Weaving Peripheral Interaction Within Habitable Architectures

As researchers and practitioners seek to operationalize peripheral interaction, many key questions remain unresolved. Where might such technologically mediated interventions best be deployed? What might they look like? How might such deployments age and evolve through time? Toward engaging these questions, one path is to consider related exemplars from centuries past and use these to inform forward-looking prototypes and envisionments. With an eye toward the future of peripheral interaction and as description of our particular trajectory, we begin by reflecting on early “tangible bits” peripheral interaction experiences. We follow these with ancient examples from the walls of Lascaux, Ur, and Babylon. Drawing from these inspirations, we illustrate and discuss three grounding envisionments upon the halls and walls of habitable spaces.