# Sitara Systems

> Spatial human-computer interaction (spatial HCI) consultancy designing interactive systems for museums, cultural institutions, and experience centers. Founded 2019, Las Vegas. Founders: Nathan Lachenmyer, Sadiya Akasha.

## Discipline
- [What is spatial HCI?](https://sitara.systems/discipline/): The discipline of designing computational systems as part of the built environment — behavioral modeling, real-time system logic, infrastructure planning, operational ownership, and lifecycle strategy.
- [Research](https://sitara.systems/research/): Peer-reviewed publications (ACM SIGGRAPH, SEGD Communication + Place) and public user-testing findings.
  - [An Aquarium of Machines](https://sitara.systems/research/an-aquarium-of-machines/): Physically realized artificial life simulation behind the Tate Modern Aerobes; ACM PACMCGIT 2022, plus companion ACM SIGGRAPH 2022 Talk.
  - [Using Social Science to Improve Social Impact](https://sitara.systems/research/using-social-science/): Audience segmentation for social-impact communication, drawing on Yale climate-communication research; Communication + Place, SEGD Research Journal, 2023.
  - [Social Legibility in Experiential Design](https://sitara.systems/research/social-legibility/): How making a room's shared beliefs visible drives collective action; year-long study with the Yale Peabody Museum; Communication + Place, SEGD Research Journal, 2026.
  - Technical reports (self-published, not peer-reviewed): [Investigating the Climate Perception Gap](https://sitara.systems/research/climate-perception-gap/), [Teaching Tiktaalik](https://sitara.systems/research/teaching-tiktaalik/), [Modelling Autonomous Agent Psychology Using Personality Traits](https://sitara.systems/research/individuation-trait/), [Designing NFC Interactions for the Public](https://sitara.systems/research/designing-nfc-interactions/).

## Work

Each project page below embeds a machine-readable Experiential Design Index record in a `<script type="application/json" data-experiential-design-index="project">` tag in its HTML head — structured credits (full delivery stack, controlled roles), venue, project type, year, and sources, ready for ingestion.

- [Selected Work](https://sitara.systems/work/)
- [Tate Modern - In Love With The World](https://sitara.systems/tate-in-love-with-the-world/): Artificial-life system behind Anicka Yi's 2021 Turbine Hall commission; peer-reviewed at SIGGRAPH 2022; Fast Company Innovation by Design honors.
- [New Museum - New Humans: Memories of the Future](https://sitara.systems/new-museum-new-humans/): Extension of the Tate aerobes' artificial-life system to a second venue, on view through August 2026.
- [Jenny Holzer x Hypersonic - There Was A War](https://sitara.systems/there-was-a-war/): Technical production partner for a kinetic LED sign carrying 131 eyewitness accounts of Syria's civil war.
- [Yale Peabody Museum Multimedia Interactives](https://sitara.systems/ypm-multimedia/): Fifteen digital interactives across the renovated museum.
- [Port of Long Beach Interactive Museum](https://sitara.systems/polb-experience-center/): Five touch-free interactives and a content system the Port updates itself, tracking sustainability targets dated out to 2050.
- [Cleveland Museum of Art - ArtLens Reimagined](https://sitara.systems/cleveland-artlens/): Systems architecture for AI-era collection interpretation, plus a new CMS built on CMA's Open Access API and the real-time platform that makes the mobile app an accessibility affordance for every gallery interactive.
- [Dana-Farber Zebrafish Display](https://sitara.systems/dfci-zebrafish/): 477-fish donor sculpture; capacitive-touch-to-NFC lifecycle retrofit.
- [Genesis House - Manifesting Marilyn](https://sitara.systems/genesis-manifesting-marilyn/): Systems layer and daily operations for the interactive moments — a wish-drawing wall and archival rotary phones — of a nine-week exhibition celebrating Marilyn Monroe as a pioneering woman entrepreneur.
- [National Museum of Mathematics - Exhibit Software](https://sitara.systems/momath-exhibit-software/): Software for four interactive exhibits — Formula Fun, Face Value, Global Golf, and Open Book — translating mathematical concepts into hands-on interactions.
- [T-Mobile Connected Complex](https://sitara.systems/t-mobile/): Projection-mapped architectural model at the Bellevue Executive Briefing Center.
- [Cadillac Horizon](https://sitara.systems/cadillac-horizon/): 200 Rear Camera Mirrors as a hand-discovered spatial interface.
- [Purina Institute - Exhibit Systems](https://sitara.systems/purina-institute/): Research-communication interactives for Nestlé Purina; hardware rebuild + virtual extension.
- [Replit Vibecon - Technical Direction & Production](https://sitara.systems/replit-vibecon/): Technical direction and production of all interactive and installed elements at Replit's inaugural conference, including three Sitara-built rooms (Game Room, Sound Room with DJ Benji B, AI2AI).

## Field Guides
- [Field Guides](https://sitara.systems/guides/): Practical, evergreen guides on museum technology — interactive costs, lifetime cost of ownership, technology-stack selection, open-source museum tools, and writing digital scope into exhibit RFPs.

## About
- [Home](https://sitara.systems/)
- [About](https://sitara.systems/about/)
- [Approach](https://sitara.systems/approach/)
- [Design Ethics](https://sitara.systems/design-ethics/)
- [Platforms](https://sitara.systems/platforms/): The software platforms beneath Sitara's installations.
- [Galaxy](https://sitara.systems/platforms/galaxy/): Content management for public space — accessibility in the content model, editorial governance, operations dashboards. In daily use at the Yale Peabody Museum, Port of Long Beach, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; screened visitor submissions at Genesis House; its core technologies underpin the Cleveland Museum of Art's new content platform.
- [Fusion](https://sitara.systems/platforms/fusion/): Sitara's toolkit for public computing built on top of Unreal Engine — the native tooling spatial HCI otherwise lacks, including self-voicing interfaces, unattended operation, and content that updates without a developer.
- [Starwatch](https://sitara.systems/platforms/starwatch/): Operations platform for unattended installations — it watches every system, recovers it automatically, and updates it safely.
- [Kepler](https://sitara.systems/platforms/kepler/): Upcoming open-core recognition engine for museum collections — museum-controlled AI, calibrated per collection, honest about uncertainty.
- [Reading List](https://sitara.systems/reading-list/): Books we recommend on climate, justice, AI, museums, game design, and user experience.
- [Writing](https://sitara.systems/writing/) (Substack: https://sitarasystems.substack.com/)
- [Contact](https://sitara.systems/contact/)

## Reference
- [The Experiential Design Index](https://sitara.systems/experiential-design-index/): Public credits database of experiential-technology firms and projects, published by Sitara Systems.
- [The Exhibit Cost Record](https://sitara.systems/exhibit-cost-record/): Public-records dataset of museum exhibit, interactive, and AV contract costs — federal awards, grants, and nonprofit 990 disclosures — published by Sitara Systems as a neutral, citable cost baseline.