KTH Smart Spaces is a research group currently involved in a EU-funded project relating to presence design and the future of connected media (COMPEIT 2013-2016). We are also funded by the European Institute of Technology (EIT ICT Labs) since 2011. A European network of prominent technical universities and industry partners, EIT provides an interdisciplinary context for research in ICT-mediated architecture and presence design. Current focus areas include Mediated Hospitals and Mediated Courtrooms across Europe as part of a programme that addresses smart spaces and digital cities.

This area of research is called presence design and specifically addresses the fusion of architecture and interactive media that enables mediated presence. Architectural interfaces are created from real-time video and audio streams, combined with embedded smart devices and building components that respond to users’ presence by local action or remote interaction.

KTH Smart Spaces is a collaboration between researchers at KTH Department of Architecture (Charlie Gullström, Pablo Miranda Carranza) and KTH Department of Media Technology and Interaction Design (Leif Handberg, Alex Jonsson). We have a close collaboration with researchers at TU Delft, School of Architecture, The Why Factory, through architects Ulf Hackauf and Adrien Ravon; with Tjerk de Greef, Joke Kort and Harold Nefs at TUD Interactive Intelligence Group, and with Caroline Nevejan, a presence researcher  at the TUD Systems Engineering group.  We also work with Peter Parnes, Jimmy Nyström and Nicklas Nyström at the Mobile and Pervasive Computing group, Luleå Technical University. We have an ongoing exchange with Professor John Stallmeyer at the Illinois School of Architecture, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign (UIUC). 

Prototyping session in June 2014 between KTH Smart Spaces and colleagues in Delft. Left: Joke Kort, TU Delft and Ulf Hackauf, Why Factory, Delft School of Architecture. Right: Charlie Gullström, Alex Jonsson and Leif Handberg

Our research lab is KTH R1 Experimental Performance Space & Presence Lab. Our research is closely connected to teaching, both at KTH School of Architecture (Master Studio 4) and the Presence Production -Presence Design course (7,5hp) as part of the KTH Media Technology programme. We are happy to coach Diploma-students with interests in architecture, interactive media and related fields.

Our on-going interdisciplinary research project COMPEIT creates a web-based system for highly interactive, personalised, shared media experiences. The new technologies will improve the feeling of being together in a shared mediated space and support interaction and collaboration between people who are separated in time or space (presence design). Real-time video and audio streams are combined with embedded smart devices and building components that respond to users’ presence by local action or remote interaction. 

In the project, KTH Smart Spaces is responsible for the development of Mediated Spaces, read more about this and about earlier Presence Design projects to the left.

We will carry out user tests relating to some of our prototypes in September and October 2014, and we have developed a user scenario. If you are interested and want more information, or if organisation is interested in participating in user tests, please contact us.

Contact: 

Charlie Gullström, PhD, Architect SAR/MSA, Research Leader, KTH Department of Architecture, Scientific Coordinator for COMPEIT

Leif Handberg, Associate Professor, KTH Department of Media Technology and Interaction Design 

Alex Jonsson, Docent, KTH Department of Media Technology and Interaction Design 

Pablo Miranda Carranza, Researcher, PhD-student, KTH Department of Architecture,

Bobby Falck, Lab assistant, Diploma degree student, KTH Department of Media Technology and Interaction Design 

Björn Helgeson, Lab assistant, Master student, KTH Department of Media Technology and Interaction Design