A Space for Being: Exploring Design’s Impact On Our Biology

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The installation will showcase three rooms which will be decorated with furniture from the same line, but will not be identical to each other. Each room will exhibit a difference in color, scent, sound, and lighting. Visitors will be given wearable bands which have sensors that will measure biometric data such as heart rate, skin temperature, motion, and skin conductivity. Each guest will explore each room for five minutes. Although each guest may express a like or dislike to each space, the data gathered from the wearable band may help indicate their actual psychological responses are to each space.

Thanks to an algorithm developed by the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University, each guest will be provided with a visual report explaining how their bodies responded to each room.

Could Google's experimental room provide data that can help designers create better spaces? According to Ross the goal isn't about collecting people's data, "we want to give people the gift of reflection.”