Travelling and Hospitality: Workshop at Aalborg University

DIY hotel


J. Vestergaard developed a concept for a DIY hotel, inviting guests to be creative and to arrange their favorite interior themselves. From a display shelf in the lobby, guests can choose which furniture to bring up to their rooms.

Jens worked on several models to test the ease of use in folding and assembly.



He presented flat, lightweight pieces of furniture which can be unfolded and assembled in no time...

...with the help of instructions printed directly on them.

A whole range of minimal, lightweight furniture...

...offering a host of possibilities.

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No more excess baggage


A. Knudsen developed a solution for an all-too well known problem: Shopping sprees abroad. To prevent nasty surprises at the check-in gate when flying home, she designed a smart handle - a small, portable scale for weighing your luggage before you check in.

Slip it through your luggage handle, and voilà, you know if you' d better repack or send your souvenirs by mail.

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If I only had more time...


So little time, and yet we waste even more waiting in airports.
S. Nielsen approached this problem and designed a smart system rather than a product. No more waiting in line, no more cumbersome display boards to figure out when to go to which gate.

A smart, RFID-equipped ticket makes a virtual place in the queue possible, and therewith all sorts of activities which are displayed either on your mobile phone, or on information screens which get activated by your smart ticket, displaying only information which is relevant for you.

Make sense while waiting: Learn Chinese, listen to audiobooks, learn first aid - you name it.

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A sense of place


N. Ovesen designed a device to sense places and to tag personal experiences of a place.

Emo1 allows people to add music and sounds to a place by combining a community-based web service, GPS-coordinates, touch-LEDs, and a DSP. Record sounds and moods and listen to "music by coordinates".

Nis says about his design:
"The Emo1 is a portable emotion enhancer. It records and replays impressions and experiences, based on a Digital Signal Processor which transforms ambient sounds recorded with the microphones on the sides of Emo1 into beats and urban rhythms. It is supported by a community based system that allows people to add music, sounds and guidance to a place according to its GPS-coordinates. Walking around in the city, you will experience the Emo1 through sounds and music when entering the area of the coordinates. A gyroscope registers your movement and adds it to the music. You can also switch the Emo1 into Virtual Guide Mode and hear comments supplied through the web service from other people. There is a grid of “touch-LEDs” on the surface. These LEDs sense a finger running over them, and in that way the user can manipulate the sounds by sliding a finger over the surface. The LEDs also change colour as you move through the city landscape."

Architect and invited juror John Philip Reuer remarked: "The effort here could lead to a real way to attach personal experience to a place."

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Time for prayer


In Singapore´s Changi airport, K. S. Urup observed a Muslim family in their search for a place for prayer:

"After much searching they enter the ouside yard in the smoking area. The family brings a rug with them. The woman has two children at her hand while carrying the rug - it seems to be difficult to handle. Her husband drives the luggage chart, full with bags. Finally they find a quiet corner in the yard and roll out the prayer rugs."

Her observation and interviews with Muslim friends led her to design a solution for the special needs of Muslims who are travelling or in transit. She designed a series of lightweight rugs as tokens of hospitality by airports, and an elegant digital watch/compass for female Muslims in order to keep track of praying times and direction.

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Get lost


K. L. Hartman started his design process with a profound insight: Even tourists hate tourists. What to do to escape the crowds, to evade stereotyped sightseeing spots? How to find new, unspoilt places?

The Nemo explorer, a compass with a difference. Share PPOIs (Personal Points Of Interest), see PPOIs for different categories (great food, great music...) or just press the "Randomize" button and get lost. Community rankings reduce interface clutter (a.k.a. the Google Earth problem) and result in a stunningly intuitive solution. A future cult product for whole communities who want to get lost - in a nice way, of course.

Technology used: GPS-receiver, OLED display, touch switches, bluetooth connectivity, digital compass, RAM and persistent memory.

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Eat better


S. Knudsen researched airplane food and got passengers opinions ranging from "Still not sure what it was" to "Utterly tasteless". Taking into account passengers opinions and advices of medical doctors, she designed an airplane food system tackling several problems: Food is unstable on the usual serving trays, inviting spilled trousers; The choice of food is usually limited to two (beef or chicken?); Passengers are stuck with a dirty serving tray after the meal, unable to move or go to the toilet; and there is usually not enough water served, leading to dehydration.

Her proposal is a modularized airplane food system: Choose 3 out of 6 healthy items plus a large bottle of water, bread, and a fruit. The 3 chosen food items fit snugly into a flip-open paper box which doubles as a waste container after the meal.

Before the serving, the passenger flips open the paper box and takes out a tablecloth, which, when unrolled, presents a large bottle of water, cutlery, and a napkin.

Economy class food redesigned - and the tablecloth even adds a touch of (business) class.

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Detect yourself


The experience in the airport has a large influence on the quality of the vacation as a whole. K. Sand asked: How to get quicker through airport security? How to decrease the feeling of insecurity and discomfort while passing through security?

Kirstine came up with Detect Yourself, a cylindrical LED screen with metal detectors. The LED light color and intensity changes according to the amount of metal detected. The lights stay turned on a few seconds after detection, giving the user time to step back and look. Kirstine adds:

"It can be a fun way of waiting - people even can paint their own motif with their metal watch close to the screen".



Kirstine developed a simple and effective solution, a design which, in the words of invited juror I.S. Chow, "turns the whole issue of airport paranoia into a social event".