Spatial Interaction FS2026

Lecturers

Roman Kirschner
, Vinzenz Leutenegger

Guest: Alex Jordan, group leader at Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Behavioural Evolution Lab

Timeframe

The module takes place over 5 weeks, from April 20 to May 21, 2026. See the timetable below for detailed hours and classrooms. Class sessions include lectures, discussions, mentoring sessions, in-class exercises, assignments and independent study blocks. Projects are conducted in a team of four students at most.

Room

Find the room number of the respective week below in the schedule. The final exhibition will take place in Galerie 1.

During the seminar, a limited number of workbenches are available in Werkstatt Modellbau ZT 2.E20-UU.

Overview and Objectives

The module 'Spatial Interaction' challenges students to deepen their practical and conceptual knowledge of human interactions in their immediate surroundings with a focus on public space. Starting from a location in Zurich, students will develop spatial-technical frameworks for situated interactions. The student projects will connect people and societal processes.

Topic 2026: Playful Interventions

In this year's edition of Spatial Interaction, we focus on interactions in public space that use live environmental data and encourage playful engagement.

We implement the developed approaches in prototypes that expand the existing environment and its current use with new patterns of movement, forms of exchange and encounter, digital layers and technology-supported spatial experiences.

In addition to this topic, students also have the opportunity to keep developing their projects from Soft Architecture further in collaboration with our guest Alex Jordan. This further development aims at extending the basic concept and prototypes with the use of technologies that we excluded in the prior seminar.

Ultimately, the outcomes of the module will envision ways of reconfiguring the potential of available resources, competition for resources, human and non-human interrelations and local knowledge at a specific publicly accessible location. We approach the topic with prototypes and design interventions that leverage our technical skills and designerly perspective. The actual format of the end results will be developed through in-class discussions and steering meetings.

Deliverables and Documentation

1. Final Prototype or Intervention

2. Final Presentation

3. Standard IAD Documentation (see handbook on wiki): 

   • Text file including the project title, names of students and mentors, a short description (250 - 400 characters ), and a long description (>1000 characters ), in a file to be labelled “Texts”

   • At least 10 representative images of the project (to be stored in a file labelled “Images”)

   • One longer video (< 5 minutes) of the project (to be stored in a file labelled “Video”). Mp4 full HD, see wiki for more details on format.  

   • One to two short social media teaser videos (20-30 seconds) in portrait format. 

   • A PDF documentation (to be stored in a file labelled “Documentation”)

   • Additional raw data, e.g., presentation, prototypes, or codes (to be stored in the respective file).

Upload your documentation files to: smb://fileredu.ad.zhdk.ch/DDE/BDE_VIAD/01_ABGABEN/26_FS/Sem4_Spatial_Interaction

Schedule

Free days: 14.05. Auffahrt,

Phase 0: Kick-off, Inputs

Phase 1.1: Research, Idea Finding, First-tests, Group Building

Phase 1.2: Research, Idea Finding, First-tests, Group Building

Phase 2: Prototyping, Construction, Real-World-Application/Interventions, Iterations for Improvement

Phase 3: Preparation of the final presentation/Exhibition

Phase 4: Feedback, Analysis, Documentation

Groups

• Lhamo, Anna, Aline

• Sammi, Luciana, Viktoriia

• Domenico, Timon, Claudio

• Aron, Matthieu, Flo

• Olivier, Joe, Ben, Mathan

Literature

1. Perec, George (1974) Träume von Räumen (Auszug dt.), Espèces d'espace (extrait fr.). (via email)

2. Meadows, Donella (1999) Leverage Points: Places to intervene in a System.

3. Boch, Ralph et al. (2021) Paths towards a circular society: The Potential of Social Design for Social Transformation. Social Design Lab.

4. Suurenbroek, Frank et al. (2019) Responsive public spaces: Exploring the use of interactive technology in the design of public spaces. Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Urban Technology.

5. Wall Kimmerer, Robin (2013) Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.

6. Holmgren, David (2002) Permaculture: Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability.

7. Bourdieu, Pierre (1989) Sozialer Raum, symbolischer Raum. In: Dünne J., Raumtheorie - Grundlagentexte aus Philosophie und Kulturwissenschaften, Suhrkamp 2006, 354-368. (via email)

8. Reider, Rebecca (2009) Dreaming the Biosphere: The Theater of All Possibilities.

9. Nelson, Mark (2018) Pushing Our Limits: Insights from Biosphere 2.

10. Bridle, James. 2022. Ways of Being: Beyond Human Intelligence. Allen Lane an imprint of Penguin Books.

Further Reading

1. O'Kelly, Morton E. (2014) Spatial Interaction.

2. Weaver, Duncan (2020) Spatiality and World Politics. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.562

3. Baccini, et. al.(2012) Metabolism of the Anthroposphere: Analysis, Evaluation, Design, MIT Press

4. González de Molina, Manuel, et al. (2014) The Social Metabolism: A Socio-Ecological Theory of Historical Change, Springer

5. Massey, Doreen (2009) Concepts of space and power in theory and in political practice, Documents d'anàlisi geogràfica 55, 15-26

6. Mol, Arthur P. J., et al. (2018) Zur Umweltsoziologie der Netzwerke und Flows. In: Groß M. (ed) Handbuch Umweltsoziologie. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 140–153

    

Mentoring

We will prepare doodles for mentoring with time slots of different lengths depending on the progress of the overall project. Reserve your slot and try to be on time. Questions can be asked anytime – also via email.