Infrastructure vol. II: Smart Underground - Oxford circus Station

INFRASTRUCTURE VOL. II SMART UNDERGROUND

What’s the content of this book?

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INTRODUCTION 6

DEMOGRAPHIC 14

FIELD TRIPS 40

LOCATION 74

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GOALS 18

INSPIRATIONS 24

RESEARCH 80

PROJECT 100

What is this project about?

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The smart underground is about infrastructure and using it in a way that people can guide themselves with it. Making the space, in this case, an underground station, honest about its inner workings and pleasantly showing itself.

With the infrastructure comes a need to create a network that connects to most amenities in its space and provide guidance to the users in it. With this network, we can take the heat produced by certain equipment and crowds of people, and direct it to other places where it can be used, be it for the private sector or public spaces. This, in return, can regulate the increasing temperatures inside the platforms and lower the use of energy to heat up other areas.

In this new network, we will implement recent and upcoming technologies to create a responsive environment all connected through the infrastructure network and able to respond to the crowd and people in it.

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So let’s start with the definition of some keywords in this introduction: INFRASTRUCTURE noun The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.

In this case, the whole station is an infrastructure of the city and its population. It serves to move a large quantity of people in and around the city. And in a smaller scale infrastructure is the cables, ducting, tubing that provides a structure or building the services and amenities of energy, water, heating, Lighting, and drainage. So this project is taking two sets of infrastructure at once.

Lets dig in more about this word.

INFRA prefix below.

STRUCTURE noun 1. The arrangement of and relations between the parts or elements of something complex.

2. A building or other object constructed from several parts.

NETWORK noun 1. an arrangement of intersecting horizontal and vertical lines.

2. a group or system of interconnected people or things. verb 1. Connect as or operate with a network.

2. Interact with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts.

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These two words (infra and Structure) combined in a more literal sense would mean below the Structure or building. Taking into account that an underground station is as it says, underground or “below” the earth. We have a City-Scale “infrastructure” full of different “networks” of smaller “infrastructure” inside a giant “structure” underground.

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To whom is it targeted?

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Commuters Shoppers Tourists Staff Drivers.

The Smart Underground is directed to serve the city of London. The primary demographic is for the people that use the underground, the commuters, the ones that like to go have a walk around an area. To those that don’t have a vehicle to move around or the ones that have but rather skip the hassle of looking for parking in the city.

It targets the tube workers the staffs, drivers and platforms managers.

To improve the working conditions and have more control and a better understanding of the state of the station.

What are the goals?

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What this project wants to accomplish is an experience, unlike any other underground experience. Expose the infrastructure of the station and use it as a way-finder for the users. Implement technologies to help the staff members of the station maintain a nice and safe environment in it. And Create a space that can be personalized to the users. A place to have personalized information or a way to express themselves in it, in an interactive way.

Exposed infrastructure:: Going through most stations, we can see a pretty smooth surface some are concrete, other are tiles, but a lot of them are plastics or metallic surfaces mainly when they are meant to cover the infrastructure. Be it cables, ducts or tubing. They usually hide them to keep a clean facade.

By exposing them, we can use the grid like Structure of them and use them as wayfinding around the station and in and out of it.

-Wayfinidng with infrastructure -Removal of faregates -Create convenient spaces -Personal experience in the station -More control to the users and workers -Rechannel the heat to needed places

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Technology: With the amount of recent and new technologies coming on the horizon, we have a vast amount of them to implement it in the stations. It is with them that we can create an interactive experience and have the station reacts to the different situations that can happen in them and with the supervision of a technician and some staff members. with this tech implementation, we can also find a way to express or give personalized information to the users.

Biometric recognition The internet of things Transaparent displays Crowd algorythm 3D Mapping

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What’s the inspiration behind it?

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LIGHT TUNNEL Earlier In the year, I found myself recording a tunnel connecting St. Pancras International and King Cross underground Station to the public spaces, restaurants, offices and homes at King’s Cross.

This 90-metre long tunnel was designed by Allis & Morrison Architects and Spiers + Major. Morrison Described the tunnel as a “welcoming, positive and happy – an invitation” to the visitors of King’s Cross.

The Light wall that spans the length of the tunnel is made from LED lights panels, which is used to showcase artistic commissions. This idea resonated well with my view of the underground, and it can be implemented inside the stations and platforms in exciting ways.

But besides the Light Wall, I found myself more interested in what was behind the other side of the tunnel. Contrasting the light wall was the white plastic skin and the metal bars that hide the cable management of the whole tunnel and lighting. It was here that my first glimpse of looking at the infrastructure of spaces began.

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After seeing the tunnel, I did a few sketches of it trying to grasp its nature and form. After a few of them, I started to draw the inner workings of the tunnel and came up with these images.

Getting the camera lenses in some spaces where the eyes cannot see, I capture some of the details behind the clean facade the tunnel has.

I also took to look for Details that I could extrude and create spaces like corridors with them. I began with the Light tunnel at King’s Cross - St. Pancras Station and then went on to Canary Wharf Station and the Railroad Rooftop Garden.

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WESTMINSTER UNDERGROUND STATION The next inspiration for the project was my previous one in Westminster Underground Station. This Station seems to check some of the goals of this one but not quite. The lowest part of the Station is a vast atrium that connects the district and central line to the Jubilee line. In this vast space, we can clearly see the massive structure that holds up the Portcullis House on top. in this vast space, there’s nothing else to do than move along and see the structure.

The space inside the Station is not complicated, but given the two ways that you could exit the platform, you can find yourself going over to the ticket hall without realizing it if you wanted to take one of the other lines.

There are signs, but the crowd can be so big, coming out of the trains, that you could find yourself going the other way around.

Initially, the old Westminster station served only the Circle and District underground Lines in London. So the project team at Hopkins Architecture, constituted by Andrew Barnett, Patrick Nee and David Selby worked on the extension of the much deeper Jubilee line and the Portcullis House, to serve the parliament, above the old Station.

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The Westminster Underground station is a place of transition, and not meant for people to stay inside. However, the chambers inside of it create a few different rooms intended to cross through them. Deep underground we have a three-story chamber constituted of 6 semicircular rooms divided by the gap on the two top levels, and by the structure and escalators on the bottom one.

On this station, I focused on 2 things. The way it displays its structure and infrastructure and the need to get the heat out of the underground and use it to heat up other places like the sidewalk, kiosks and bus stops. “Over the past 100 years, the clay surrounding London’s Underground has warmed and is no longer able to absorb the trapped waste heat, causing the Underground temperature to increase to over 30°C. Excess body heat from passengers and heat generated by trains gets trapped underground, and by installing a ventilation system, the waste heat can be channelled, stored, and distributed to tackle fuel poverty.

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The largest consumer of fuel used in energy production is waste heat. In 1971, an estimated 68.5% of the fuel used to produce electricity in the United States was lost as waste heat.

Like the heat in London’s Underground, the energy that is being transported is continuously letting off energy in the form of heat, delivering a fraction of what was created at the plant. To effectively double or triple the efficiency of energy production, no additional fuel is needed other than what is currently being used. In place of more fuel, an effective waste heat-recovery system can use the design of cities to make urban areas the most energy efficient and greenest areas on earth.� https://www. groundsure.com/blogs/heat-underground

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PRECEDENTS OF THE HEAT PROBLEM OF THE UNDERGROUND “In November 2013, London’s Mayor Boris Johnson announced a new initiative to channel this waste heat from the Underground tunnels and an electrical substation to provide heat to 500 homes, thereby cutting winter energy costs. Excess body heat from passengers and heat generated by trains gets trapped underground, and by installing a ventilation system, the waste heat can be channelled, stored, and distributed to tackle fuel poverty. This project was generated as part of Mayor Johnson’s target to produce 25% of London’s energy from local sources by 2025. Reporters who maintain that the project will be unable to supply London with enough energy to meet the impending increase in energy demand have justly criticized it.

In conclusion, Waste heat represents the most significant area for improvement in energy production and gives us insight into the future of urban morphology. To accommodate for this new system of energy conservation, cities will need to develop new forms of waste heat recovery as a foundation for urban development. New cities should be built based on the idea of capturing waste heat and utilizing the natural reserves of energy that cities have the unique advantage to obtain.”

