Spatial Interfaces: An Architectural Recontextualization

Abstract

This thesis proposes a series of speculative spatial interactions leveraging the input modality of gestures, the medium of mixed reality, and paradigms from architectural design. It is situated at a time when the disciplinary boundaries between Architecture and human-computer interaction (HCI) are increasingly overlapped yet not converged. The subject of this thesis is timely and relevant because spatial computing is entering the mass market, and technology companies are carrying paradigms from 2D interface design to the third dimension. Spatializing interfaces necessarily introduces fundamental clashes between HCI and Architecture due to different priorities, concerns, and philosophical propensities. Architects have the opportunity to partake and take ownership of how we design spatial interfaces. This thesis attempts to create a proto-framework by enumerating paradigmatic conflicts between the two disciplines and proposing design concepts that negotiate these conflicts.