ARCH Studio: SENSE

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ARCH 4001 studio. Fall 2025

SENSE: Spatial Experiences for Narrative and Sensory Emotions

Final Presentation: Monday, December 1, 1:30 p.m. – 4 p.m.
CGC Lab, Room 4425, College of DAAP bldg, UC

session A: 1:30-3. Three groups
session B: 304. Two groups

Museum concept by UC student Dwayne CarterEmma CekCourtney Reese. Fall. 2025

student projects in Viverse

please click the link on the right to view the virtual world in browser

Meghan Powell Stella Shover Ainsley Brown A Virtual Journey into the Meaning of Life
Molly Greene Lilly Wick Sasha Kushner Lower Blue Lake Museum
Franck Toukam Daniel  Dubanovich Jared Mclean Cave Museum 
Dwayne Carter Emma Cek Courtney Reese Museum of Life
Caden Ancona Aaron Landers Lucas Tereck Emerald Lake Museum of Emotion

Studio Overview

This design studio invites students to explore the complex relationship between architecture, human emotion, and experiential design through the conceptualization and design of a Museum of Emotion. Students will investigate how spatial design can evoke, mediate, and communicate emotional states—moving beyond functionality to create environments that resonate on a deep psychological and sensory level. By integrating neuroscience, art, culture, and digital technologies, students will develop speculative proposals for a museum that acts not only as a cultural institution but also as a space of introspection, empathy, and transformation.

Studio Objectives

  • Understand and interpret the spatial, sensory, and material qualities that influence human emotional responses.
  • Translate research on emotion into architectural language (form, light, material, scale, sequence, etc.).
  • Design immersive environments that express or evoke specific emotional states.
  • Engage interdisciplinary methods (AI, Extended Reality, digital media) to inform spatial experience.
  • Critically assess cultural, ethical, and therapeutic dimensions of designing for emotion.

Key Questions

  • How can architectural elements—light, space, materiality, proportion—evoke emotional responses?
  • What is the role of immersive and interactive technology (VR/AR, AI, biometric feedback) in shaping emotional experiences?
  • How do cultural, personal, and neurophysiological factors affect emotional perception of space?
  • How can architecture foster emotional literacy, empathy, and collective memory?

Museum concept by UC student Meghan Powell Stella Shover Ainsley Brown. Fall. 2025

Program

Each student (or team) will design a Museum of Emotion on a site of their choice. The museum must include:

  1. Core Zones (Required):
  • Emotion Lab: Interactive gallery presenting scientific and technological perspectives on emotion.
  • Rooms of Emotion: A minimum of three immersive emotional environments (e.g., joy, fear, sadness, awe, love, anger).
  • Memory Archive: A participatory or data-driven installation space where emotional memories are recorded, interpreted, and displayed.
  • Cultural Expressions Gallery: A rotating exhibition space focused on how different cultures represent and process emotions.
  1. Optional Programs (Student-Defined):
  • Workshop or educational spaces
  • Performance or therapeutic spaces
  • Café or gathering zone
  • Outdoor sensory garden or emotional path

Design Tools and Methods

  • Precedent studies of museums, memorials, and immersive installations
  • Digital modeling and rendering (with emphasis on atmosphere and mood)
  • Use of AI-assisted simulations, AIGC, and VR walkthroughs
  • Assessment through user feedback survey

 

Read:

Related course

AE studio 2025

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Spring 2025. Instructors: Ming Tang, Samira Sarabandikachyani

This studio provides a comprehensive introduction to architectural design. Students developed proposals for a restaurant located in Over-the-Rhine (OTR), Cincinnati, Ohio.

XR and Gen-AI Technologies in Design

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Left: VR training on welding, Samantha Frickel.  Right: Cinematic universes. Carson Edwards

Extended Reality and Generative-AI in Human-Centered Design

UHP + Architecture Seminar

Student work from the University of Cincinnati’s Honors Seminar and Architecture Design Seminar. This video showcases multiple innovative projects intersecting emerging technologies such has AIGC, XR with human-centered design.The projects include a wide range of demonstrations in the following two categories: 

Training
The first category centers on Virtual Reality-based training applications designed to simulate real-world tasks and enhance learning through immersive experiences. These projects include simulations for welding, firefighter robotics, and driving and instructional environments such as baby car seat installation. Each scenario provides a controlled, repeatable setting for learners to gain confidence and skills in safety-critical and technical domains, demonstrating the practical potential of XR technologies in professional training and education. Digital 3D content creation was augmented by various AIGC tools such as Rodin, Meshy, Tripo, etc.

