Animism and Anthropomorphism in Living Spaces : Designing for 'Life' in spatial interactions

Abstract: Integrating animism and anthropomorphism into technology and our interactions with said technology allows for the design of better affordances, easier comprehension, and more intricate interactions between humans and technological artefacts. This study seeks to understand the circumstances and contexts under which humans tend to form emotional bonds with nonhuman entities and ascribe life-like or human-like qualities to them, through qualitative research. It also seeks to investigate whether animism and anthropomorphism apply to abstract entities such as a space, through ‘constructive design-based research’ and ‘thing-centered design’ methodologies. The investigations yield several insights in general, that are useful to designers attempting to incorporate animism and anthropomorphism into their work. The prototyping led to the creation of a prototype space that can serve as the foundation for future research.