I am really glad that I got to experience the Carnegie Library. It is a beautiful building with a wonderful environment. I can tell that the needs of the user were kept at the forefront. I was really inspired by the accessibility of the library and all of its resources. It is definitely a place that I will be spending a lot more time at. This made it really hard for me to design for the library. I had a really hard time finding flaws. I enjoyed wandering through and discovering new spaces, and at first, I did not think that that was something I needed to change. I am glad that I made the decision to highlight that experience. I felt passionate about creating a narrative around the whimsy and curiosity.

One issue with the Carnegie Library was the limited hours of operation. It was really difficult for me to find time to go and analyze the space before class. I wish I was aware of this earlier so I could plan accordingly.

I took a risk with my addition to the Carnegie Library’s environment. A great point made in discussion though was that I had to start somewhere, either at a small scale to develop later or at a scale that pushes boundaries that must be refined later.

I pushed the boundaries with my idea; I jumped into the concept without knowing what technology could fulfill it. I see why that’s good and bad. It’s good that I was pushing technology and trying to create something totally new. However, if this was a real proposal, I don’t think my concept would be chosen because there are too many unknowns. This would be a great point in my process, but to fulfill the point of the proposal, i want to see what technology is out there and come up with a plan that could be realized.

Going forward I need to keep in mind these questions: What’s too much? What’s enough? And is it worth the cost?

I’m not sure if I was totally convinced about the value of my idea, and I think it was apparent during my presentation. I really wanted to create something that would not ruin or hinder the library as it is now.

One thing that was missing from my concept was the lack of an interactive element. I think that crossing the line of involving the user is what gets the project from an art installation to environment design.  Questions I want to consider going forward: How does it relate to individual users? How does it relate to the environment as a whole? What information do you receive from it? What happens with that information?

I found the sound spotlight concept that Austin suggested to be an interesting direction. Having extra sound might detract from the quiet environment, but I think that the idea of pinpointing an output to the specific location of an input would be fantastic at accommodating multiple types of users.