Experimental Design Atmospheres

Abstract

Despite experiment being quite a frequent term in design literature, there is a lack of comprehension about what the term experimental involves. Experimental design entails an openness that requires democratic processes. In this regard, there is notable potential in bringing the concept of atmosphere into this debate. Considering this assumption, this paper seeks to introduce the concept of atmosphere as a way to inform designers about a meaningful approach to experimental design. In order to do this, it delves into the concept of atmosphere by exploring its variety through the idea of atmospheres of unitarization and atmospheres of unsettledness. This organization is used as a framework to analyze an experimental design activity within an educational context. As this reflection is conducted, it raises the notion of experimental atmospheres, which allow a movement in which children oscillate between a process of inclusion and exclusion and finally find their own way to participate and to create. Thinking about experimental design through the lens of atmosphere is a way to better understand aspects of the design process that current methods of design do not seem to tap into.