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THERMODYNAMICS Heat transfer is a process function (or path function), as opposed to functions of state; therefore, the amount of heat transferred in a thermodynamic process that changes the state of a system depends on how that process occurs, not only the net difference between the initial and final states of the process.

The fundamental modes of heat transfer are: Advection Advection is the transport mechanism of a fluid from one location to another and is dependent on the motion and momentum of that fluid.

Conduction or diffusion The transfer of energy between objects that are in physical contact.

Thermal conductivity is the property of a material to conduct heat and evaluated primarily in terms of Fourier’s Law for heat conduction.

Convection The transfer of energy between an object and its environment due to fluid motion. The average temperature is a reference for evaluating properties related to convective heat transfer.

Radiation The transfer of energy by the emission of electromagnetic radiation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_transfer#cite_note-Geankoplis-1

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What have i picked up so far?

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On my trip to the Royal Academy of arts, I attended two major exhibitions that day and took notes on specific characteristics of them. Being in the academy, I could also see some of the free exhibitions and saw a few ones that really caught my attention.

The first exhibit that I saw was: The Recreation of the barn house from Alfred Hitchcock movie “Psycho”. in this piece the artist worked the scale of the house in a way that seems real, but after inspecting closer, we could see that it was bit smaller. And the expectations of having a facade but also the structure behind the facade exposed.

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The second exhibition that I saw was Phyllida Barlow’s “CUL-DE-SAC.” In Barlow’s exhibition, there’s an intention for the spectator to travel around and between the instalments. She uses materials that are found in construction sites and work them in a rather rough and unfinished way and in my opinion, makes a more significant point of the nature and environment of construction. The contrast between the instalment and the space they are in makes the installation pop out, the area they are in, it’s spacious, bland and colour neutral. Meanwhile, the pieces are coarse full of imperfections and details and with a more vibrant colour palette.

Some of the pieces are meant to be walked through or around them. By touch, you can feel the work, and you can discern some of the material are not what they looked like, but others are. Playing with the perception of the spectator and setting expectations.

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MATERIALS From this exhibition, I got that with the use of different materials, I could give a sense of weight, density and spatiality to the users. I could create a pathway or different paths in and around objects and artefact and use the materials to give the users some expectations and experiences.

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The Third and Final Exhibition on that I saw that day was Bill Viola’s “Life Death Rebirth” an exhibition contrast with Michelangelo’s sketches.

On this exhibition, the Artist Bill Viola uses the sketches of Michel Angel in juxtaposition to his own work. Michel Angelo sketches were meant for people close to him and were heavily influenced by his Christian beliefs and had a sense of mortality and questioning his worths to be saved. In contrast, Viola’s work is mostly in the form of audiovisuals, and it tries to represent the states of life, death and rebirth in metaphorical and literal ways.

His work dwells on the subconscious, and the transition that is between death and rebirth. The instalments are worked in a series of rooms that each has a theme, and all of them connects to give you a sense of how these three stages feel. He uses a variety of installations such as projections, layering images, mirrors, furniture and sounds to give each room a particular feel.

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AUDIOVISUALS The thing that I like most about this exhibition was the atmospheric scene it uses, and the way it takes you on a journey through it. Each room with a different ambient, sound, and look. The use of audiovisuals to engage the visitors in a trance trying to see the entirety of his videos and to discern the history behind them.

I feel like we could implement the Audiovisuals elements to create a more engaging and informative environment on the tube for passengers and workers alike.

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LIGHTING The London Mithraeum Bloomberg space is an exhibition of the Roman Temple of Mithras, its location and discovery, in the heart of London.

This unique cultural space showcases the reconstructed temple, a selection of Roman artefacts found during the excavations, and a series of contemporary art commissions responding to one of the UK’s most significant archaeological sites.

When I visited the London Mithraeum, I noticed how atmospheric the exhibition was. In the reconstruction of the Temple ruins, they have this Audiovisual show, where the sounds take you to the time where the temple was used. The way the reconstruct the ruins with lights and shadows is awe-inspiring, with the use of fog machines focused lighting and wellplaced shadow caster they recreate the columns of the temple.

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That was the thing that I enjoyed the most, the use of light to create spaces and division. The sound transports you to the time when Mithras was worshipped. This audiovisual approach to space could be used in a variety of ways in order to organise people on the underground.

In a way very similar to Bill Violas Exhibition, but instead of using videos and displays, it uses the lighting to create spaces and focus on some aspects of the ruins. Both exhibitions tackle atmosphere in similar but different ways.

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LANGUAGE On my trip Abroad, I went to Rotterdam in Netherland. In this city, I visited different sites, that added to my project in other ways.

The first site that caught my attention was the cubic houses of Rotterdam.

An experimental housing complex in the 1970s the architects who worked on it focused on the Geometry of the cube and instead of planting the cube in one of his faces decided to support it one of its corners. Thus making all the walls to be in an angle instead of upright. This created an array of spaces that even though it is interesting, it does not provide enough comfort to live in. Most of the spaces were tight and claustrophobic, especially the ones that the walls were coming inwards.

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The things in enjoyed the most were the focus windows that connected some of the inside spaces and focused on a point outside. Even though it was inside spaces while I enjoyed of the project was the array in which each cube or house was organised. It created interior spaces in between the houses and in a way, these spaces looked like a forest where you could see the path in between them, in this case, the houses.

The way it was worked on top of a bridge it is brilliant, you could see the street from specific points in the complex, but you did not feel that you are in a bridge and the sound isolation from the traffic was great. Another thing that I enjoyed from the project was the visual presentation of it. It created, and linear composition that did not break the aesthetics and even the signs reflected the lopsided cube or square.

It is the visual language of the project and that I enjoyed the most from this complex, and it is something that I would like to recreate on my plan for the London underground.

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INFRASTRUCTURE & GUIDANCE The Second site that caught my attention was the Kunsthal Museum. Here I found my self looking at the ceiling. Most of my focus was on the ceiling, how they arrange the light fixtures, how it works, and how that spaces were accentuated with the lightning. I also found my self looking for the objects in the ceilings. Mainly cables, light fixtures, cameras, speakers, alarms, sensors and vents.

I liked the way the museum shows the section of the coffee shop and exposition room from outside and how inside you could see the workshop room in between both spaces.

A service staircase on the museum showed precisely how they are built and its the kind of approach I want to take. Revealing the structure and infrastructure and making part of the aesthetic of the space.

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I also found interesting how the railings on the ramp that goes through the middle of the museum are shaped in an arrow that points to the entrance of the museum. In a way its kind of the approach I want to take with the LU, an infrastructure that serves as a protection and as a 3d guide to space.

The railings on the ceiling show how flexible the spaces in the museum can be and its something lots of museums have and it would be great to have fixtures like cameras which could move on the tube to get a better reading of the situations on the tube. Having software that could monitor and react to the way people behave on the tube and respond in a way to control the crowd would be very beneficial for the Underground experience in general.

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EXPOSED STRUCTURE The third site of my Rotterdam Trip was the Spijkenisse Public Library Foundation, the Boekenberg, which literally means a “Book Mountain”. It’s fitting of that title given that inside the glass pyramid we can find another pyramid of red brick and covered in books. Designed as a place to relax, discover and meet other people, as they describe it. In this space, you find yourself in between the glass and the books, and if you want to attend a discourse, talk or workshop, you have to go inside the book mountain.

The Boekenberg was designed by architect Winy Maas from Architectural Office MVRDV, the company responsible for the Markthal in Rotterdam.

The modern, glass pyramid can be found in the city centre of Spijkenisse.

Along with its spectacular exterior, the building is very environmentally friendly and CO2-neutral.

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The thing that I liked the most on the library is that its a building inside a structure. The wood columns are the interior. From the outside, you see this crystal pyramid on top of the red bricks. Moreover, on the inside is wood sculpture like a rib cage and spine. The clear connections between them are worked sensibly and elegantly. The railings going on the inside of the whole structure also complements the aesthetic and doubles as the cleaning system of the crystals and wood. The book pyramid inside can be appreciated it but its mostly covered in books.

