Social Stairs : a case study for Experiential Design Landscapes

In this design research study, an interactive staircase called Social Stairs, was used as an Experiential Design Landscape (EDL) to research emergent behaviour. Its aim has been to evoke physical active behaviour of people that contributes to their wellbeing. Following the newly developed EDL method, this installation was used as a research vehicle to propose a variety of Experiential Probes in an everyday life context of a public staircase in an office setting.Various data acquisition methods have been used to capture and analyse emerging behaviour patterns of people, and address the motivations which drive their physically expressive behaviour. Explorations in factors contributing to the richness of the interaction such as sound quality, surprise elements and perceived harmony of the composition were at the basis of the occurence of explorative and social behavior. From the people who visited the Social Stairs it became clear that the experience of using the staircase was predominantly associated with positive emotions. People’s reflections indicated that their usage of the staircase is stimulated by the presence of the interactive sound installation. We believe that this case study shows it is worthwhile to employ similar experiments in daily life situations that aim to emerge new behaviour patterns towards a physically active lifestyle. It was also found that the ethical and legal regulations concerning data acquisition are strongly dependent on the socio-cultural context in which the design disruption takes place.