PULSUS
︎Interactive Installation
︎Urban Instrument
︎Public Art
PULSUS is an interactive installation, urban furniture, and a musical instrument. With an immersive sound and mist experience, visitors seated on the series of large concrete benchs can vibrationally sense the changing moods of the surrounding urban communities.
This was installed at Manhattan for the 2017 Summer Streets Festival, and at Charles Hotel Plaza in 2018, and in front of Harvard Graduate School of Design for six months. At each location, PULSUS responded to the geographically specific geo-tagged activities and tweets to generate its interactive sound composition.
Interaction:
It uses an electronic component called “sound transducers” which turns the material it is adhered on into a speaker. People lying on the bench could immersively experience the sound through bone conduction, through their elbows and bodies.
Fabrication:
The mold-making process included wrapping up Halloween skeletons under layers of fiberglass sheets, hardened by painting on resin. This fabrication processed allowed for fabric drapery type of finish on concrete, a material not typically associated with such forms.
This was installed at Manhattan for the 2017 Summer Streets Festival, and at Charles Hotel Plaza in 2018, and in front of Harvard Graduate School of Design for six months. At each location, PULSUS responded to the geographically specific geo-tagged activities and tweets to generate its interactive sound composition.
Interaction:
It uses an electronic component called “sound transducers” which turns the material it is adhered on into a speaker. People lying on the bench could immersively experience the sound through bone conduction, through their elbows and bodies.
Fabrication:
The mold-making process included wrapping up Halloween skeletons under layers of fiberglass sheets, hardened by painting on resin. This fabrication processed allowed for fabric drapery type of finish on concrete, a material not typically associated with such forms.














Firm: INVIVIA
Role: Design, Project management, and Co-fabrication at INVIVIA
Team: Allen Sayegh, Stefano Andreani, Oliver Luo, Jake Welter, Ziyi Zhang, Peter Mabardi
Sound Design Consultant: Eric Sluyter
Fabrication: INVIVIA, Concrete Poetry
Sponsorship: NYC DOT
Locations:
- Harvard Graduate School of Design, Quincy Street Entrance
- SummerStreest Festival at Manhattan, NYC
- Charles Hotel Plaza in Cambridge, MA.
Awards: Finalist for Boston HUBWeek Competition