In a world of increasing globalization information including images and video from all over the world can be found on the internet, fulfilling our sense of hearing and seeing.  Often we have the opportunity to eat the cuisine of other cultures and countries.  Touch and smell are two important senses that are often left unsatisfied and out of our grasp in our quest to increase our global perception.  This installation provides a sense of touch that allows the viewer to gain a better understanding the cultural diversity of New Orleans through an abstraction of culture through the display of ambient and often understated conditions of these countries that have had an everlasting effect on the culture of New Orleans. The goal of this project was to create a module representing the culture identity of New Orleans through the incorporation of sensing technologies.  To gain a better grasp on sensing technologies a series of case studies were investigated by the studio.  A project titled “Trash Track” introduced several technologies that could be incorporated into the sensing technologies project.  This project incorporates cellular technology to follow waste items, determining the complexity of the post use process in an effort to decrease waste production.  A decision was made to incorporate alternative technologies to produce a module that related to the cultural identity of New Orleans. The Sensable Wall represents an abstraction in the cultural identity of New Orleans while placing the present day city in a global context.  New Orleans is a city known for culture but it is rather a reputation for cultural diversity rather than a solitary distinctive cultural aspect that makes this city so unique.  This raises the questions what is culture and what is diversity?  How can you diversity, something that is so complex and multi-faceted?  What factors can influence culture?  How do we recognize and connect these unique cultures? Culture is a complex network of characteristics that often define a homogenous group.  Culture is such a complex and layered concept established on hundreds or thousands of years of history.  Apart from history one major factor that defines the culture of groups are the conditions with in which a group is surrounded.  This includes climate, weather, soils, and vegetation.  These factors historically have determined how and what these populations eat, what they wear, the styles and length of their hair and many other tangible and intangible characteristics that define large populations.  Temperature is an abstraction of the ambient qualities that are interwoven into the culture of homogenous populations.  Temperature was chosen due to its quantitative nature as well as universal understanding in the explanation of environmental conditions. This installation places several different countries, each with their own distinct culture contributing to the history and make up of New Orleans, on one wall. The individual panels on this wall will maintain the current temperature of a city within the country it represents.  The two-foot wide panels consist of thermal activated glass tiles that change hue as temperatures fluctuate.  The tiles are heated and cooled by a radiant coils placed in water located behind the tiles.  When viewed the each panel will display the country of origin on an LCD screen.  The hue of the wall will fluctuate in relation to this temperature. Sensors are already in place in the locations throughout the world and linked by pachube to weather information systems such as weatherunderground.com.  This date is transferred from a live feed via wi-fi to an on-site arduino that will set the thermostat for the panel of the wall the data feed corresponds to.  Radiating coils heat or cool wall as needed until the target temperature is reached.  The thermostat in the wall records this information and sends the data back to the host feed.  The heating and cooling system is powered by batteries that receive their charge through photovoltaic panels located on the back of the wall. The end product is an informative installation that allows the viewer to see the geographical diversity of New Orleans while providing the opportunity to exercise another sense through that of touch.  One can touch a hot Angola while placing the other hand on a cool Nova Scotia.  Through an abstraction the viewer can experience multiple ambient conditions simultaneously.  The module would serve as a global network connecting these countries and their unique cultures.

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