The simple and clean look of the structure and infrastructure is a source of inspiration to design a clean space.

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COLOUR CODE

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The last site that I visited in the city was the RDM Rotterdam. The former shipyard of the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (RDM) – where shipbuilders once worked on world-famous vessels like the SS Rotterdam, is now home to a range of exciting private-sector, education and research initiatives. They work on a variety of innovations that will contribute to a ‘smarter port’. This is complemented by a wide array of business and cultural events, making RDM a dynamic environment to work in.

I appreciated the repurposing of a shipbuilding hangar. The vast space is full of structures inside, each with a different purpose. In it, you can appreciate the vast space and structure and cranes from the old purpose it had. It became part of it esthetics, and it has this workshop characteristic that goes well with all the studies and experiments taken place there.

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The whole interior seems to be colour coded and works as an enclosed exterior space. The way they create spaces suspended in the air is reminiscent of the yellow cranes that used to carry heavy parts for the ships. The tubes, ducting, power lines and light fixtures its all shown, but it gets camouflage with the massive steel structure everywhere. It is so charged and full of details that it can disorient you.

I liked the idea of taking old spaces and repurposing for another, but I want to steer away from the charge look of structure and infrastructure.

Showing the infrastructure is an excellent way of guiding the user through space, but when it is so charged, it can disorient them.

Where and Why?

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OXFORD CIRCUS UNDERGROUND STATION In my research, I’ve found consistently that the Bakerloo and Central Lines are the hottest ones of the LU. And it makes sense given that both of these lines have already more than 100 years since being built, and are deep underground. Extensions have been made over the years but it still an old Station. The clay surrounding them have been absorbing heat all that time, and now it’s unable to absorb more. So in order to create a better environment in them, there’s a need to implement a cooling system on the tube. Massive heat extractors have been implemented in all the platforms.

3 in each of the platforms to be precise, but instead of channelling to other places, it is chilled on the roof of one adjacent building.

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Oxford Street its the most important retail location in Britain and the busiest shopping street in Europe. The pavements are congested because of shoppers and tourists, many of whom arrive at a tube station, and the roadway is regularly blocked by buses.

I decided to use the Oxford Circus station as my new place because both of these lines overlap in it and its in a central and commercial place with a lot of traffic, Oxford Street and Regent Street. My intention with this station is to give the station a more distinct look from others and implement the Pedestrianisation plan that was almost done last year.

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Dec 1945

Sept 1999

From 1945 after the bombings to 1999, we could see some changes in the buildings around the stations.

Some of them were buildings taller than before (in the upper left corner), and others rebuilt. And the Painted grid on the intersection so that cars won’t stop there in traffic.

Sept 2008

Jun 2010

Intersection stayed relatively the same until the Grind in the intersection was removed and by 2010 was in place for more visible walkways that cross all the corners in a square and cross shape with a circle on the middle of the intersection.

From these images, we can see that the entry to Oxford Circus Station has remained relatively the same through all the years. But the number of people have increased in all that time. So it would be interesting to work the entry to the station in a new way for the increasing population that uses it.

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What are the cases?

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WESTMINSTER CITY COUNCIL OXFORD STREET DISTRICT Business Case Oxford Street is recognised as a leading retail destination, visited by millions of people each year and is an essential part of the West End and London offer.

The Street’s sits alongside several distinctive and historic neighbourhoods, including Fitzrovia, Marylebone, Mayfair and Soho, that provides a richness and vibrancy. That is why it is important that Oxford Street is considered as part of a diverse district, integrated into to the wider West End, where it can provide world-class retail, commercial, culture and leisure opportunities, and to be a good neighbour for local residents.

The Oxford Street District does many things – It is a residential area, with Mayfair, Marylebone, Fitzrovia and Soho separated by Oxford Street, and an international shopping area. It also is a successful commercial office district with 51% of the area’s employment within professional services, and 20% in retail. The street itself is both a thoroughfare and a distributor, providing access to these neighbourhoods, particularly east of Oxford Circus. A successful strategy will be one that ensures that all of these elements thrive; that accommodates the shared aims of residents, workers and visitors and businesses; that makes the area a more enjoyable place to be.

Poor quality public realm and limited amenities mean that the current pedestrian environment is no longer adequate or pleasant for residents and visitors to the district and connections between the street and its surroundings are often unclear. A good pedestrian environment is crucial to the ease with which visitors, residents and workers move through and enjoy the Oxford Street District.

Pedestrians using Oxford Street and parts of the surrounding district experience high levels of congestion and discomfort during some periods of the day. The street environment is cluttered and in some places constrained.

It is anticipated that the number of pedestrians in the Oxford Street District will increase overall as a result of the new Elizabeth Line stations, with some areas experiencing very significant growth in pedestrian movement. If not addressed, the issues of pedestrian overcrowding within the Oxford Street district will become more acute, and this may lead to impacts on pedestrian safety.

Oxford Street and the surrounding district is one of the most polluted areas in the UK. The majority of harmful emissions are released from road traffic.

The current levels of traffic congestion, quantity of freight movements during busy periods of the day and high volumes of polluting diesel vehicles need to be addressed by a holistic programme of measures. Conditions in the future can be greatly improved by reducing the amount of traffic and ensuring that the remaining vehicles adopt low emission technology as rapidly as possible across the entire district.

The excessive number of vehicles moving around and through the district contributes to poor air quality, road safety issues, traffic congestion and limits the space that can be provided to pedestrians and the public realm,

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however, the presence of stationary vehicles is also a challenge. The streets around Oxford Street are very heavily utilised by waiting and parked vehicles, detracting from the quality of the public realm. Many of the vehicles have an important purpose, but the most convenient location for them to stop is often where it causes the greatest impact, blocking sight-lines, causing obstructions, making crossing movements more difficult and dangerous, and dominating the street environment.

The issue of road safety is of critical concern for the Oxford Street District project. With the expected increase in pedestrians as a consequence of the Elizabeth Line, it is crucial that the road safety issues on Oxford Street and throughout the district are addressed as part of the Oxford Street District project.

In an age of online shopping, high street retail is increasingly moving away from traditional commerce, towards an approach that includes leisure, entertainment and experience. In addition, Oxford Street’s competitors – both within London and further afield – are providing attractive shopping destinations. Oxford Street should thrive as part of a diverse district, integrated into the wider West End, to build upon a unique mix of retail, workspace, homes, culture and leisure, delivering economic growth and

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responding to the rapid evolution of retail and working life.

Oxford Circus, the set-piece joining Oxford Street and Regent Street, is an iconic destination and arrival point for many visitors to the district.

VISION To strengthen the world-renowned status of the entire Oxford Street District; to ensure it will be a great place to live, work and visit; and to secure its longterm future.

Objectives Economic growth - Support growth across the district - promoting innovation and diversity.

Better spaces and places - Create beautifully designed streets, gateways and diversity of public spaces.

A safer place for all road users – Make the district better for pedestrians, cyclists and road users.

An amazing experience – Create a spectacular Oxford St and enrich the cultural life of the district.

An accessible district - Make the district accessible, safe and liveable that balances the needs of all users.

A greener environment - Improve health and wellbeing by improving air quality, reducing traffic and ensuring effective management of the area.

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Issues

Opportunities

Overcrowded station entrances and exits

Narrow, cluttered footways on Oxford Street with high pedestrian flows

Beautiful garden squares

Inadequate places to rest

Impact of bus layover and dead-running on the district’s streets

Internationally renowned high street with world leading Extraordinary architectural settings and innovative retailers

In the evening Oxford Street primarily functions as a transport corridor

Undervalued and underwhelming spaces

Popularity of existing public and playable spaces

Character and identity of one of London’s great streets

Fine network of neighbourhood streets

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INTERVIEW 02/04/2019 Rebecca Mair Bell MDX/ Art on the Underground Me: So, my project is about improving the underground experience. I want to create a network that connects all the infrastructure on the underground(station) but works it in a way that is a 3Dguide for the users, A way finder. Instead of looking for the signs that say exit or platform. I also want to implement recent and developing technologies in the underground(stations) in order to liberate spaces. Ticket halls would be things from the past, we can use the CCTV cameras and connect it to software to recognize the people coming in and out of the station, and automatically debit from their account the fare. Freeing spaces for other uses.

