Visit UID26 | Project Gallery

Beosound tableau

Degree Project 2026

The home has historically been understood as a sanctuary, a space for recovery, reflection and the formation of identity. Yet over the past two decades, the integration of digital technology into the domestic sphere has measurably eroded the conditions under which dwelling can occur. Research documents a saturation point in domestic technology use, a collapse in sustained attention, and a growing cultural movement toward more intentional, physically anchored relationships with everyday objects. This thesis investigates how audio, one of the most emotionally resonant and spatially significant ways inhabitants shape their homes, can be redesigned to support rather than undermine the user’s sense of presence and authorship within their space. The project draws on theoretical frameworks from Bachelard, Heidegger, Borgmann, Belk, and Csikszentmihalyi, alongside the design philosophy of Slow Technology, and grounds these in qualitative research conducted through a design probe with eight participants. From this foundation, a set of product responsibilities is established and used to guide an ideation phase exploring a range of input and output formats for domestic audio. The concept proposes domestic audio as a focal practice, an instrument not just for listening, but for living.

Show more Show less

Project Background

The home was once a place of refuge. A space shaped by its inhabitants, where small rituals and personal objects anchored the act of being at home. Over the past two decades, the home has changed. Technology has made it more connected, more capable, more convenient. But the same technology has also turned the home into another node in a network of constant connectivity, blurring the boundary between sanctuary and the outside world.

Within domestic audio, this shift has been particularly pronounced. The act of listening to music, which used to involve physical objects, tactile engagement, and the small rituals of choosing, has been compressed into a screen-based interaction routed through the same device that carries email, news, and notifications. The choosing of music has become a transaction. Something has been lost in the process.

The project began with a question. What is the home for, and is the technology we live with helping it serve that purpose, or quietly working against it?

Method

The project ran two parallel threads of investigation. A theoretical research strand drew on philosophers and design theorists writing about the home, dwelling, and the relationship between people and objects. A design probe with eight participants over five days surfaced how these conditions are experienced in real homes, through self-documented behaviours and follow-up interviews.

From these threads, five product responsibilities emerged. They became the framework guiding every design decision in the project.

The ideation phase produced eight experimental directions across input and output formats. Three stood out for how fully they answered the responsibilities, and their shared qualities pointed toward a single resolved object. A pivot, driven by Wizard of Oz testing, moved the design from a screen-based interaction model toward navigation by sound. The principle that emerged became the foundation of the final concept: the most honest interface for a music object is music itself.

Result

The project resulted in the Tableau and Sonic Token, a wall-mounted audio object developed in collaboration with Bang & Olufsen.

The Beosound Tableau is offered as a focal thing for the home. An object to gather around and tend to. An instrument not just for listening, but for living.