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For the Summer Research Fellowship at Valerio Dewalt Train Associates in partnership with the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning, we had the opportunity to travel to California and the Salk Institute to conduct interviews with two scientists there.  These are the highlights from our interview with Neuroscientist Tom Albright.  To learn more about Tom and his work, click the link below.  

- Nathan Uibel & Leeann Wacker 

https://salk.edu/scientist/thomas-albright/

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For the Summer Research Fellowship at Valerio Dewalt Train Associates in partnership with the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee's School of Architecture and Urban Planning, we had the opportunity to travel to California and the Salk Institute to conduct interviews with two scientists there.  This is our interview with Sergei Gepshtein.  To learn more about Sergei and his work, click the link below.   

- Nathan Uibel & Leeann Wacker 

https://www.salk.edu/scientist/sergei-gepshtein/

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On our research trip to California, we were able to visit San Jose and The Tech Museum of Innovation where they have implemented Body Metrics to measure the user experience within the museum.  It’s an interactive experience that makes The Tech a truly unique space and it gives insight into the levels and types of engagement throughout the museum.  It was a collaboration between Local Projects and The Tech back in 2014, but it’s still very relevant today. 

-Nathan Uibel & Leeann Wacker 

https://www.thetech.org/plan-your-visit/exhibits/bodymetrics 

http://localprojects.com/work/tech_body_metrics

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Experience Cards!

On our recent research trip to California, we took a measuring tool that we developed to help us chart our experiences.  The tool is a 6″ x 4.25″ card.  It has our base diagram, dividing a circle into the four key attributes that we identified earlier this summer.  Those attributes are the Social Dynamic, Sensory Engagement, Spatial Quality, and Narrative within a space.  

We took time in every space we visited to document our initial perceptions.  The blue line encircling the diagram was completed on our return as we gauged our memory of the place and what aspects contributed strongly to that memory. 

Next steps involve cataloging all of our experiences and creating the next iteration of the Experience Card.  These may even morph into post cards for all places and spaces that you can explore for yourself, fill out, and send off! 

-Nathan Uibel & Leeann Wacker

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We spent some time at various Chicago institutions to immerse ourselves in the experience and to observe what was successful within a space and what could use improvement.

With a GoPro strapped to our heads, we filmed everything we saw and did.  From the hours of footage, we compiled a short clip focusing on what caught our attention the most.

The second stop was the Museum of Science and Industry.  We were captivated by the large scale model of Chicago (classic architecture students looking at models), the storm center which I kept running back to.  The tesla coil and so much more.  Some of the displays were clearly dated, and others really felt like the future had arrived.  Overall, a great experience! 

-Nathan Uibel & Leeann Wacker

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Designer Jinsop Lee, winner of TED Talent Search, shares his theory of 5-sense design, with a graph and his 5-senses diary.  He discusses the importance of designing a sensory experience and how the senses work together to create powerful design. 

-Nathan Uibel & Leeann Wacker

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One of the coolest interactive banners we’ve seen in a while! Way to go d.school!

-Nathan Uibel & Leeann Wacker

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People crave human contact. [With] social media - even as it's arguably social - we'd argue that you're actually only talking to the same thing over and over: that's the screen.  Creating things in physical space has never been more important.  And if you can create something that really draws people together, the effect can be so much deeper than in a digital space alone.

Jake Barton | Local Projects LLC | principal & founder 

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The Future of Experience Design 

What can we learn from Digital Museology? 

-Nathan Uibel & Leeann Wacker

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The Future of Experience Design

We’re discovering some extraordinary institutions creating interactive and immersive designs!  

-Nathan Uibel & Leeann Wacker

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We spent some time at various Chicago institutions to immerse ourselves in the experience and to observe what was successful within a space and what could use improvement. 

With a GoPro strapped to our heads, we filmed everything we saw and did.  From the hours of footage, we compiled a short clip focusing on what caught our attention the most. 

The first stop was at the Shedd Aquarium.  We were so engaged with the touch tanks and the wonderful interactive quality they offered.  We chatted with some very friendly staff members and some that were not.  It was disappointing when touchscreens did not work and others felt dated.  The reef exhibits were captivating as were the aquarium tanks that filled our field of vision or disguised the frame of the tank.  

-Nathan Uibel & Leeann Wacker

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Experiential Design choreographs a user’s journey through an immersive story that sparks curiosity, fuels desire, and inspires ideas.

Nathan Uibel & Leeann Wacker 

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The Future of... Experience Design

Over this summer, in a continuing partnership between the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) and Valerio Dewalt Train Associates (VDTA), our researchers; Nathan Uibel and Leeann Wacker, are continuing our investigation into “The Future of…” by exploring experiential design. This topic was motivated by VDTA’s work in museums, aquariums, corporate experience centers, and college alumni centers where experiential design can create learning opportunities for our clients’ guests.  Follow along our researchers and their journey as they explore what experience design, or experimental design, is, how we begin to evaluate it, and create a road map for creating successful experiential designs!

-Nathan Uibel & Leeann Wacker

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How Will Cities Make Room When they Run Out of Room?

Most of us have watched one science fiction movie such as Blade Runner, The Fifth Element, Total Recall, Dredd and the likes that take place in a future dark, slummy and dreadful city. Even though their depiction of the vertical urban expansion is accurate, their portrayal of the urban conditions are far from foreseeable. Nevertheless, they do make you contemplate if such a future is possible.Currently, 54% of the world’s population, more than 4 billion people, live in urban settings. By 2050, it is projected to rise to 66%, which would equate to nearly 6.5 billion people.1 With 2.5 billion people estimated to move into cities within the next three decades, one might wonder, how could cities sustain this mass migration?

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Can Architecture Influence the ‘Social Isolation’ Epidemic?

According to the New York Times: “Since the 1980’s, the percentage of American adults who say they’re lonely has doubled from 20 percent to 40 percent.” Moreover, studies suggest that socially isolated individuals have a higher rate of contracting heart disease and stroke – 29% and 32% respectively. These numbers make loneliness as serious of a health risk to society as obesity and smoking.1 So, how does that relate to Architecture and urban living?

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Case Study | River North Art District

Once a hub for manufacturing and storage facilities, now River North District (RiNo) is a booming residential neighborhood. Even though the 38th and Blake train station paved the way for residential development a few years ago, RiNo saw a different type of migration a decade earlier when artists moved in and declared it Denver’s RiNo Art District. Today, the many painters, sculptors, dressmakers, and visual and performing artists that call RiNo home are primarily situated east of the train tracks, where most of the neighborhood’s social hubs are located – for now.

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Case Study | Fulton Market

Once a national supplier of meats and other goods, Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood has seen a drastic shift in purpose as of late. Creative industries such as tech and design have gravitated here, bringing along with them an increased demand for residential and commercial development. How will new development respond to the existing conditions and what enhancements will lead to the neighborhood’s future success?

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