In the beginning, the focus was only to extract the heat from the underground in other ways, so I’m using this reason as the vehicle for this new project.

Right now the project is in Oxford Circus station, and take the spaces that will be free and create like a market underground. Have a market below the street and then the platforms.

Looking through different exhibitions, I’ve been getting ideas. From this place (London Mithraeum) I liked the way, they used the lighting and sound. For example, in the case of having a crowd of people on the entry of the platform, we could use the light levels and audio cues to influence them to move to other parts of the platform and spreading them out. And with the technology have the station react to some situation autonomously.

Instead of using signs, we could use colour coding for the infrastructure and have coloured paths to go around the station.

For the bill violas exhibition, I liked how he used audiovisuals, and I thought we could use audiovisuals like that in transparent displays. And in the RDM Rotterdam, the Structure and infrastructure exposed and colour code them to know what they are. in the Kunsthall museum the use of railings as an arrow pointing the entry. In the cubic houses, I saw the language of it how the signs reflected the houses. implementing it as the underground of the future.

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Rebecca: ok, really interesting.

In terms of where I can help, for me, it raises very specific questions based on my knowledge, of really important aspects of the underground identity that you would have to consider if you were really creating this as a real project.

So, I’ve work for five years for “Art of the Underground” which is the art commissioning program for the LU. And what’s really fascinating about working in that context is that we had to, you know, we’re commissioning art across 270 stations. So, we are a small team of four, five of us, and we are trying to install and change and create a kind of new intervention in station spaces across the whole network. And in doing that kind of thing you are constantly, having to find ways of working with the legal framework, the customer service, we were within customer service and marketing.

You have to work with security and safety, disabilities and access. You are working with commercial interests, with advertising. The advertising has its own set of policies around the materials that are allowed to be shown and use. And then behind all of that, is a very proud ethos, that is very much associated with a 150 year, or it’s more now because I work on the 150-year project in 2013. So where are we know? 2019, we are 156. There’s a huge emphasis in the whole kind of mentality of LU, on the constantly aligning heritage.

So, I know you are creating a kind of hypothetical situation for the future. But, for me, what would make this even more nuanced and intriguing, is if you try to get under the skin of the idea of the identity of the LU. Because this kind of project would not happen without you... you would have to thoroughly embed yourself in those kinds of systems of thinking, in ways of being. Because I know, from commissioning art for 5 years, that we are constantly running process of negotiation, to kind of change and make different things happen.

So, one thing that first of all comes to my mind with you talking about replacing the ticket halls and using this space in different ways. Part of me thinks that if you genuinely propose that to “TfL” the commercial interest would be high. But, there would be a big concern about what happens to the community. LU is really proud of the fact that it has created a sense of public ownership of the public space. And that within those spaces people have a kind of sense of combined identity, and even though, the ticket halls are kind of in a very strange state of flux, because they’re trying, increasingly, to have staff listing ticket halls so everything can be done, the machines and , obviously, if you have your contactless and everything. It’s decreasing the kind of human face, but the ticket halls are still iconic spaces of identity for LU. And they are very much associated with particular architects, so you have Colbert, Charles Holden, Stations that are commissioned in the 1930s on the Picadilly line.

They have very specific aesthetics or something like Tottenham Court Road that was developed with commissioning something like Daniel Buren, the French artist. But Still constantly working within the ethos of the kind of the space of the ticket hall. So, I think it’s really interesting to try and think “what if you remove that?”. But if you had a very immediate interface between a shopping mall and the tube, who owns the tube? Who owns the space?

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Because you’ve gone from costa to sitting on the tube, potentially if you have gone from that. So yes, commercially there be interest. But you’d have to think about how it would fit in the esthetic identity of LU, so it wasn’t just owned by commercial companies. So it doesn’t look like a shopping mall, it still needs to fill like you are going into LU. But also, you are beginning to introduce, because it is a huge community, essentially that’s how LU kind of thinks it is. 3 Million people are travelling in this space that they own, cultivating, and kind of prepare for people to feel like they belong to something and that is very much important to the strategy for customer service. So it’s not just efficiency and numbers and money, it is a way of feeling a sense of brand belonging. So I think it’s important to think about how you identify what’s esthetic is and how does it still feel like it’s Oxford Circus Tube Underground Station, not just a shopping mall that could be anywhere. You see what I mean? And I think the community it’s very important to that.

The thing I was thinking with Light and Sound kind of working on the accumulations of people within the stations. It’s very interesting because we have to face concern and my colleagues, people that are still working there commissioning art, is thinking very carefully. There is always a big concern about how you’re going to cause a backlog of people looking at a piece of art or looking at something, we have to always work with the teams.

So, there’s a guy called Ian Huston, I don’t know if he’s still there. But he has been there for a long time when I was there, and the maps the entire thoroughfare of people in the station across the tube. So he has incredibly detailed software showing you all the dots like you have in your map, but dots as people trying to move through certain spaces exactly. And every time they repeatedly map that there’s a problematic area like that, they all constantly trying to work on how to shift that space. So that’s why Finsbury Park station, we closed that space for a couple of years, well not closed it had like limited access. We also tried it on Victoria right now, very controversial and how they’ve read into the thoroughfare of people. Because they could see it was constant. And it’s quite amazing watching the maps, they had lots of screens, and you could see all the dots across the whole network. So, I think, in something like a proposal, and I’m not quite sure where are you going with this in the sense of how much detail you are making, you’d be working with people like that. Rather than you imposing some kind of solution, I think it would be drawing upon the knowledge of those very detailed investigations that already exists within LU, and kind of see how that works.

And there’s a constant issue around budget, they’re very aware that they have this kind of spots that are not ideal in terms of blocks of people in spaces. In terms of these ideas of light and sound, I think that is an amazing idea. Again you must excuse me because I’m putting my LU alarms systems you know?

When your working in something like that you constantly have people saying “umm. that’s not possible. Umm. That’s not possible.” so you have to constantly think “ok, what would they say? how do I make this possible?”

The thing that they would probably say to that is “what would you do with people with disabilities, epilepsy, people with sight and hearing issues?” like if you suddenly have a shift of light or certain kind of sound?”. Also, they’re very reluctant to use sound because announcements are so important, like very

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clear announcements. So, I think that you would have to take into account, if you did something like that, the shift to a group of people what would you do if there was someone with epilepsy and that light trigger affected them?

Me: I was not thinking of sudden changes in light. Like from dark to bright.

But in a more subtle way. My idea has this software on the Underground stations that can control what is presented to the public, like ads or announcements. But in the case of having a lot of people in one part of the station, I was thinking if the lights dimming and dimming subtly. And instead of creating a loud sound, I’m thinking a more subtle way. Let’s say bit by bit decreasing the light in one point of increase bit by bit some type of sound it could be an announcement like “ please move along” but focused on that point or it could be little intrusive like an annoying sound.

Rebecca: I think you have to be very careful around people with hearing issues or mental health issues. There are so many... you know what I mean? (factors to take into account). I just think it’s an interesting thought, but this is a very... what’s the word?... It’s a very fragile public space actually. Like millions of people have to negotiate it, and they have a lot of different needs. So if you were genuinely sort of working with customer service, implement something like that. I would just say, is just research into how that would affect people with different disabilities or needs. I just think it’s something to think about.

Me: I understand, but I think it’s very possible given the amount of lighting in the underground and usually when the train comes it’s very loud. So like, when there’s no train passing I wouldn’t want to put the sound of a train, that would make people anxious and rush to the platform, but I could create different sounds or I would have to research a sound that would not disturb the mind.

Rebecca: Exactly! That’s all I’m Saying. Just Thinking about those triggers would be interesting.

Me: That’s why I want to do it subtly. I don’t want to flash people with a red light and tell them to move.

Rebecca: No, no, no. But I’m thinking like even annoying noise could be difficult. I think it’s just interesting. I’m just throwing things out there for you to like, you know?

