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nasa X gensler

optimizing environments

a VISIONARY COLLABORATION BETWEEN BMW, NASA, AND GENSLER 

AUTOMOBILE design, SPACECRAFT DESIGN, AND ADVANCED ARCHITECTURE ALL SHARE A COMMON GOAL: TO ENHANCE THE CAPABILITIES OF OCCUPANTS.

WHAT MIGHT EACH ORGANIZATION LEARN FROM THE OTHERS, AND HOW COULD THAT HELP THEM DELIVER EXPERIENCES THAT ARE MEANINGFUL, INSPIRING, AND TRANSFORMATIVE?

SCOPE OF WORK

Create a platform for designers and strategists to share insights and concepts with the goal of disrupting well-worn thinking with fresh new challenges and inspiration.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES

  • Context research

  • Weekly virtual brainstorming sessions

  • Concept development

  • Presentation at WORKTECH16 conference

KEY opportunity

What if automobiles, spacecraft, and buildings could all anticipate peoples needs and adapt in real time, optimizing human performance?

  1. OPTIMIZING DRIVER PERFORMANCE
    Automobiles will become increasingly empowering by enhancing drivers’ capabilities. Transportation designers will leverage autonomous functions to maximize driving abilities, augmenting our senses and skills to provide improved control and awareness in the vehicle.
    - Performance: leveraging AI-controlled sensors to maximize safety at speed (e.g. Out-of-Sight sensing)
    - Pleasure: ergonomic engineering for personal driving pleasure
    - Focus: intelligent management of alerts and information to reduce unnecessary distractions

  2. OPTIMIZING ASTRONAUT PERFORMANCE

    Spacecraft will become increasingly empowering by enhancing astronauts’ capabilities.
    - Focus: reducing distractions through private spaces, ambient lighting, programmable walls, simplified cockpit design with easily accessible instructions
    - Connection: ability to communicate from anywhere, immediately
    - Communication: better ability to communicate via voice, access to information beyond memorized knowledge (e.g. internet access)

  3. OPTIMIZING INHABITANT PERFORMANCE
    Buildings will become increasingly empowering by enhancing inhabitants’ capabilities.
    - Focus: reducing distractions to enable productive activities
    - Collaboration: flexible, reconfigurable spaces to allow for a variety of collaborative activities
    - Socializing: enabling casual interaction away from the primary live/work spaces
    - Mobilizing: embedded technologies to enable seamless virtual connection