The establishment of heterogeneous networks in performative spaces

Valinka Suenson, Henrik Harder

Publikation: Bidrag til bog/antologi/rapport/konference proceedingKonferenceabstrakt i proceedingForskning

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical research combining the Actor Network Theory with a
development of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology for tracking indoor
movement behavior. The aim of the paper is to disucss the value of RFID technology as a
method for observing heterogeneous networks in public spaces between users and
architecture.
During the past decades there has been an increasing tendency to construct Danish public
community centers with an aim to make them multifunctional, flexible, and facilitating
individual needs of the users. This tendency is seen both in Danish sports facilities and in
libraries. The demands (of the users)have become increasingly individualised, and neither
the library nor the sports facility can any longer survive relying on their traditional functions.
This effects the way these indoor public spaces are constructed and renovated. The
performative space is in high demand and an attractive goal for developers.
The paper presents two case studies from a contemporary Danish library and a Danish
sports facility where the perforamtive space is in focus, and the interaction between the
architecture and the users is needed before the architecture is fully unfolded (Kiib, 2009). By
interacting with the surroundings, each user can create their own unique experience every
time they visit the library or sport facility. Both cases are placed in the north of Jutland,
Denmark. The sports facility is a renovation of an old public swimmingpool originally build in
the seventies, the library is a new construction build in 2008. Both the centers offer more
functionalities than what is normally combined with books or swimmingpools. Regarding the
library a café, a childrens playground, study facilities and hidden spaces for quiteness and
contemplation can be found. The sports facility has incorporated a library and a fitness
center, as well as a multifunctional sports hall. With these new changes, both facilities are
now more than just public spaces that serve a specific function, and are a center for cultural
and social meetings and interaction – examples of new public domians (Reijndorp).
In the conception of ANT the interaction between users and the contemporary performative
spaces becomes interesting as a question of how heterogeneous networks occur between
the users, the artefacts and the physical surroundings. By looking at the relations between
users and architecture through this theoretical perspective, it highlights the importance of the
user involvement in the performative spaces where materiality becomes an actant on equal
terms with the users.
This paper discusses the use of RFID technology for tracking indoor movenment behavior as
a method for examining the establishment of these networks. The empirical background
presented consists of movement patterns from 255 users collected in November 2009 in the
Library in Hjørring, Jutland. By tracking and visualising movement patterns of different user
groups in indoor public spaces, the paper discuss how we then can understand the use of
performative spaces in new perspectives and how it opens up for new possibilities for
interpretation of the relationsship between the physical surroundings and the individual?
OriginalsprogDansk
TitelPracticing science and technology, performing the social
UdgivelsesstedTrento, Italien
ForlagUniversity of Trento
Publikationsdato2010
Sider97
StatusUdgivet - 2010
BegivenhedEASST 2010 - Trento, Italien
Varighed: 2 sep. 20104 sep. 2010

Konference

KonferenceEASST 2010
Land/OmrådeItalien
ByTrento
Periode02/09/201004/09/2010

Citationsformater