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Vidar Clinic

The Vidar Clinic (1984) by Erik Asmussen
For the design of the Vidar Clinic Asmussen developed the architectural ideas of Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), the Austrian-born scholar and artist, who founded anthroposophy, a body of spiritually based knowledge. In his lifetime Asmussen sought to create spiritually restorative and healing environments in over 100 buildings whose forms, colors, materials and spaces would help bring into balance their users’ faculties of thinking, feeling and willing.

Energy Pod

Researched and tested at Carnegie Mellon University, MetroNaps has developed the EnergyPod aiming to solve a contemporary problem: most work spaces do not offer their employees a place to rejuvenate. The EnergyPod is an elegant yet simple device that counters the problem of employee workday fatigue.

Espace Pur

Espace Pur by Marc Hottinger & Lucien Iseli
Espace Pur is an air ionizer that uses dust as pixels and that displays patterns thanks to it, in a very slow motion way. It cleans and purifies the air in architectural spaces. It increases the level of oxygen’s negative ions contained in the ambient air. Once installed, the air’s oxygenation becomes nearly the same as in the mountains. The more there are negative ions, the more the air is purified. The installation of the "anti-dust screen" can take place in flats, hospitals, offices, and everywhere where air needs to be cleaned. The aim of the project is therefore to capture dust and organize it on wall panels in order to build pictures that will gently appear on the wall. The panels are displaying compositions of weed that are on the one hand harmful plants but on the second hand have beneficial aspect on the health.

CET

In 2007 architect Philippe Rahm ionized the entire exhibition spaces at Kusthaus Graz, Austria, and at the MAK Center’s Schindler House in Los Angeles, to see if visitors’ moods would be enhanced with negative, but not positive air ionization. The notion stems from clinical research on the antidepressant effect of negative air ionization and a recent study of college students who showed quick enhancement even though they were not clinically depressed. Similar research supporting negative ion therapy can be found at the Center for Environmental Therapeutics (CET).

Scentsory Design

Second Skin (2006) by Jenny Tillotson
Just as the scent of the skin changes with emotion, Smart Second Skin interacts with human emotions whereby the aroma dimension becomes an integral part of the wearers wellness sensory experience. The dress mimics the body's circulation system, the senses and scent glands. The interactive fabric emits a selection of scents depending on your mood. Aromatic messages are actively 'pulsed' electronically through a cabling system, to key points of the body in order to activate the smell centre. The project is from the Science Fashion Lab which brings together the disciplines of Analytical Chemistry, nanotechnology, perfumery and fashion design.

Scentspace

ScentSpace by Usman Haque is an interactive smell system that allows for three-dimensional placement of fragrances without dispersion and demonstrates how smell can be used spatially to create fragrance collages that form soft zones and boundaries.

Airflow is generated by an array of fans and the moving air is then controlled by a series of diffusion screens to provide smooth and continuous laminar airflow. Computer-controlled fragrance dispensers and air control enable parts of the space to be scented without dispersing through the entire space.

Whiteplane 2

Whiteplane_2 (2006) by Alex Bradley and Charles Poulet.
Using ambisonics and large-scale planes of shimmering LED light, the audience sits, stands or lies as the space around them is rewritten with flickering vistas, floating panoramas and tactile surfaces. Consistently surprising and confounding expectations, Whiteplane_2 has been described as ‘a spectacular triumph’ and ‘heart-achingly beautiful’. The installation will also feature a cutting-edge ‘live ambisonics’ performance on the opening night, during which the artists will take the work to new audio/visual heights and extremes. A unique sonic-illumination in 3D.

Retail Therapy

IBM's has launched a prototype "multisensory cabin" for shoppers that's reminiscent of a coin-operated viewing machine equipped with a projector. 10 people can enter the small, dark box to see what's behind the latest spring fashions. Wearing fold-up polarized 3-D glasses, people watch canned scenes from the world's top-tier catwalks. Basic elements of the 13-by-20-foot cabin include two AG Multivision 3D DLP projectors and surround audio. There's also a scent diffuser from Trieste-based M-Cube to circulate smells (say, leather when the focus is shoes or sweet vanilla for floaty summer dresses). All the devices are orchestrated with IBM hardware and software.

Paimio Sanatorium

Paimio Sanatorium (1929-1933) by Alvar Aalto
The sanatorium, nominated to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site is furnished entirely with Aalto's own factory-made furniture. Paimio's buildings were grouped in a neo-classical style with sun balconies representing a more modern architectural approach. Sunbathing on a balcony was part of the treatment for tuberculosis so balconies like these were an essential part of sanatorium architecture.

In the 1950s the disease could be partly dealt with by surgery and thus a surgery wing, also designed by Aalto, was added. Soon after, antibiotics saw the virtual end of the disease, and the number of patients was reduced dramatically. The building served exclusively as a tuberculosis sanatorium until the early 1960s, when it was converted into a general hospital. Today the building is part of the University of Turku Central Hospital.

Sensorium

Sensorium, a 2006 exhibition at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, explored various ways in which artists address the influence of technology on the senses. In 'Fear I,' above, Norwegian artist Sissel Tolaas embedded synthesized human sweat pheromones into the white paint on the gallery's walls. The smells derive from the body odor of frightened men. Visitors rub the walls to release the smells. In 'Ubiq, a Mental Odyssey,' at top, Guillaume Stagnaro explores how virtual worlds may widen the human glance.