Enhancing the feeling of safety in public environments
How can smart sensing technology be (re)designed to contribute to perceived safety in public spaces?
In collaboration with TU Delft we hired a graduate student to start a new project on responsible sensing to enhance the feeling of safety in public environments. The goal of this project is not to make products for the individual to employ to enhance their own safety, but to find design solutions for how cities can increase people's feeling of safety without putting the action and responsibility on the individual. The result? An innovative design for bullet and dome cameras you find in cities today.
Introducing BL0.0M: A redesign of the standard bullet and dome cameras
As part of his graduation project, Seb Hollman, a research student at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft (the AI Futures lab), redesigned the standard bullet and dome cameras in use today. The design not only contributes to people’s physical safety, but also their feeling of safety.
'BL0.0M' stems from the realisation that camera sensors are actively a part of the public space; we watch over them as much as they watch over us. A two-way street of information and observation.
The design in short
Organic Design
In contrast to the rigidity of previous camera sensors, BL0.0M uses organic, flowing forms in its design, blending in with the nature in its vicinity.
Part of the environment
Upon activation of the camera sensor, BL0.0M lives up to its name; blooming open like a flower and communicating its functionality to passersby. When inactive, the petals physically close over the camera, blocking it from seeing anything when it’s not supposed to.
Petal and Camera modularity
BL0.0M also breaks away from the uniformity of conventional camera sensors; its petal modules can easily be swapped out for a different design, creating a new range of product expressions altogether. BL0.0Ms modularity even extends to its camera sensor module, accommodating both bullet- and dome camera models.
Curious about the design process? Seb's thesis ‘Enhancing Perceived Safety: A Transformation of the Visual Impact and Design Aesthetics of Camera Sensors in the Public Space’ is available below.
An interesting question for future research would be to how the design approach for BL0.0M could be used for other and newly developed sensor types, and whether such design could unintentionally and undesirably excuse and justify excessive use of camera sensors.”
— Seb Hollman, MSc Graduate, TU Delft
TU Delft
Sofie-Amalie Torp Dideriksen
Designer, PhD-student aan de faculteit Industrieel Ontwerpen, TU Delft