Future Environment
This group of projects explores imaginative and speculative environments through immersive technologies. Students and researchers have developed experiences ranging from fictional music spaces, virtual zoos, and animal shelters to emotionally responsive architectural designs and future cityscapes. These environments often incorporate interactive elements, such as Augmented Reality on mobile devices or real-time simulations of natural phenomena like flooding. Advanced material simulation is also a focus, including simulating cloth and other soft fabrics that respond dynamically to user interaction. 2D Content creation was augmented by various AIGC tools such as Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, etc.

These two interdisciplinary seminars investigate the application of Extended Reality (XR) technologies, including Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR), in addressing real-world challenges. Students examined integrating human-computer interaction with immersive digital tools to create embodied, interactive experiences that enhance user engagement and understanding.

In parallel, the courses explored comprehensive design methodology—spanning research, ideation, prototyping, and evaluation—framed through the lens of generative AI and immersive virtual environments. Projects emphasized the role of AI-assisted content creation and immersive media in advancing human-centered design practices with either a fictional metaverse or reality-based digital twins. 

The student work presented reflects a research-driven approach to spatial design, focusing on how digital scenarios influence human perception, emotional response, and cognitive engagement. XR was explored as a medium for fostering empathy, delivering emotional impact, and enhancing the acquisition of knowledge and skills.

Credit: UHP students: Amanda Elizabeth, Logan Daugherty, Valerie Dreith, Samantha Frickel, Aakash Jeyakanthan, Aayush Kumar, TJ Mueller, Rohit Ramesh, Megan Sheth, Ayush Verma.; Architecture students: Brady Bolton, Erik Mathys, Keai Perdue, Gustavo Reyes, Maria Vincenti, Nikunj Deshpande, Carson Edwards, Bhaskar Kalita, Sreya Killamshetty, Japneet Kour, Gaurang Pawar, Shruthi Sundararajan.

 

Student Projects Gallery Show in 2024

NCBDS conference

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Paper “Designing the Future of Retail: Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration in Industrial Design and Architecture Design” published at the 40th National Conference on Begining Design Students Conference proceedings.  North Carolina State University. Raleigh, NC. 2025.

Yong-Gyun Ghim, Ming Tang, University of Cincinnati

 

Abstract

The significance of design’s cross-disciplinary nature has increased alongside technological advancements as emerging technologies present new opportunities and challenges for complex socio-technical systems. Systems thinking has drawn attention to design as a holistic approach to tackling complex systems by examining the interrelationships between elements. This also necessitates cross-disciplinary collaboration to address the multifaceted nature of the problems comprehensively. These aspects of systems thinking further emphasize its importance in design education to help navigate the current era of technological innovation. The future of retail exemplifies this interconnected complexity in the context of emerging technologies because introducing them – such as robotics, artificial intelligence, and mixed reality – into retail environments requires a holistic consideration of the entire system, encompassing physical spaces, service processes, and human interactions.

This study examines a 15-week collaborative studio project between industrial design and architecture. By leveraging a systems thinking approach, the project facilitated cross-disciplinary collaboration to develop future retail concepts, enabling students to integrate their expertise and address the interconnectedness of artifacts, environments, and human interactions. Both disciplines followed a structured design process encompassing research, system design, space and robot design, visualization, and validation, while collaboration was organized around four key steps: planning, learning, prototyping, and communication. The project also involved collaboration with a supermarket chain, providing opportunities for onsite observations, employee interviews, and discussions with industry professionals. Students developed futuristic concepts for retail operations and customer experiences by leveraging the integration of mobile service robots, adaptive spaces, and mixed reality. Industrial design students focused on designing a product-service system of supermarket robots based on their redefinition of customer shopping experience and employee workflow, proposing an automated grocery order fulfillment system. Architecture students designed adaptive retail spaces that seamlessly blur the boundaries between physical and digital worlds, exploring how the Metaverse and mixed-reality interfaces can augment retail spaces and shopping experiences through dynamic, immersive interactions with digital avatars and robots. This cross-disciplinary collaboration resulted in holistic and integrative solutions for complex systems, presented through immersive VR experiences or animated scenarios.

This study’s contribution to design education is threefold. First, it proposes a systems thinking approach with cross-disciplinary collaboration for designing future retail experiences, demonstrating its effectiveness in addressing and designing complex socio-technical systems. Second, it offers insights into how industrial design and architecture can be integrated to create novel user experiences in digital transformation. Lastly, by examining the design and collaboration processes and reflecting on the opportunities and challenges, this study offers insights for its application to future studio courses. Given the increased complexity and dynamics between disciplines, thorough pre-planning and flexibility are critical for success.

Keywords:

Cross-disciplinary collaboration, Design education, Industrial design, Architecture, Future of retail

Project:  Future Service, Retail, Metaverse, and Robotics