After a long period of isolation, returning to the natural urban rhythm and social relationships can be a complex task:
not only has our coexistence with people changed, but our connection with the surroundings and the city has transformed into something new, still in the process of being adaptation. For
Guto Requena , an architect specializing in housing, contemporary design and cyberculture, a key piece to improve urban living is the use of
street furniture , which can act as a social catalyst. “Imagine a bus stop that is not just a space to sit and protect yourself from the rain and sun, but also a place to connect people, invite them to reflect on issues, to look at each other and, eventually, talk”, he explains. This is the potential that the professional develops with
Juntxs , a laboratory maintained by his office for three years, whose objective is to create immersive initiatives and installations on different scales and stimulate feelings and social connections. “These affective technologies can warm, awaken smiles and invite people to get to know each other,” he says.
(Henrique Padilha/CASACOR)
Street Furniture
Juntxs' latest project is the
Trama bench , an urban piece of furniture that acts as an interface for expanding our bodies into space: the wooden piece of furniture has a heart rate sensor, a microphone and a speaker. Through this set,
It is possible to open a communication channel with anyone who is also using the same bank – be it a friend in the same square or a stranger in another city . “You don’t know where the message is going, there’s no information. That’s the fun: discovering and surprising,” says Guto. The conversation can be done via voice or by changing the heart rate - in this case, a device captures the beat and transmits it to the other installation, causing a pulsation. Whoever is sitting on the second bench feels as if the bench is vibrating. “The idea is for people to talk to each other regardless of skin color, age, gender or religion and to imagine emotional, empathetic stories in these different regions,” says Guto. The project is ready and the office is negotiating partnerships to make it viable in several cities in Brazil. .
Check out an interview with architect Guto Requena below. Juntxs is a laboratory for studies in empathy, design and technology, created just over three years ago. This project was an old dream from college, which was to have a laboratory with professionals from the technology area inside the architecture office. Today, Juntxs has a computer scientist, hardware programmer and software programmer, who allow us to carry out experiments in interactive installations, immersive experiences, augmented reality glasses and the use of sensors.
What role can street furniture play in the city? I think one of my and the studio's great passions is to rethink the surface of the city through urban furniture, adding new digital technologies to this furniture and putting new layers of poetry into the city. So, imagining that a bus stop doesn't just need to be a bus stop with a place to sit and protect yourself from the rain and sun, but it can also be a place to connect people, invite them to reflect on issues, to look at each other, and eventually talk and smile. This This is the potential that Juntxs and Estudio Guto Requena have been developing: imagining that these affective technologies can warm people, spark smiles and invite them to get to know each other.
Can you tell us a little about Trama Bank? The Trama bench is a prototype, it is already fully detailed, designed, has a budget and now we are looking for investments, brands and partnerships. The idea is that this bench can be installed in different places in the city or even in other cities. It is a bench, people can sit, but there is an interactive module, where the person places their finger and the sensor collects the heartbeat in real time. Then, it sends this beat to the other benches that are far away through
spikes that vibrate. So when people are sitting on the wooden bench, they feel the heartbeat of someone far away. They can press another button and talk. The idea is that people can talk without knowing the color of the skin, age, gender, religion, and imagine that affective and empathetic plots can happen in these different regions, neighborhoods and cities.
How does this sending of heartbeats work? You don't know where the heartbeat is going, you don't have any information. That's exactly the fun: that they can open a channel of communication, discover and surprise. For example, imagine that there is a bank on Avenida Paulista and a bank in Manaus, when the person opens the communication channel, he says “I can feel your heartbeat, where are you?”. And the response: “I'm in Manaus. How old are you?”. And so on. The idea is precisely that people don't know about each other and it's random.
How is the beat represented? The heartbeat is collected in real time by means of a sensor developed by Estudio Guto Requena. We are using this technology in several installations. On the other side, which we call the output, the person feels a vibration. The person is sitting on the bench and , suddenly, you start to feel the pulse, as if the bench were vibrating in real time to the heartbeat of someone you can't see at the moment.
