Our Environment

Social interactive media installation.

  • Dates: 2008
  • Location: Johnson and Johnson Olympic Pavilion. Beijing, China.
  • Role: Multichannel sound engine and spatialization designer.
  • Collaborators:
    • Snibbe Interactive – Project Design and Implementation
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Our Environment is an social interactive installation piece, developed by Snibbe Interactive and installed at the Johnson and Johnson Olympic Pavilion at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

A grassy field is projected on the floor, in the path of the crowd. If an person walks quickly over the field, she tramples the grass and creates a rut in the ground. However, if a person lingers on the field flowers start to bloom around them. As each addition person spends time on the installation one of four different colors of flowers, representing four elements (air, sun, water, and earth) bloom around them. The more people interact together, the more lush the environment becomes.

I programmed the system for surround sound spatialization for the installation. For this install it was spatialized in 8 channels surrounding the field. The soundscape starts as an ambient barren wasteland, but as the field grows flowers it morphs into the sounds of a rainforest. For each person that enters the installation, and incidental sound that represents the four elements begins and follows them around the installation. As more of their element’s flowers grow, the sounds following them become more active, adding energy to the soundscape and encouraging social participation.