Week 7 - Homework 2: Piano stairs (Research)

For this week's second homework, we had to research an interactive installation. When I first heard of this assignment, I immediately remembered this video, which I first saw many years ago:


The installation was a project (sponsored by Volkswagen) that wanted to examine if more people would take the stairs rather than the escalator if it was fun to climb the stairs. To do this, they chose a stairwell leading into/out of the subway station 'Odenplan' in central Stockholm.

They actually show snippets of how they make the stairs into a piano; they put some sort of sensor (that most likely sense weight or pressure) on each step on the stairs that activates when being stepped on. When the sensor is activated, a piano sound plays through speakers. It is quite easy to imagine how this would work with what we've learned so far in class: if made in processing for example, an 'if' statement would be used:
if (sensorPressed){
  if (sensor=sensor1){
      play Sound1
  }
}

After the sensor, they put on the white and black coverings that make the steps look like an actual piano. Quite simple, but very effective! More people than usual took the stairs when the stairs worked as a piano. I really like this installation because it's fun, creative, simple and makes people smile.