The authors present an experimental middleware infrastructure called Gaia, which they have used to prototype the resource management of?and to provide the user-oriented interfaces for-physical spaces populated with network-enabled computing resources. The authors focus on physical spaces used for teaching; classrooms, offices, and lecture rooms. The system described is derived from a series of experiments starting in 1996. The authors show how, by applying the concepts of a conventional operating system to middleware, they can manage the resources, devices, and distributed objects in a room, building, or physical space, how a distributed extension of the model-view-controller that is use in personal computers simplifies and structures practical applications for these environments, and how, by driving context-sensitivity into its data storage mechanisms, the system can help satisfy the requirements for user-centricity and mobility.