When I look out of the window to discover what the weather is like each morning, a few natural details provide most of my information. In particular, I look at any puddles of water to see if I can
spot the circles
formed by rain drops and I look at the branches of trees to judge how windy it is. Buildings
and roads tell me very little. Snow cover and bright sun shine are also
key features, and provide further information. It is from this glance
out of the window that I make my decision about what clothes to wear. I
would like to make this information available throughout my morning
routine.I propose a system that provides ambient weather information as a backdrop for my regular morning rituals. Many of these, shower, shave, etc. occur in the bathroom. There are three main components in this design, each adding information ambiently to the bathroom environment. They are responsive floor tiles, wall projection and background sound.
The floor tiles paint digital shadows of rain and snow. As someone walks across the bathroom, if there is snow outside, they leave footprints. The rings of rain drops, are also transferred indoors, to this virtual floor image, reflecting the intensity of the rain fall outside..
The wall paints digital branches which cast shadows in bright sun light, and move with the wind like their real counterparts outside the house.
The third element, sound, augments this background visual information. the crunching of snow underfoot, the gentle noise of the rain, wind and general ambient outdoor noises (with traffic and air-conditioning hum reduced).
2
I envisage an ideal
weather information communication system as one with as few cognitive
steps between "will I be rained on?" and "what is the weather?". My
response to this is to provide information on current weather
conditions where it applies, on the weather itself. Ideally the system
would be able to augment someone's view of the sky, or the direction
they are going to go, with weather information, including approaching
rain clouds, temperature, wind direction. Other information such as
pressure fronts and highs could also be indicated on real views,
improving peoples ability to 'read' the weather, and understand the
science and unpredictability of nature.As a window that can project the correct augmented visuals for several viewers (some sort of
holography magic),
is not yet possible, alternatives include an augmented reality type
vr-headset (or simple view-master style 'weather portal') or trying to
find a way to superimpose location specific weather details onto a
mobile phone picture (neither of these are easy either due to the
difficulties in judging position and direction of the viewer).
3
I have a clock in my bedroom set to GMT. It acts as a hook onto which I am able to easily place my daily impressions of the people I know back in England and what I imagine them to be doing. Ambient details such as this can be strong catalysts for empathy with distant friends and triggers for nice thoughts and memories. I would like a weather portal in my room that would fulfil a similar role as my 'distant clock'.
The places I have lived are all cities, and to reflect my memories, the weather cube should be constructed from an industrial material such as concrete. It would convey temperature, light and humidity of a distant place. It would feel warm or cold to the touch depending on the weather in the other city. Light would emit from a small hole in it's center. The quality and intensity of the light would be based on the current light level in the other time zone. Bright during the day, redder in the evening, dark at night. The contrast between the light levels shining in the cube and in the room, would match the difference in time zones between the two separated people. This could be seen as an annoying aspect of the design, but I would be interested to see if it could be accepted as natural, like the light that creeps through the curtains in the morning. The third aspect, water would very slowly drip from the cube if it was wet in the other location (rain, etc.). As this dried, it would stain the concrete - a familiar part of urban life. Depending on the weather it could also freeze to the cube as the weather that dictated the cube's temperature fell.
I like the intrusiveness of this cube. It becomes part of the owner's habitat, and they must make concessions (exposure to light, water and cold) to maintain the connection. I think it forms a very personal, empathetic and ambient connection between two places and people and yet a level of privacy is maintained due to the abstract information that is communicated. I would like a stack of these cubes, each linked to one of my friends.