With a specialty in networked urban environments, interactive architecture & community activation, Usman has designed & built all sorts of things: spaces, structures, systems, platforms, companies.

Companies

HAQUE TAN

Design studio combining architecture+art+technology (2024)

Starling

Dynamic real-time pedestrian safety systems to reduce accidents (2020)

Thingful

Search engine & interoperability for the internet of things (2014)

Umbrellium

Design & build studio dedicated to urban environments (2013)

Pachube

Early Internet of Things data platform & community (2007)

Interactive Architecture • Urban Initiatives • Participatory Spectacles

Wild Imaginarium

New Interactive Entrance for Great Ormond Street Hospital (2024)

Re:Wild Royal Docks

Ten-year vision for urban wilding in East London (2021)

Cinder

Augmented Reality interface to a Building Management System (2016)

Assemblance

Collaborative immersive environment built on motion-tracked lasers (2014)

Another Life

Interactive urban environment in Bradford's City Park (2012)

Marling

Urban-scale aurora brought to life by people's voices (2012)

DIY City 0.01a

Configurable projection system for urban-scale interactive events (2012)

Flightpath Toronto

Flylines, lasers & flightschool for low-carbon rapid public transport (2011)

Primal Source

Floating cloud activated by the voices of thousands (2008)

Evoke

Interactive projection on York Minster's facade (2007)

Reconfigurable House

House embedded with thousands of low-tech sensors & actuators (2007)

Project Unspecified

Inflatable structure designed and built by the public (2007)

Open Burble

18-storey interactive structure designed & controlled by public (2006)

Sky Ear

Floating structure that responds to mobile phones and EMF (2004)

Scents of Space

Chamber for 3D positioning of fragrances without dispersion (2002)

Moody Mushroom Floor

Interactive floor system with sound, light & smell outputs (1996)

Connected Environments • Connected Objects

VoiceOver

Hyper-local social radio network for communities (2016)

Miscommunications No. 6

Dozens of microphones & speakers infiltrate a museum (2010)

Natural Fuse

Networked plant-pots that form a collective carbon-sink (2008)

Huey-Dewey-Louie Climate Clock

Self-building landscape that measures & tracks climate change (2008)

Remote

Real-time interaction between Second Life & a space in Boston (2008)

Scattered House

Connecting environments across Budapest & London (2008)

Wifi Camera

Camera that captures images of spaces illuminated by wifi (2006)

Evolving Sonic Environment

Acoustically-coupled neural network learns about its environment (2005)

Flower of My Secret

Repository for the public's dreams, memories, secrets & stories (2005)

Haunt

Recreating the environmental conditions of haunted spaces (2004)

Worldview

Urban installation creating real-time windows around the world (2001)

Japanese Whispers

Collaborative performance using dozens of mobile phones (2000)

Urban Constellations

Solar powered lighting distributed and viewed around town (2000)

Global Village Bank

Web-based currency transaction system & community (1997)

Experiments • Research

More Than Human Citizen Assembly

Collective Decision-Making with Non-human neighbours (2023)

Siphonophora

Devices floating in a lake respond to aquatic life & conditions (2009)

EEML

Protocol for sharing sensor data between remote environments (2007)

Furu furi

Large-scale interactive robotic structures (2006)

Configurable T-shirt

T-shirt & configuration website designed for World Cup 2006 (2006)

Low Tech

Manual for hacking inexpensive sensors & actuators (2004)

Open Source Arch Expt

Series of experiments in open source architecture & inflatables (2003)

Infinitum Ad Nauseam

Dynamic projection for choreographed & improvised dance (2000)

Speculations

Floatables

Drifting jellyfish-like vessels create ephemeral zones of privacy (2003)

Miscommunications No. 1

Meditations on iterative (mis)communication (2000)

Mischievous Museum

Museum that creates its own taxonomy daily (1997)

Conversations with a Kettle...

House full of connected appliances that whisper & spread gossip (1996)

Home as an Idea

Space of absence - sound, heat, smell and annoying phone calls (1993)

Safely dangerous vertical playground

Playground of fire, spikes, ladders, trampolines and long, long falls (1991)