Sending Pictures to an Elevator

Living in a high-rise building means being surrounded by neighbours, next door, above and below. Despite this closeness there’s often a social distance, how many of your neighbours do you really know on a none superficial level? This project takes this problem as a starting point and explores if it’s possible to decrease these social barriers and anonymity found in high-rise buildings, through Interaction Design.

The concept is located in a space most of those living in high-rise building use every day, the elevator. By utilizing the elevators central position in the building it’s possible to create a shared surface here which the inhabitants can watch on a regular basis. The shared surface consists of a computer screen designed to look as a painting. The screen in itself offers no interactivity, the interaction happens between users, with the screen as a mediating artefact.

Those living in the house share imagery by uploading them to the elevator through a webpage. The selection of pictures is controlled by themes which change on a regular basis; by doing this the experience is always something new to look forward to. The selection of themes is made to feel up to date and relevant to the inhabitants, it could for example be themes with a local connection where they’d be asked to shares images from the immediate surroundings or local events.

The expectation is that these images will create a common point of reference which encourages communication, simply work as an icebreaker and dialog starter.

The project was later showcased as a part of the Interaction Works exhibition at the From Business to Buttons 2007 conference in Malmö.