BriefBots of the Station was a result of a brief entitled "Platform for Joy", in which, the goal was to research and understand the environments of train stations in order to attempt to provide the souls who pass through with some form of respite from their traveling woes.
Main UnderstandingCommuters describe train stations as desolate and isolating spaces. They are entirely functional spaces where commuters feel they have no ownership or personality. Train stations feel like a purgatory space where people pass from one state of existence to another; a waiting room.
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ArtBot
ArtBot was a button operated device that allowed the user to receive a random work of art, from local artists, that they could hold onto a look at while they carried out their train station related duties.
ChatterBot
ChatterBot was a means of emulating that fearless person you occasionally meet in public who's not afraid to break the social code and communicate freely with the general public regardless of whether or not they're communicating back. ChatterBot continuously speaks about random things that it designated personality experiences through pre-recorded audio snippets played out the bots speakers.
QuestionBot
QuestionBot projects a random question via the LCD module on the face of the bot for passers-by to read and perhaps hypothesise an answer to in the hopes of removing their thoughts from the station and into a potentially more enjoyable (for lack of a better term) imagination station.
Project Breakdown
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Project Summary
To break up the monotony of the commute and give the station some much-needed personality. Giving commuters something to look forward to while in their daily routine
Problem |
Process |
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Train stations are described by commuters as desolate, isolating spaces. They are incredibly functional and designed as an unowned limbo space for people to travel from one area to another.
Increasing numbers of daily commuters is on the rise and the monotonous commute create an emotionally draining commuting experience. |
From the start of this project we adopted an interventionist approach to this issue. Designing through making and implementing experiments in the space of the train station. We used this approach to try and engage commuters on their commute in a positive sense.
These experiments were based on initial research insights, which then grew out into several different iterations of intervention, which were based on findings from previous interventions we made. |