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IKEA Transforms Living Spaces Into Wanderlust-Worthy Retreats For Stress Relief
By Mikelle Leow, 15 Sep 2021

Image courtesy of SPACE10
Expanding on their fascinating Everyday Experiments project, IKEA and its experimental design lab SPACE10 are looking inwards into the home of the soul. With the bulk of everyday life moving indoors, the latest series of digital experiments is all about lifestyle and wellbeing.
Teaming up with design thinkers, SPACE10 has offered up solutions—tapping into artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, augmented reality, and spatial audio—that not only calm the nerves, but also “keep you agile, alert, and sharp.”
“It is the ambition of IKEA to inspire and enable many more of the many people to live a better everyday life within the limits of the planet… With that, how can technology be used in new ways, individually and collectively, to improve not only how we live at home, but also how we use technology as a means of escaping the physical restrictions of our four walls without needing to leave it?” pondered Fredrik Axén, Digital Manager at IKEA.
You can navigate the concepts in full here. Who knew, a year and a half into being locked in, there’s still literal room for creativity and wonder?
Virtual Oasis by audio-visual creative studio FIELD.SYSTEMS
Without having to go on a hike or fly, Virtual Oasis transports you into a meditative retreat, converting your confined space into a “digital paradise” with the help of augmented reality (AR) and spatial audio. The experience is coupled with ambient sounds and meditation practices, taking you on a calming journey within your own home.
Algorithmic Chef by AI creative studio Osk

Image courtesy of SPACE10
It’s becoming a force of habit to make the most out of grocery runs and buy more than what you need, and now, you’ve got a fully-stocked fridge filled with leftovers and food scraps. To combat food waste, The Algorithmic Chef serves as a “personalized cookbook,” employing AI, object detection, and Natural Language Processing to identify individual ingredients and writing them into original recipes—complete with descriptions—that actually work.

Image courtesy of SPACE10
Forever Meadow by experience design studio Pitch Studios

Image courtesy of SPACE10
With Forever Meadow, your carpet and the rest of the floor becomes an endless garden, bringing the outdoors inside through AR. Your moving feet control the blooms in this interactive animation, which is based on the stress-relieving technique of meditative walking. Talk about a spring in your step.
Kaleidoscopic Home by creative technologists Tin & Ed

Image courtesy of SPACE10
The young ones have IKEA’s Småland, but you won’t be missing out with Kaleidoscopic Home, which converts nooks and crannies in your living space into an ever-evolving playground. Intertwined with furniture, the playful obstacles aren’t just easy on the eyes, but they also inspire thinking.
For more inventive ideas from this project, check out SPACE10’s Everyday Experiments website.
[via SPACE10]
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