When Design Hotels and Universal Design Studio approached our team to create the sonic experience for their installation at Milan Design Week 2025, we were presented with an intriguing challenge: how do you use sound to enhance an evolving physical space designed to foster different types of human connection?
The installation, titled "Space Between," was a collaboration between Design Hotels and Universal Design Studio that brought to life themes from their recent Further Forecast: Community Capital study. Open to Design Week attendees from April 7-9 at STRAF Hotel in Milan, the installation featured a series of modular tables and chairs positioned in specific configurations to evoke different social responses—from isolation to conversation—evolving throughout the week.
Our role was to curate three distinct playlists, one for each day, designed to sonically enhance these different modes of human interaction.
Sound as a Social Catalyst
The installation explored a fascinating question: how can hotels and other "third spaces" use design more intentionally to realize their potential as cultural catalysts? While the physical design addressed this through modular furniture arrangements, our contribution was to create soundscapes that would subtly influence the atmosphere and enhance the intended experience each day.
Building upon insights from their Community Capital report, Space Between examined how third spaces can be activated to foster community-building and connection. Our sonic approach needed to complement this vision, creating atmosphere without overwhelming the space or conversations within it.
Our Sonic Approach
We worked closely with the Design Hotels team to develop three themed playlists, each designed to evoke a specific emotional response:
Soundtrack 1: Conversation
For the press preview and opening event, we crafted a playlist characterized by soft, organic, and unobtrusive sounds. Drawing from contemporary classical, IDM, and modern jazz genres, this lower-energy selection created the perfect backdrop for meaningful dialogue. The music acted as a gentle facilitator rather than a distraction, with tracks like Aphex Twin's "aisatsana" setting the tone.
Soundtrack 2: Creativity
As the installation opened to the public, our second playlist shifted to more intricate, inspiring, and uplifting selections. Featuring electronica, indie, and trip-hop genres at a mid-energy level, these sounds were chosen to stimulate creative thinking and new ideas. Tracks like Four Tet's "My Angel Rocks Back and Forth" exemplified this delicate balance of complexity and accessibility.
Soundtrack 3: Togetherness
For the final day, we elevated the energy while maintaining the installation's contemplative nature. This playlist emphasized warmth, positivity, and subtle euphoria through deep house and electronica genres, creating a sense of collective experience. Tracks like Ogawa & Tokoro's "Dancing in the River (Khotin Remix)" captured this essence perfectly.
Design Philosophy: The Space Between Notes
Our overall approach focused on enhancing the space, design, and installation without distracting from it. We selected music with sparse, clean production that referenced the "Space Between" concept acoustically, focusing on tracks where the pauses and spaces between notes were as important as the notes themselves, complementing the physical installation, which used a modular system that evolved daily to fuel the collective imagination, opening dialogues, facilitating unexpected exchanges, and nurturing movements shaping culture.
The Future of Spatial Sound Design
As designers increasingly recognize how sound influences human behavior in shared spaces, we see tremendous potential for sonic branding to play a more strategic role in architectural and experiential design. The Space Between installation at Milan Design Week 2025 offered a glimpse into this future where sound, space, and social interaction are thoughtfully orchestrated to create meaningful human connections.