The Cloud Lab at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation
An experimental lab that explores the design of our environment through emerging technologies in computing, interface and device culture.
 
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Eye Tracking + Architecture

This is your eye on architecture. Building information modeling + Eye Tracking
 

The Cloud Lab is implementing the EyeWriter DIY eye tracking system to question and quantify the relationship between the eyes and space. Using Processing.org to model and visualize the interaction between the eye tracking hardware and 3D building modeling, the goal of this research is to understand the complex interplay between spatial information seeking and spatial processing.

"The vast majority of one’s eye movements (including tracking moving objects and saccades, occurring about three times per second) are made without anything like conscious decision or choice, and mostly in ignorance that one’s eyes are moving at all. Yet when tracked over time, saccadic eye movements reveal themselves to be organized around discernible goals, directed to solve visual disambiguation problems, and sensitive to attentional demands and task complexity."
from Brain Wise: Studies in Neurophilosphy, Patricia Smith Churchland

Research Areas and Projects:
  • Heat mapping of architectural geometry
  • Task motivation in eye movement
  • Attentional production in form
This research is being carried out as part of the "Brain Hacking" Studio, conducted at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation.
 

Videos and Media


Eye tracking heat map overlay demo
 

Eye tracking the Nakagin Capsule Hotel, from GSAPP "Brain Hacking" Studio

 

Research Subtopics and Resources


 
3D polygon modeling for heat mapping. Robust models aid in the visualization process as well as provide an infrastructure for populating heat map values.
Eye Writer Glasses
 
Assembly and improvement of Eye Writer hardware. The hardware is being iterated from a vantage point of user experience.
Eye Writer Glasses
 
Heat mapping Processing code. The integration of computer vision to detect eye movement and model presentation takes place in Processing, an open source software development framework.
News and Announcements
  • Posted a video to YouTube 4/28/2011
  • Posted a video to YouTube 4/26/2011
  • Launched project page 4/27/2011
Project Researchers Research conducted at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation.
 
Brain Wave Data associated with BIM Geometry
"Eye movements during perception of complex objects" from Eye Movements and Vision, Alfred Yarbus (1967)

The Cloud Lab is directed by Toru Hasegawa and Mark Collins
The lab resides at the Graduate School of Architecture Planning & Preservation, Columbia University
400 Avery Hall 1172 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY 10027
 
Please direct all inquiries to inquiries @ thecloudlab.org
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