Pieces of modular flooring mat are laid out against the side of falling-down shack along a steep mountain road outside of Taibei, Taiwan. Meant to protect the vehicle from the building (and vice-versa, although there’s increasingly less and less of a building left to protect), this design echoes a permanently-installed version of this solution seen in downtown Yangon, Myanmar.

Consider what the configuration of these repurposed floor mats imply about the types of vehicles that typically park there, or the types of vehicles welcome to use this space (or simply the relative size of vehicles that can be found around steep mountain roads in Taiwan in general).

Is there another, deeper layer of potential interaction beneath this surface-level, physical one? Something as simple as an audible tone emitted (or a change in color of the material, or a flashing of an LED) when a vehicle approaches in close proximity? It’d probably make sense for adjacent (unoccupied) contact pads to enact the interaction as well, as they would likely be more visible than the one the driver is approaching directly. If this question of potential interactions for this repurposing makes you scratch your head as well, you should check out this site put up by a colleague meant to be a fount of inspiration for those looking for inspiration around more appropriate/interesting/exciting types of interaction possibilities.