Me: When I said “annoying noise” I was thinking like a humming sound that is gradually increasing. But not to the point that could be harmful or really annoying. It’s just like “Oh! If we moved a bit here the sound diminishes”. You know? It’s just a way of like, creating a scenario that people can move around find different spots, and creating a flow of people that don’t block or something, but gradually. Because we are humans, we are not machines, we’re not like moving right away. So, it’s something that I’ve been looking to.

Like, of course, I will have to research.

Rebecca: Uhm... No, I think it would be really interesting. I’m Just putting things out there to consider. But I think, yeah, it’s even stronger if you going to consider this. and that’s how I’ve come to these conclusions and how is the best way to do it.

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So, I love the idea of like you’re saying changing wayfinding and thinking about different forms of signage. In terms of the perspective that I’m coming from, I would say to look at the, again there’s a very proud like esthetic associated with particularly with the 1930s. With, you know? The kind of Albert Jhonson creating the roundel, and Henry Beck creating the map and all those kind of designs.

Me: Yeah. I’ve been looking at those too.

Rebecca: Yeah. And have you been to the transport museum?

Me: No. I’m planning on going this week.

Rebecca: They have an amazing archive, both there in the LTM but also out at Arnos Grove on the Picadilly line, where they got, you know? Huge. Where you could see all the things, they kind of taken off the underground over the years. And so for me it’s interesting when you say, rethinking signage, we have to do a lot of branding and a lot of... you know? We did a poster for every art commission and work very closely with various designers. And they had to always go through a process of indoctrination but of like fully being immersed in the aesthetic history. So, I would be really interested to see how you played perhaps with some of those components.

Me: Yeah. I got a lot of TfL guides, like underground guides, web page guides.

And that’s something that I want to keep. I want to keep the brand of the Underground. In a sense like create this new space. All these spaces are subject to these kinds of changes that are not needed anymore with these new technologies. I could repurpose them, but still retaining the LU esthetic.

Rebecca: Yeah. Because it is such a powerful... So one of the projects I worked on is we commission 100 artists to create a 100 new Roundells. So, 100 artists played upon and rethought that brand in some way, and then we displayed those posters all over the underground. And I think it’s so interesting when people... And I also work with Mark Wallinger on the 2013 project when you see the labyrinth in the stations. And the key thing with him responding to that was. That they made it in Vitreous enamel the same materials as all the signs. Which is made by a company that we went to their factory called Link Science in Hastings and they have done underground signs for years, and even though you are not thinking materially into different directions, there could be something quite interesting in thinking about those, LU has some old suppliers that they’ve worked with again and again.

And it’s quite interesting that he wanted to play with that enamel, that kind of look and then you know? The suggestion of the roundel as in the shape of the Labyrinth. And then he used white and black and red in a keeping the esthetic. So, I think that’s really interesting, and especially if you’re moving that in kind of digital direction? That’s really interesting. And that is what you are kind of saying as well.

Me: My idea will only work with software that can benefit from all the inputs that the underground has and can get in the future. I was thinking with the CCTV’s we already have so many points of view inside the stations.

It’s going to be a little like a Big Brother thing, monitoring. The software

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would know who and which person is in which place of the station. But I could use this data to create this Smart Underground that would react to how the crowd works. That is the main purpose. But with all the places that could benefit from that, I could create meeting points, different kinds of stuff. I don’t know exactly what I want to repurpose these spaces into. But its something for the benefit of the underground and the users. To create a seamless transition between the surface and going to the underground and just going home. By repurposing these places, let’s say, we have like a minimarket down there, someone getting out from work, going underground buying their groceries before going home.

Rebecca: They have, in the old street, they have in a really old school way, not in the kind of beautiful utopian way that you see it. But in terms of like they have tried quite hard to have sort of pop-up shops and have grocery type content. Things like that that you can buy on your way through. But, It’s very like, it doesn’t feel seamless, it feels like a lot of European underground stations that you have to stop at a certain point as you go in, and then you go down.

Me: But, have you seen the Amazon go shop that is opening right now, where you can take whatever and just walked out swiping your phone. It’s something like that, if you have your bag you can just grab what you need, and it’s registering what you are taking, and then you just go.

Rebecca: One thing I do think it would be wonderful if you build this model and then work with the transport system that’s being developed. It’s one thing I would say as well is that LU is obviously as you know from looking all the warm air is that they cant facilitate air conditioning. The age of that underground station makes it one of the hottest one to work with and everything its kind of rattling and nearly falling apart. So, I feel like if you face the challenge of thinking on this one, it would also be incredibly liberating to build it as a whole new system with a new city.

Me: To be quite honest, I really want this project to be like a guide. That can be implemented in different stations. And I really want to use like an old one, because...

Rebecca: It’s the Ultimate Challenge.

Me: If it theoretically works on an old station, it could definitely work on a new one.

Rebecca: Yeah yeah yeah. I agree. Exactly. I think you’ve set yourself the hardest challenge to take it forward.

Me: Yeah. I just want an idea that can be explained clearly. Even though it’s probably not possible, not now nor in 20 years from now.

Rebecca: No, but I like the... The hypothesis is great, and I’m only throwing in if we were having a hypothetical meeting with the customer service team. I’m trying to throw in the sort of things that is also worth integrating.

ME: That would be great if I had like a meeting with them.

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Rebecca: Yeah, but that’s the kind of things I’m saying to you. “But how would you do that?” it’s the kind of question they would be asking.

I got that Kind of emulating the kind of iconic identity that you talked about, the kind of sentiment. Have you looked “Art on the Underground” at all?

That’s the program that I work in “AotU”.

Me: I haven’t, no.

Rebecca: The current “AotU” program is very much about commissioning contemporary art. So you can look at their website. So, we did posters but we also did films and installations, we did sound pieces like we did how sound work with Jeremy Della, there’s a big screen at Canary Wharf which is an ongoing film program. And so, from everything, from the kind of tube map covering the streets to the incredible one that’s on Gloucester Road, which is the huge installation. So it’s a whole range of different projects that are trying very much to think about like interventions in that kind of space. And also kind of big in wider engagement programs on how you going to bring communities into that. So, I would recommend looking at them too, because its a really interesting program and in you know? The building, kind of new, tackling stations but also some things. Even though you are talking about a much bigger scale... Ways of buildings it still business as much as anything like the tickets. And as you say the use of space and the flow. Some of the kind of issues that you are encountering as a designer and think of all the kinds of issues that we would set to answer its a kind of challenge. So if you take a look at that, and there’s something you like to ask me about, in response to that as well, I’d be happy to answer.

Me: Definitely. Art on the Underground? (shows the page to make sure) Rebecca: Yes. So they are the official London underground program that within the organisation it’s quite unusual to have that in a big tube system.

But, it originates in the Henry Beck, and yeah, and then he worked for Frank Pick who was one of the MD of LU on the ’20s and ’30s. And he commissioned really incredible international artists and designers, and that’s where much of the iconic branding that we know now comes from that time period. So the kind of idea of commissioning art and being innovative in thinking about design kind of comes from that time period. It has meant that things like this could remain kind of embedded within systems. So they’re an interesting company, in that they want to think creatively, but they have a huge difficult task on their hands, in terms of making it a working station network.

Me: Yeah. Like you said a few minutes ago. One has to be really careful about what is being put in the underground. Because you don’t want people just staring at it like stopping right there. Because the underground is supposed to be like flow, movement, in constant flow. And that is Something that I really want to maintain, and ease up that flow. But I want it to be artful, I just don’t want it to be just cables, tubes ducts whatever. I want those elements to be worked in an artful way, a pleasant way for guidance. And for the Audiovisuals stuff, I want it to be responsive. I could see that representing different types of art in order to, like there’s a lot of people here, let’s show something interesting there so that they move that way. I just want it to be

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really subtle and seamless. It’s something that I don’t want to be intrusive like the whole project would be intrusive for the underground but the experience that I want to do, it’s like to be seamless for the users.

Rebecca: Yeah. The kind of, the end user of customer experience that doesn’t necessarily know the working behind.

Me: And that is something that would benefit the staff and workers, even though it might reduce the amount of staff in the underground.

