Future Spaces Vision Lab
NEWS
Art Shenzhen | RESTORE
Future Spaces Vision Lab presented its "RESTORE" exhibition at Art Shenzhen, featuring digital spaces for biometric data visualization. The exhibition included four sub-projects: Broken, Minus × Minus = Plus, Brain Vision, and RESPIRA, with Broken serving as the main interactive installation.
Conference | Chinese CHI 2024
At The 12th International Symposium of Chinese CHI, Future Spaces Vision Lab members shared their recent work and were recognized with two significant awards.
The short paper, E-VISTA: Chinese Paintings for an In-Vehicle Immersive Experience to Ease Motion Sickness and Improve Riding Comfort in Autonomous Vehicles, won the Best Short Paper Award. The project explores how traditional Chinese paintings can be used in immersive systems to make autonomous vehicle rides more comfortable by reducing motion sickness and stress. The project titled BROKEN: A Multi-Modal Interactive Experience to Support Psychological Capital through Stress Breaking received the Rising Star Award. By utilizing bio-data detection and processing, together with a motion capture system, stress levels are visualized in real-time through Electroencephalography (EEG). At the same time, a following interaction process can trigger individuals’ responses to it. Through this work, we aim to raise awareness and motivate the public regarding the importance of self-efficacy and self-belief for stress management.
Interactive Event at Rongyue
On August 20th, FSV-Lab members from Southern University of Science and Technology visited Rongyue City Elderly Care Center in Shenzhen to co-host an interactive activity with over 40 elderly participants. The event showcased a system developed by the lab that uses synchronized breathing exercises to foster connection and understanding. The system, which captures and visualizes breathing data, was praised for its potential to enhance social bonds. The lab plans to further develop the system, exploring more applications for social welfare through design research.
Shenzhen Design Week | Brain Visions
Brain Visions is an exploration of intangible human-environment interactions in young high-density such as Shenzhen. Visual stimuli perceived through built environments can have a significant impact on how our brain processes them in terms of cognitive load and stress levels. The detection of bio- signals such as Electroencephalogram (EEG) has the potential to support a deeper understanding of the reaction process between human brains and the built environment.
Environments are explored through different lenses, beyond what it’s normally perceived and seen; new technology is key for potential future support in data visualization related to spatial complexities as interactive systems, allowing us to see what it’s normally not visible to the human eye and yet essential for our brain.
Shenzhen TV Interviewed Brain Visions Project: Advancing Industry Integration for a Better Urban Life
Shenzhen TV reported "Brain Visions," an innovative visual project that investigates the complex interactions between humans and high-density urban environments like Shenzhen. The project explores how visual stimuli from built environments affect the brain, influencing cognitive load and stress levels. By detecting bio-signals such as Electroencephalogram (EEG), "Brain Visions" aims to provide a deeper understanding of how human brains react to these environments.
EEG Workshop for Elementary Students
A group of elementary school students recently visited FSV Lab for an exciting and creative workshop focused on exploring brainwaves, also known as EEG (electroencephalogram). During the session, students learned about the basics of EEG and how it records the brain's electrical activity. They used an app to visualize their brainwave patterns in real-time. This hands-on experience allowed students to observe how different activities and emotions affected their brainwaves, sparking curiosity and enthusiasm for science and technology. The workshop aimed to inspire young minds to explore the fascinating world of neuroscience.
Activation Pebblebed 2024 AGM | Brain Visions
The "Brain Visions" project recently held an exhibition in San Francisco, exploring the intricate interactions between human brains and urban environments. The exhibit highlighted how visual stimuli from dense urban settings impact cognitive load and stress levels, using Electroencephalogram (EEG) technology to illustrate these effects. Visitors experienced how built environments can influence brain processes, gaining insights into the unseen complexities of urban living. The exhibition emphasized the role of technology in visualizing spatial interactions and garnered attention for its innovative approach to understanding human-environment dynamics.
Conference | Changing Cities VI: Spatial, Design, Landscape, Heritage and Socio-Economic dimensions
[1] Visual complexity, stress levels, and restorative environments: 1/f noise analysis for a better understanding of Intangible Human-Environment Interactions
Published on Changing Cities VI (2024)
Humans and environments are intertwined through sensory experiences, with visual perceptions significantly impacting emotional and psychological states. Research has explored spatial visual complexity’s role in image processing, cognitive load, and stress relief, as well as the positive effects of fractal properties on stress reduction and emotional responses. While fractal properties in natural landscapes are crucial for understanding visual complexity, they can be further analysed through the geometrical properties of spaces. By integrating 1/f noise analysis, the complexity of signals processed by the brain is further enhanced, offering significant potential for understanding 1/f noise’s impact on visual perceptions, which remains underexplored in urban research. This study examines 1/f noise values and their effects on visual perceptions and physiological responses in various spatial complexities. In a pilot test, participants viewed images with different spatial complexities and 1/f noise values while their brain activity was monitored with an EEG device. The study aims to preliminary explore changes in live brain activity and note potential trends between stress levels, engagement, and attention focus across a limited range of 1/f noise values. The initial results of this study suggest the potential for larger-scale experiments to further investigate the impact of spatial complexity measures such as 1/f noise on brain activity using EEG, highlighting the ongoing need to refine urban design practices to better cater to the psychological needs of urban populations.
[2] Exploring Fractal Dimensions in Shenzhen's Urban Villages: Natural Pattern for Stress Reduction in High-Density Environments
Published on Changing Cities VI (2024)
The importance of public spaces for psychological restoration is a well-explored topic in urban studies. Particularly, the relevance of urban streets as an accessible source of open public space emerged as fundamental, especially in high-density urban environments, where, in some cases, the demand for open public space per person does not match the available offer. During the pandemic, public spaces' resilience criteria were challenged due to major psychological distress affecting urban populations worldwide. New questions about the nature and design of future public spaces capable of being resilient under major public health concerns or high levels of psychological distress raised, revealing new horizons to urban designers and architects for deeper interdisciplinary investigations related to urban dynamics. In this perspective, the role of high-density streets as resilient urban environments still has lots of unexplored potential. With this study, we selected a high-density urban neighbourhood in Hong Kong, well-known as a buzzing commercial district, to conduct empirical research. Our goal relied upon getting a deeper understanding of street vibrancy under psychological distress. We conducted a longitudinal study that involved video recordings on the streets under psychological distress in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Primary data were lately further analysed through Geographic Information System (GIS) by performing behaviour mapping and later on statistical analysis. Only stationary activities were considered; the data were related to urban activities on the streets in an attempt to visualise street vibrancy patterns in relation to spatial, morphological, and urban design factors. By learning from empirical evidence, this study sheds light on further discussion on design guidelines for future high-density urban streets, as well as reflections on vibrant urban streets capable of being resilient under psychological distress. These findings could inform urban designers and architects on design guidelines for the restoration of existing environments, as well as for future cities to be more responsive to psychological well-being.
[3] Resilient public spaces under psychological distress: a closer look at high-density urban streets’ vibrancy in Hong Kong.
Published on Changing Cities VI (2024)
Rapid urbanization presents challenges for designing future cities that enhance residents' quality of life and well-being. Literature has shown that dense environments can potentially contribute to heightened stress levels. Urban stress reduction is a critical concern in contemporary urban studies, involving multiple disciplines to understand how density environments positively impact well-being.