Usona Institute

The Usona Institute Campus is the first facility designed and built to serve novel therapeutic practices, with set and setting at the core of its architectural philosophy. Coherent Sense designed the Campus’s centerpiece experiential system — a volumetric environment combining a light hologram and a 30-speaker ambisonic sound field, controlled in real time by a therapist-facing interface.

The therapist directs the experience through a single panel: selecting from a small library of 45-minute programs, and modulating emotional valence — the affective shape of the room — across the duration of a session. The light, sound, and ambient texture move together as one composition rather than as separate channels. The room becomes a tunable instrument rather than a fixed environment.

Coherent Sense contributed creative direction, production, and experiential strategy on the centerpiece system, under the executive creative direction of Digital Ambiance, working between Ramlow/Stein Architects, the Usona Institute, clinical therapists, UX/UI designers, and a roster of curated artists who authored individual experiences within the framework. Built and delivered in 2024 in service of the Campus’s broader architectural and clinical vision.