RISD and Brown Students Present Innovation Conference at Microsoft Garage NYC

“In an era of rapid technological evolution, what’s missing is not invention, but connection—the space where ideas collide, disciplines merge and innovation is born from shared curiosity,” says rising senior Elaine Zhang 26 ID. Zhang was part of a group of RISD and Brown students, including Roy Larmour 26 FAV, Manna Patiparnprechavut 25 GD, Erin Xi 25 FAV, Vivian Li and Alec Lippman, who collaboratively created just such a space. It was inspired and supported by RISD faculty members Mattia Casalegno,  Marisa Mazria Katz, Daniel Lefcourt and Marco Roso, who met the students via RISD’s Computation Technology and Culture department.

Hosted in May by Microsoft Garage—a hub of experimental projects and innovation located in New York City’s SOHO neighborhood—SenseScape: Beyond Boundaries showcased interactive installations, live demonstrations and panel discussions that push the boundaries of XR applications across industries and academia.

The event highlighted novel approaches to storytelling, spatial computing and sensory augmentation, says Zhang, offering attendees a hands-on exploration of how design and technology converge to enhance human perception and interaction. It involved a wide range of participants, from student designers to freelance creatives, engineers and industry leaders with a shared passion for collaboratively shaping the evolving immersive design landscape.

Projects on view were organized into three thematic categories—Beyond Products, Beyond Space and Beyond Senses—rethinking how products function, how spaces are experienced, and how sensory interactions are redefined in digital and physical realms. Exhibition organizers describe the showcase as “a living blueprint of what’s next,” featuring works that bend the edges of new media, digital prototyping, immersive environments and sensory-driven design.

Among the projects on display was Soft Ache by new RISD alum Claudia Koh 25 PT, whose work investigates how Southeast Asian identity and cultural heritage and Singapore’s dense urban environment shape our experiences of space, memory and autonomy. Motion designer/UI artist Sean Hong also explored the physical world with Embodied Environment, and rising RISD senior Alicia Gong 26 PT—a 3D artist with the Brown/RISD Game Developers club—presented a piece called Epilogue. Brooklyn-based artist/designer/educator Sebastian Bidegain showed a project called Rock Camera (made in collaboration with Harry Isaac), and NYC code, data and robotics expert Julia Daser presented Stained Underwear, a real-time data visualization that sheds light on the amount of time and labor that goes into period care.

Attendees engaged with speculative prototypes, participated in research-driven workshops and heard from industry pioneers like author/educator Michelle Corteseis, who works at Meta Reality Labs and teaches VR design at NYU; creative technologist “Barbecue” Dave Sheinkofp, cofounder of experiential production studio Smooth Technology; AR engineer Andrés Cuervo, cofounder of Brooklyn community tech space Hex House; and interactive experience expert Josh Horowitz, founder and former CEO of the now-defunct experiential design agency Fake Love.

“The future doesn’t just happen,” Zhang says. “It is designed, shaped and reimagined by living people in real time.”

Visit the interactive SenseScape website and use AWSD keys to move forward and backward, R to fly up, C to fly down and SHIFT-cursor to look around. Have fun!

Simone Solondz / photos by Alex Lv
July 1, 2025