Client: Microsoft Research

Overview

In a first look at this future, Microsoft Research and Jenny Sabin Studio have collaborated on “Ada,” a two-story 1,100lb photoluminescent lighted pavilion structure touching on the intersection of art, tech, architecture, and material science. Suspended within an atrium space, this knitted structure supported by 3D printed nodes explores more than just space-making. Ada seeks to help answer tough questions and gain understanding of the cultural effects/implications of how humans interact with emerging empathetic AI.

Goals

Ada builds upon 13 years of collaborative work and innovation across architecture and science, where projects embrace and are informed by technology, non-standard and bio-steered concepts, and the hidden spatial structures within data; projects that have the capacity to facilitate and reveal hidden expressions and emotion in the built environment. The first architectural pavilion project to incorporate AI, Ada is also knitted light, immersing visitors in a responsive and interactive glow of photo-luminescence. Importantly, Ada is human-driven; Ada is a cyber physical architecture that is adaptive, personal, data-driven and informed by individual and collective participation. It is a project that celebrates AI, an architecture that is ‘happy to see you’ and ‘smiles back at you’.

Process

Working with researchers and engineers at Microsoft Research, Ada is driven by individual and collective sentiment data collected and housed within the Microsoft Research Building 99. A network of sensors and cameras located throughout building offer multiple opportunities for visitors and participants to engage, interact with, and drive the project.

Additional Information

http://www.jennysabin.com/ada