A total of about 4000 people study and work at HIL. But at what times and where do all these students and staff actually move around the building? When do they work in their offices, when in classrooms, and when do they gather in the lecture halls for classes?
When architecture students enter the submission phase for their projects at the end of the semester, the lecture halls start to empty out. In contrast, the drawing studios are occupied around the clock, even on weekends. During semester breaks, however, the campus at times seems almost deserted.
Anyone who spends time at HIL regularly is familiar with these patterns from personal experience. But how can we quantify and visualize these movements of people? What can we learn from this for the design of the future HIL? And what previously hidden usage patterns will this reveal?
We’re exploring these questions through the project “The Rhythm of HIL.” Using data from Wi-Fi routers, we can see when, where, and how many people are in the building—whether seasonally, over the course of a week, or throughout the day. This provides insights for optimizing space utilization and identifying new types of spaces that enable better synergies.