Rebecca: Uhum. Which is sad because there’s a very important community among the staff and that is reducing it. And that’s problematic because you know? And it’s very heavily unionised, which is what makes it an amazing place to work. It’s an incredible place to work because you feel very represented. But then, yeah, there’s also financial pressures.

I think it’s really interesting, and I’m just throwing things to bring you back, this is the real model.

Me: Yeah. That’s great. But I’m thinking like the way the future is coming. Like it’s going to be mostly automatized.

Rebecca: Don’t forget the people are still very fond of the physical signs as well.

Me: Yeah. I was also thinking of using some of the spaces of the offices in the station could be repurposed to training facilities to train the staffs in how these new technologies work and how to maintain them.

Rebecca: I’ll tell you something excitingly strange to finish on. When we had the training, one of the training centres that we used to go to had a hologram the MD of the LU, because he couldn’t be in all the training. So a full-size hologram of him, like a 3d hologram would come out and talk to us about being staff for the LU. Me: Oh, really?

Rebecca: That felt like the future! Like in 2010!

Me: That would be amazing!

Rebecca: Well, it sounds great.

Me: Thank you so much!

Rebecca: And it’s no problem. I’m not sure if I have been that helpful.

Me: You have been really helpful.

Rebecca: If it’s helpful to run through what you have. If you have any like really specific questions that come up, and I still have some contacts there. So if there are people that might be interesting to talk to, then you know? If you have really specific things you need to find out, then email me, and I could try and work out who you could speak to that might be helpful. But yeah I recommend transport museum to start. And find out because they do open days in some of the stations on the Picadilly line, you can find out in the

How do we use technology and automated systems?

INTRODUCTION The focus of this essay is to understand the relationship between ourselves as social beings and individuals through the use of technology to interact with our surroundings and resolve tasks in more efficient ways. At the rate at which technology is advancing, we find ourselves struggling to understand how these new mechanism is fundamentally affecting us. Therefore, I will look into how technology or automated system are perceived and introduced into our life, and how it affects our self-worth in the workplace. Looking at different ways to implement these systems, I will try to look for the reason why we accept ones and reject others. The introduction of new systems into our life changes the way we work and live, and that is something that can lead to the increasing reliance of these systems and at a loss of skills in that type of expertise and bring about what some call “the automation paradox�.

Some people say that these technologies are pulling us away from each other isolating us, in our own bubble and others say that we have never been so connected to each other in the history of humankind. Both of those opinions have their valid arguments, but the way we use it is an essential part of it. To blame technology for our shortcomings, it is not going to take us anywhere and having a retrospective look at how we are using them it is one step into understanding how we change with the introduction of these technologies.

INTRODUCTION OF AUTOMATION Understanding how we accept Automation systems is critical in implementing it in the workplace. On an article that talks about how effective disposition can help in liking, trusting and relying on an automated system. The judgement on how an automated system can get introduced is more linked to the subjective mental state of the users than the cognitive and rational thinking. In a series of studies by the student, they probe specific hypothesis in order to understand the way people accept or not these systems. It is by these trials that they find that the introduction of related or unrelated factors that improved the mood or evoked good emotions in people, the initial judgement or liking of the system improves with it. However, they also find out that it only works when new automated systems are introduced. They also find out that the trust and reliance of these machines related to the time and perceived accuracy of them are negatively affected by the self-perceived accuracy of the users. They also remark that if the automated systems threaten the livelihoods or jobs of the users, the trust and reliance will not improve with these tactics.

The researches also point out they are shortcomings with the trials. Given that they used students in them, and were using one type of job experiment. It certainly shines a light on how people feel and judge new automated systems but in a narrow way. Specific jobs are way different, and the automation of these jobs can vary from activity to activity. The article focuses heavily on the job aspect of it. However, in a way helps us understand a bit about how we perceive new systems in our life and begs the question of how we can introduce them to our life. Technology is rapidly evolving, and it is infiltrating many positions that people are managing and mostly live out of it. So we should be careful and question the ramifications of this rapid change of systems.

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IMPLEMENTATION OF TECH In the article “Provocation” by Francisca Gromme, she talks about how the introduction of surveillance technology in public spaces created resistance by the users. This resistance towards monitoring technologies come about the use of these systems to track individual and attribute them suspicion and guilt. Unfortunately, these implementations have become common ground in order to maintain the safety of public spaces. She came to this conclusion by researching a study done from 1934 to 1970, a recent experiment conducted by a tram company and by following a pilot for 14 months. In this article, we can read how this implementation of monitoring human behaviour failed to have any preventive results and the uncertainty created in people conflicted with their position and subjectivity from both sides, authority and civilians.

This can be an excellent example of a bad implementation of technology, but she does not talk about the times where surveillance technology has prevented and aid in the apprehension of criminals.

The study came about by training trams inspectors and equipping them with a canister that contained a marking liquid that remained in the suspects for about a week in order to track them. The objective of this liquid called “code mark” was to mark suspects, let us say some that have committed assault and have them marked so that their community could identify them, and peer pressured them into behaving like law abiding citizens. They wanted the public by knowing that would restraint themselves for committing those acts. However, this knowledge could also mean that because the code mark is harmless and thus the authority figures equipped with them would lose their authority towards the public. The problem with these is that the inspectors were not comfortable with informing the suspects about the code mark and the suspects and bystanders could think that it was pepper spray and by using the canister could lead to an escalation of a confrontation. The subjectivity of the positions and emotions that the public and inspectors might encounter themselves could lead to an increasing escalation of events, and it begs to question the appliance of specific technologies and how we as humans interact with them in order maintain the peace in public spaces. It seems that the correct identification of subjects in these scenarios can do or break the job.

In the case of traditional surveillance, we have another case. The use of surveillance technology has been implemented for a long time now, and it spread it because it has given results. Now technology is advancing in a way where we could automatize the identification and tracking of individuals, and we have to be careful in how can we implement it. The fact of having someone or something watching our every move is uncomfortable for most people, and the right of privacy has to be respected but in a public space. We should not be worried about our actions if we are not doing anything illegal. Either way, the fact that we can be recorded in a vulnerable state and have a fear of having that use against us is real. That is something that can be taken in the law.

THE AUTOMATION PARADOX

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In order to talk about the automation paradox, we have to know what automation is. The goal of automation is “to replace human manual control, planning and problem solving by automatic devices and computers” (Bainbridge, 1983). In short automatic systems that monitor, control and decide what to do in a controlled process, it is nothing new but as technology advances the complexity of these systems increase and the reliance of them also increases. But, as in everything else, something goes wrong it can have catastrophic results, this is why we still have persons supervising the these automated systems. The paradox comes in two ways: the first one being “as Systems becomes more automated, humans lose some of their skills with the system, resulting in more automation.”. And the second one being “ the more automation is applied, the more crucial the contribution of the human operator becomes, and the more difficult it becomes to implement adequate human-machine interaction.” both of these quotes say basically the same but the second one emphasises the presence of a person supervising the system.

In the cases of automated systems, we have to expect the unexpected, the creation of human-machine interfaces is crucial to the well being of humans and the efficiency on which the task is being done. In the case of the people operating these systems, we have to train them in order to understand what the automated system is doing in order for them to identify and interpret the information given by the system and have them regularly practice the tasks, so they do not lose the skills in which they are operating. The paradox and irony come from the fact that as these systems get more complicated, the more significant the errors can get, and the presence of a specialised person is more crucial. Many people feel as if these systems are replacing their jobs that these systems provide a new set of jobs for them to take over. However, it is us as a society to design, implement and operate these new automated systems in a way that can benefit us without the detriment of others.

In a more casual environment, let us say the implementation of the selfdriving cars, recent studies show that the reliance of these automated cars has resulted in fewer accidents but as in the automation paradox states. Some events can lead to an error, and the lack of human intervention be it by not being present, trusting the system or not knowing what error is occurring have shown that we still need an operator behind the system. This types of error have also occurred in planes and the results have been catastrophic but in a lesser frequency than if it was just man piloting. We can even see this in a more pedestrian scale while walking using your phone we have become so reliant on smartphones and GPS technology that when we do not have those are our disposal or the GPS is not tracking well enough we feel lost and anxious. It is in a way losing our skills for guiding ourselves through our environment. If you know the route well it is not a jarring experience, but in an unknown location even with signs and maps we still get a bit anxious. We have to question how much are we willing to rely on automated systems, and in my opinion, these systems need to show us how they operate in case an issue occurs.

