Cross-disciplinary seminar at the intersection of architecture, physical computing, and psychophysiology.

This course examines how designers can create environments and objects that sense and respond to bodies, context, and ambient conditions. As ubiquitous sensing (biosignals, environmental data, spatial tracking) becomes embedded across scales, from wearables to materials to rooms, how can designers meaningfully integrate and interpret these signals, and how should they critique their use? In this course students will learn the technical foundations of sensing, instrumentation, signal processing, and system integration, while pursuing design experiments that probe the limits, ambiguities, and ethical stakes of affective artifacts.

In collaboration with faculty and researchers in psychology and neuroscience, the course introduces principles of experimental design and empirical inquiry. Students learn how to structure, conduct, and analyze small-scale studies that connect physiological and behavioral data to questions of perception, emotion, and experience, bridging technical prototyping with research methodology.

Over the semester, students move through three scaffolded assignments:
Sensing and Visualization: Collect personal or environmental data through one or more sensors and develop a novel method or platform for communicating or translating that data.
Experiment and Design: Conduct a small empirical study introducing experimental design principles.
Affective Assemblies*: Synthesize the semester’s technical skills and critical perspectives into an interactive prototype, material investigation, or spatial exploration.

*Students may integrate the final project into their studio work, provided it is approved by their studio instructor and discussed with Prof. Richter-Lunn.

No formal programming or electronics experience is required; students from all backgrounds are welcome.