Bauhaus Legacy in Research through Design: The Case of Basic Sonic Interaction Design

Stefano Delle Monache, Davide Rocchesso

Current trends in design research suggest that future interactive artefacts will return to communicating through their intrinsic physical and sensory characteristics, through their shape, inherent kinematics, tactile, and acoustic responses to manipulation. In sonic interaction design (SID), several disciplines are at work to shape the acoustic appearance of objects, to convey information through sound, and to enrich the experience of artefacts through sharable use. Basic research in the foundation of SID is aimed at developing an up-to-date curriculum, effective tools, and grounded practices. Inspired to the post-Bauhaus tradition and pedagogy, basic sonic interaction design traces systematic explorations in formgiving and formthinking issues of sounding objects. A research through design approach leverages the evidence, emerging from the development of exercises and progressive accumulation of physical sketches, to the status of design knowledge and theory.