sailing but in all of these observations I haven’t seen any of that.   Hopefully the next (and final) observation will have something exciting in it to talk about!

[alexfcuthbert-blog]

1.9 Observation 8

Saturday 26th March, 6-7pm

The sun had just gone down but still illuminating the sky from beyond the horizon.   There were quite a few people buzzing about the area and, again, quite a few dog walkers and people out getting some exercise but as I sat down there were 3 people, a father and his son and daughter (I think), staring over the Firth of Forth looking at the pink/orange sky in the distance.   These people were there for around 5-10 minutes before they eventually wandered off further down the promenade.  There were 4 or 5 dogs on the sand around the same time, 2 of them running back and forth chasing a ball the owner was throwing for them whilst slowing making their way further along the beach.   One of the other dogs wouldn’t stop barking at its owner to throw the ball she was holding but for whatever reason she wouldn’t throw it.

For the first time during any of these observations, someone sat down on one of the benches where I sit during my observations.   A man sat his daughter on the bench to put on her rollerblades and then returned to his car to put her shoes in the boot.   He then returned and the girl started to skate down the prom in a very inelegant fashion.

2 runners went by chatting with one another on the way, not going at a particularly fast pace but just enjoying the nice evening.   There was a bike chained up that isn’t usually there, locked to a lamppost, but in the hour I was there no one came to unlock it.

There were quite a few people out for an evening walk on this night, no one stopping to use the area around the observation spot but all just passing through on their way to wherever they were going.   Only one group of people turned up to walk through the car park the rest of them stayed on the promenade.

[alexfcuthbert-blog]

1.8 End of the rainbow

Was out for a walk today at Portobello Beach with the family and over the Forth there was the beginning, and only beginning, of a rainbow

[alexfcuthbert-blog]

1.7.1 Second Interview

What brings you to the beach tonight?

I like to get away and walk my dog here when it isn’t too windy.

It’s good for a skate at this time of night.

Why do you like walking your dog here?

It’s usually quiet at this time of night and skate in peace and Neville (the dog) can run about as much as he wants and he likes the sea.

Are there any improvements you would like to see done to the beach/promenade? (especially at this area).

I would suggest, if anything, the ground should be smoother.   I think it should have been smooth in the first place and I don’t think they were thinking of skaters when they made it.

There should be more bins, I don’t feel like there is enough.

Keep it cleaner because it’s quite a mess at the moment.

Remember when they had the hovercraft at the beach that took people to Fife and back? I think they should bring that back too.

[alexfcuthbert-blog]

1.7 Observation 7

Friday 18th March, 9.10 - 9.55pm

Went back to the beach tonight for the second night in a row.   I planned to get there around the same time as last night but ended up getting there a bit later around 9pm.   The car park was just as full as the night before but, this time, there were people playing football in the astroturf pitches further up from the car park.

When I first get to the observation spot and sit down a group of young teenagers go by making a hell of a noise as they do, screaming and shouting at each other, still audible when they get round the corner out of my line of sight.   A jogger in high-vis gear runs by me, gasping for air, shortly followed by a man on a skateboard walking his dog at the same time.   He looks friendly so I stopped him and asked him if it would be okay to do an interview with him for this university module.   [He agreed and the interview will be in the next post].

I tried to keep track of who went by the observation spot in the few minutes taken for the interview with the skateboarder.   Another dog walker went by who had to pull his dog away from the tiny dog that the skateboarder had, then there was another dog walker on the beach that I noticed and finally, a woman walking along the promenade herself, wrapped up in a massive puffy jacket, scarf, hat and gloves (feeling the cold).

The wind had picked up since finishing the interview and it was noticeably colder, there was still a couple people out walking but no one was really interacting with the surroundings apart from the dog walker on the beach when I was conducting the interview.  

After a couple walked by me I had to get up to leave because it was too cold, had to cut the observation short, although I don’t feel like it’s the end of the world because it was so cold and so windy I don’t think too many people were hanging about the beach anyway.