TECHNOLOGY AS FILTER On this article there, the author asks himself “what does it mean to be naked?” as in without filter in big cities. He explains how humans experienced spaces through filters like our bodies language signs and more recently the

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use of mobile technology. He explains how big urban metropolis is full of stimulants and how with the use of technology we privatised our perception of the public space and narrow the amount of information that gets to us. I want to focus on how people use these technologies in order to inhabit these public spaces. By using them, we can focus on different tasks while being or traversing through public spaces. Some can just read or play music or videos and tuned out the auditory and visual stimulants from their surroundings, but it might not be to experience the public space differently. Mobile technology has undoubtedly changed the way we interact with each other and with space. Now we might not look at road signs or landmarks to guide yourself through the city. With the use of GPS technologies and map applications, we can guide yourself better than ever before. We can talk with friends families acquaintances or strangers from across the globe in real time. Also, create a sort of public-private hybrid space anywhere wherever is the internet.

The way people use technologies in their daily life is usually for connection, consumption, work or guidance. Connection in the way of sharing, chatting, uploading. Consumption as in downloading, reading, watching, hearing, purchasing. Work as in management, and can usually overlap with the other ways. And guidance, as in educational, localisation based movement. Some people might use them to isolate themselves from the outside world or different group of people, and some use them in order to express themselves.

It is us that chose how to use them, but we have to ask ourselves if the way we are using them, it is helping us. We have to be critical of our use because sometimes we can get ourselves inside an echo chamber that bounces off the opinions, ideas and ideologies that we already have and avoid anything else that does not align with our thoughts. It is by reflecting on our use and appliance of these filter that we can either isolate ourselves in the public space or make the public space ours and improve our experience in it.

THE USE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY The presence of digital technology has increased rapidly in society in this last 30 years. Most of the houses in developed countries have some form of these digital machines like computers, tablets and smartphones. So with all these objects, we have created an environment where younger generations are exposed to it every day, no different than reading, changing clothes and playing. All this exposure creates a familiarity with these types of technologies that have never been achieved before. It is fair to state that the direction of intuitive design is much responsible for this familiarity taken place. However, the fact remains that nowadays digital technology is part of our daily life, it could be said that our world has expanded into the digital and virtual, and we live in between them. However, this has created a gap between the old and the young generation, one being intuitively able to cope with this new means of interaction and the other one not so much. There has been efforts to achieve more accessibility of these technologies for the older generation in order to leave them out of this new hybrid world. However, as stated before we do not know how these technologies affect us and understanding how we use them might lead us to an answer.

One way these technologies have become so intrinsically entangled with our lives is the ability to appropriate them and use them in a way we want to

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use them. The ability to personalise our experiences with them and ease the difficult aspects of a task in order to achieve our goals significantly increase the reliance and familiarity with them. Making them really valuable in our daily life but it can also lead us to the automation paradox explained before. By being surrounded by all these new technologies, we create a sort of intuitive sense of how to use them but might remain ignorant of what these new technologies work. By no means, I am saying that we have to understand how every single thing works but having some idea of how they do it, or what sort of information they gather is a sure way to have better control of them and our life. The use of digital technology has become so frequent that it has become part of our habits, constantly checking messages or emails, looking up where to go, or the best route to get to our destination, purchasing online or a quick game before work or class. It has become part of ourselves in the way of what we do and how we do it.

CONCLUSION In conclusion, most of these studies and their different branching paths show some sign that the way we use these technologies and the way these technologies are implemented is somewhat related. The introduction of automated systems in the workplace can be received mostly in a negative way because of the ramifications that set system brings about. The automation of tasks reduce in a way the manual (as in human operator) labour of said tasks and therefore will be received with scepticism and rejection. However, these emotions can be tempered down by the emotional state of operators, in a simple way, if the operators are feeling well and happy they can perceive these new systems in a more accepting way. This does not necessarily mean that they will accept the systems but can lessen the feelings of rejection towards them. We have to take in consideration that anything that can threaten the livelihoods of the people behind those tasks will be met with resistance on the part of the operators. Something that is happening quite a lot on these days, for example with the emerging technology of self-driving vehicles. Many drivers are showing their concern because it can pretty much leave them out of jobs. Apart from maximising the efficiency of different tasks we have to take into consideration the ramifications of these systems into society. There is a limit into how much information or tasks we can react and understand as humans and that just because automated systems proved to be more effective than us it still can present errors and those errors can be catastrophic in high risks escenarios. As these systems become more complex so does the need for human expertise involved in the supervision and management of them.

In the case of the implementation of systems that do not compete with our livelihoods we can expect a different scenario. Some systems can be implemented in order to monitor us, and the way these systems affect us, is different and for other reasons, could be privacy or the perception of being treated unfairly or without respect. The feeling of being watched over, constantly give us the feeling of guilt and that all we do is suspicious even though it might be temporary. In a sense, the technologies that we can understand and have some sort of control over them usually leads to the acceptance of them. In the case of mobile technology and our intuitive way of using them and accepting them could be the flexibility that they give to

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us. Our control over what sort of information we are interested in receiving maybe part of our acceptance of them. Lately, we have become aware of the amount of information these devices or programs were getting from us, and that became an issue with a lot of people. So, the rejections of platforms were our way to fight for our privacy, and that has led to these platforms being more clearer and giving us more control over what we are willing to share.

So as stated before by knowing what the technology is doing, having control over them and identify their limitations we are able to understand better how we are using them. The technology of automation even though is advancing rapidly, it is not perfect by any means and the involvement of a person behind them is increasingly growing too. In cases as a workplace, public space or our daily life these types of technologies are meant to free us of repetitive, and predictive tasks, and open ourselves to more creative and ingenious ones. Figuring out how to implement them in a way that helps us socially psychologically and physically is extremely important. So it might be that the limitations of these systems is not the technology itself; maybe it is our psychology?

REFERENCES: -Merritt, S. M. (2011). Affective Processes in Human–Automation Interactions. Human Factors, 53(4), 356–370. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018720811411912 -Provocation: Technology, resistance and surveillance in public space. Francisca Grommé, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, December 2016, Vol.34(6), pp.1007-1024 -The automation paradox, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMTb7u93mSI , BrainCraft Published on Sep 29, 2016 -Ironies of automation, Automatica, Volume 19, Issue 6, November 1983, Pages 775-779, Lisanne Bainbridge -Active Media Technology,10th International Conference, AMT 2014, Warsaw, Poland, August 11-14, 2014. Proceedings. Editors (view affiliations) Dominik ŚlezakGerald SchaeferSon T. VuongYoo-Sung Kim, Pages: 442-452 -WU, Xiangyang (2017) Mobile Technology as Interface to Public Space.

-Turner, Phil. (2013) How we cope with digital technology. San Rafael, Calif. (1537 Fourth Street, San Rafael, CA 94901 USA): Morgan & Claypool. doi: 10.2200/S00519ED2V01Y201307HCI018.

-Harvey, Nina et al. (2013) ‘Framework for Innovative Public Spaces’, Transportation Research Record, 1(2350), pp. 119–127. doi: 10.3141/2350-14.

-Malinowsky, Camilla and Larsson-Lund, Maria (2016) ‘The match between everyday technology in public space and the ability of working-age people with acquired brain injury to use it’, British Journal of Occupational Therapy. London, England: SAGE Publications, 79(1), pp. 26–34. doi: 10.1177/0308022614563943.

-Zheng, Yongnian and Wu, Guoguang (2005) ‘Information Technology, Public Space, and Collective Action in China’, Comparative Political Studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 38(5), pp. 507–536. doi: 10.1177/0010414004273505.

-Gauthier, Philippe-Aubert and Pasquier, Philippe (2010) ‘Auditory Tactics: A Sound Installation in Public Space Using Beamforming Technology’, Leonardo. MIT Press, 43(5), pp. 426–433. doi: 10.1162/LEON_a_00034.

