Spatial Human-Computer Interaction for the built environment

Digital systems embedded in buildings have architectural consequences. We help define those consequences early — a discipline that sits between architecture and media, practiced by a consultancy that publishes its methods.

Every building that contains interactive media contains a second system: the computational layer — sensors, displays, content systems, and the logic that connects them to the people moving through the space. Architecture has a discipline. Media production has a discipline. The layer between them usually has neither — it gets discovered late, procured as equipment, and maintained by whoever is left in the room. Spatial human-computer interaction (HCI) is our name for treating that layer as a design discipline in its own right.

The Missing Layer

Five kinds of work define the layer. Most projects discover them too late; we bring them in at concept:

Engagements at this layer are available standalone as systems architecture consulting — from concept through commissioning.

Phase Integration

The discipline maps onto the phases architects already work in. That’s the point: the computational layer belongs inside the architectural process, not after it.

Concept Design
  • Define what the computational layer is for — the interpretive and experiential questions the building needs it to answer
  • Behavioral research: who the audiences are and how they actually move, attend, and participate
  • Feasibility and precedent: what class of system the ambition implies, and what it costs to keep alive
Schematic Design
  • System concepts alongside spatial concepts — interaction models, content strategy, sensing approach
  • Infrastructure zones: where power, data, compute, and service access need to live in the building
  • Early operational model: staffing and ownership implications of each design direction
Design Development
  • State architecture and system logic: how the experience behaves, degrades, and recovers
  • Coordination with MEP, lighting, and AV consultants so the digital layer survives value engineering
  • Prototyping the risky interactions before they become construction commitments
Construction Documents
  • Specification of the computational layer in documents contractors can actually bid
  • Interface definitions between trades — who provides, who installs, who commissions
  • Content system and CMS specification, including handoff and staff-maintainability requirements
Construction Administration & Commissioning
  • Installation oversight, integration testing, and tuning in the real space with real visitors
  • Operational documentation, training, and the maintenance cadence for the years after opening
  • Post-occupancy evaluation: testing whether the work does what it claims

Backed by Research

A discipline is only as credible as its evidence. We publish our methods — behavioral simulation, interface research, user testing in public space — in peer-reviewed venues, so the claims above can be examined rather than taken on faith. Read our published research →

For the practical version — what interactives cost, how to choose a stack, what to write into an RFP — see our Field Guides.

Have a commission in mind? Start the conversation →