-Griffy-Brown, Charla (2019) ‘Addressing the Challenges of Technology in Society: Including more Voices, Addressing Institutional Constraints, and Driving New Theoretical and Methodological Thinking’, Technology in Society. Oxford: Elsevier Science Ltd., 56, pp. III–III. doi: 10.1016/S0160-791X(19)30049-1.

-‘Resources and Technology Use’ (2018) in Developing Educators for The Digital Age: A Framework for Capturing Knowledge in Action. London: University of Westminster Press.

-Zeitlyn, David (1997) ‘Review Articles : Public Transports of Delight: Latour, Bruno Aramis or the love of technology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press’, Journal of Material Culture.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2(1), pp. 121–124. doi: 10.1177/135918359700200107.

What’s the proyect?

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SMART UNDERGROUND In my research, I’ve found consistently that the Bakerloo and Central Lines are the hottest ones of the LU. And it makes sense given that both of these lines have already more than 100 years since being built, and are deep underground. Extensions have been made over the years but it still an old Station.

The clay surrounding them have been absorbing heat all that time, and now it’s unable to absorb more.

So in order to create a better environment in them, there’s a need to implement a cooling system on the tube. Massive heat extractors have been implemented in all the platforms. 3 in each of the platforms to be precise, but instead of channelling to other places, it is chilled on the roof of one adjacent building.

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OXFORD CIRCUS STATION Below the Street level, we could say that the station has three main levels which are the Ticket Halls, The Corridor that connects the circular ticket hall with the Bakerloo and Victoria Line, and the Platform Levels that contain the previous two lines and the Central line which was the first one of the station.

From the platforms to the ticket halls we have 5 different access, all escalators from various capacities, 3 out of them are double escalators, 1 is single, and the last one is triple.

Sometimes they use one of the ticket halls as the entry and the other as an exit which would ease the flow of people but can be confusing and restrictive for the users. The ticket hall on the left of the figure usually ends up being lonely, and the circular one tends to be crowded.

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Here i am exploring the spaces inside the the Station in order to find their charasteristics, strengths and weakness.

On the ticket halls level we can find ourselves in a barren ticket hall or a crowded one. the reason of that is the usage both ticket halls receive vary. the one right below the ntersection of Oxford St. and Regent St. is crowded given its location and acces and the one in Argyll St. its very empty compared to the other one. something that is interesting given the that Argyll St. is pedestrianize in that area.

On The level Below the ticket halls we find a Double corridor filled with ads on boths sides and a Performance spot on the right corridor. It is in this space where you could feel the temperture change from the hot platforms to the cool surface. The escalators that connects the corridor to the ticket hall and platform are flanked by a row of adds on both sides. The escalators that connects the corridor to the ticket hall and platform are flanked by a row of adds on both sides.

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There are signs to point you in the right direction but seems to be second to the advertisments.

On the platform Levels, we find most of the corridors with almost no ads because of how narrow the corridors and the number of passages there are. So for these reasons, signage in this level takes priority from advertisements.

Each single platforms has 3 Massive heat extractors spread through the length of the platform. They also have Big projectors showing ads. In the platforms, we see how ads take the walls on the side of the train and signage take the wall of the platform. It makes sense given that the people waiting for the train probably are in the right platform and the ones coming out of the train have to find their way out of the station. all the platforms have basically the same tube layout even though they were built at different points in time.

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To understand the station and work my project in it, I had to section it in 5 different parts and focus on one of them.

So, I divided the station in the following 1. Street Level, 2. Ticket Hall, 3. Mid-level Corridor, 4. Escalators and 5 Platforms.

Every part is going to be worked in a way to create a personalize experience and eliminate blockades and promote flow and movement from Street to Train.

By taking the plans to pedestrianize Oxford St. I free myself from working on the street level. So the next place to work would be The ticket Hall. Then The corridors, escalators and the platforms were worked on the previous project, but it will have to be adapted to this station.

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The infrastructure that will be placed in the Ticket hall its inspired by the layout of the corridors in the platform levels. This way the entry of the station shows the nature of the space on the lowest part of it.

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On the street Level we got the intersection of Oxford St. and Regent St., both of them with heavy traffic, vehicular and pedestrian. Because of this, the ambient in the area seems very chaotic and frantic. The amount of vehicles pollutes the air and crossing the streets can be hazardous.

The 4 entries to the LU become really congested going in or out. Coming Out of the LU through this means can be disorienting given the similitude of the buildings surrounding the Intersection.

By drawing on top of the intersection, I was trying to understand the flow of people and vehicles in an and out of the intersection.

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IDEAS By exploring, studying, and sectioning the station, I set some key points to work on.

Through drawings and sketching, I started developing ideas to implement on the station. And through them, I came to a conclusion.

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Initial ideas for the station was to keep the 4 entries to the station but removing the fare gates to create a commercial space inside the Ticket Hall.

On the corridors, I planned on expanding them to give them the tube shape and covering the walls with products that you could go and grab them and the station tracking you would charge you directly to your account. Also, to move the performance spot to a more central part. The Other Ticket hall was to be repurposed to a training facility.

These initial ideas were scrapped because it would lose the identity of the LU and would have not solved the flow in the stations.

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On the platform levels, the idea was to connect the heat extractors to the exposed infrastructure network that would guide you throughout the whole system.

The artefact from my previous project would be the skin n the platform connecting the tracks heat extractors and cables and ducts. the walls of the platform would be covered in displays and a gate separating the platform from the train tracks would have been made of transparent Oled Displays to inform and announce the users of the status of the trains and stations.

The ideas that remained were the ones from the escalator and music spot but were changed and tweaked to perform better. And the ones from the Platform Level.

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On these sketches, I was thinking about the ticket hall and street level to have it as a clear street to introduce natural lighting into the ticket hall.

On the corridor level, I sketch a full display with information about the stations and on the sides trays of snacks and beverages for people to grab while walking in and out of the station. and the third sketch is depicting a display on the artefact that goes on the platforms with a leaning bar underneath.

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On the desing of the ticket hall i take a spin on the Tradittional Roundel logo of the underground. By taking the circle shape of the hall removing the stairs and columns and opening the sidesd of it on the Oxford St. axis. i created a hall that reflects the LU logo conncets Oxford St. and frees Regent St.

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By taking away the corridor that connects the 2 ticket halls the station culd easily work by having one of the hall to be the entry and the other to be the exit.

They could also work as independent halls with their own entries and exits. taken away the faregates the colums and the stairs, i free the ciruclar hall to be an extension of Oxford St.. i also free the space to create a resting place or meeting grounds with a roof on top and even create some convenience shops for the visitors and residents of the area. The entry to the LU would be through the Escalators with the system recognizing the pople on it.

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PORPOSAL:

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OXFORD ST. With the plans of pedestrianizing Oxford St., the amount of people walking on the area would increase and the entries of the Oxford Circus Station would be bottle necked, so by creating these new entries and redesining the Ticket Hall i combined Oxford St. with The LU.

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OXFORD CIRCUS The intersection would be divided by Regent St. remaining vehicular, and the pedestrianized Oxford St. would go underneath and then to street level again connecting the LU.

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New Entry of the LU This Connects Oxford St. freeing Regent St. for the vehicles.

REGENT ST. Regent St. would remain vehicular with an emphasis on public transportation like busses or taxis.

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INFRASTRUTURE: SMART UNDERGROUND This project focus on Oxford Circus Station and the Pedestrianization of Oxford St. The pedestrianization of Oxford St would increase the amount of people walking through the St. and rechaneling the vehicular traffic through other routes. So by connecting the Ticket Hall of Oxford Circus to Oxford St. in this manner i leave Oxford St. Pedestrianized without Regent St. dividing it. And Regent St. its left vehicular and focused on public transport.

Down in the Ticket hall i removed the faregates and columns in order to free the space, for convenience shops, meeting grounds, an extension of Oxford St. and the entry to the LU. This last entry would work as an automatized detection system in the escalator. It will recognize the user and charge the fee directly to the users account.

SMART UNDERGROUND is for the Commuters, the shoppers, the tourists, the workers and everyone that walks or uses the public transport systerms in the city

Tibaldo Rancier Middlesex University Ma Interiors