Image Credit: seier+seier | Flickr

Image Credit: seier+seier | Flickr

Building skin has the power to hide and protect while also serving to display and reveal. And in particular, building skin that is transient takes on the ability to do all of these things. For example, the Danish Radio Concert Hall in Copenhagen maintains a skin that uses screens which change their display dependent upon time of day and seasons. Such a versatile building skin makes for a building that is more adaptive — able to brighten dark days, and able to further “broadcast” inner productions.

Building skin must often accomplish so much, from energy efficiency to aesthetic appeal. And there is more that can be done. For instance, what happens when a building skin can appear and disappear in time? Suddenly, the interior becomes public as the building skin makes itself invisible. The building becomes chameleon-like, able to transform itself to changing exterior or interior conditions.

But what may be best is for a building skin to respond to people. Perhaps based on what goes on in its neighboring exterior or in-use interior. What if a building skin could change according to occupant activity within? Or what if it could change according to the social activities occurring within its outdoor adjacent plaza? Building skin can use triggers put forth by the way people engage with the spaces which it divides or unites. After all, skin can be a boundary which breathes.

All in all, don’t forget that a building skin provides you with great opportunity — to communicate a message, to invite people in, to light up a community, or to protect that which goes on inside. So, as you design, think of all of the functions which your building skin should provide, including its aesthetic appeal. Your building design will be stronger, make a bigger positive difference for occupants, and will likely stand as a more unique work of architecture.

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: rox sm | Flickr

The experience of mobile architecture can be quite a powerful thing. Take for instance the BMW Guggenheim Laboratory that was constructed in New York — there, on a rather small lot, this lab was assembled to serve as think-tank and community center. And the beauty of this is that such architecture does a lot to uplift an area.

To explain further as to why this is the case, the following are seven reasons why mobile architecture can be a good thing for a local community:

Top 7 Reasons Why Mobile Architecture Can Leave a Permanent Positive Mark

1. Mobile architecture can revitalize an area, turning an abandoned or difficult-to-use space into a notable place that sparks community pride. Plus, depending on its function, mobile architecture can be set up for events that also help to boost community participation and spirit.
2. Mobile architecture can be transformed. Thus, there is a changeability factor that comes into place when considering mobile architecture. With some prescience it becomes possible to provide for a variety of functions within a given area over a period of time. Again, events can be more truly celebrated.
3. Mobile architecture can be built quickly, and as such it can be transported to different parts of the world. Thus, a place (or an event) can become global — giving multiple cultures a chance to experience a particular idea of place.
4. Mobile architecture doesn’t have to follow all of architecture’s rules. In other words, it can be assembled and disassembled repeatedly — something more traditional architecture doesn’t do. This means that mobile architecture can fit into unique space, can be constructed at unique times, and can be used in unique ways.
5. Mobile architecture can create “spirit of place”. Because mobile architecture can be tied to events so easily, it can quite inherently take on a “spirit of place” as a community gathers around its intended functions. Just because an architecture is mobile does not mean that it makes less of an impact because of its impermanence. Instead, it has the power to launch both individual and collective experiences of curiosity, pride, memory, and so on.
6. Mobile architecture can test new ideas. Because mobile architecture is less permanent and can travel, it is a great way to test new ideas within architecture. Almost like a portable laboratory, mobile architecture is a great way to see how different people (even of different cultures) react to given architectural compositions.
7. Mobile architecture can be timelier. Because mobile architecture can be erected quickly and can travel, it has the ability to react in a timelier fashion to current events within a community. Thus, it can smooth-over a difficult time, or it can conjure up great excitement for an area. Mobile architecture has this advantage of being able to respond more quickly.

Thus, I will leave you with a time-lapse video of the BMW Guggenheim Laboratory that went up in New York. Think about the latter seven benefits of mobile architecture the next time you are presented with an opportunity to design such a structure.

Here’s the video:

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image Credit: rox sm | Flickr

Architecture surrounds occupants, it engages them, and it guides them. A well designed work can make an experience brighter, livelier, happier, and more meaningful. So, why are so many buildings today designed at the status quo, where they are there to meet the bare essentials? Perhaps it is because many architects today do not think in terms of holistic design thinking.

You see, holistic design is a work that considers all of the senses. It is a place where aspects like attention, focus, learning, and memory have been addressed. Holistically designed places can be soothing, comfortable, inspirational, and even beautiful.

The main idea is to not get rid of function in hopes of amplifying aesthetics. No. The main strategy is instead, to further unify function with aesthetics — where each is designed consciously from the perspective of all the senses. In doing this, an architectural design will be richer and more universal, being able to meet the needs of both the individual and the collective.

So, I invite you to think in terms of a holistic design perspective. Understand that this is the true language of how humans perceive, and that is the language which you should use to best communicate with your building occupants. After all, that is how you will make a positive difference in their life, by designing to meet their needs in a way that contributes proactively to the very aspects of life they wish to experience.

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image Credit: szeke | Flickr

Did you know that there is memory bias? That is, memory can be changed, boosted, or impaired. So, if this is the case: What makes building occupants form stronger architectural memories than others?

Well, according to a Memory Bias article in Science Daily, there are many ways that memory bias can occur – but there are three main aspects. They are humor, positivity, and self-generated memories. Each of these latter aspects can boost memory in people. So, with this, I wonder how these play a role in architectural design.

After all, there are times where a design can be funny (or fun). There are times when a design can accentuate the positive over the negative. And there are times when a design can help an occupant self-generate information to remember through the act of engaging with them more interactively. So, does it then become safe to assume that architecture that does these things will be more memorable? And memorable at the exact moment where these memory boosters occur?

As you design, you should ask yourself how your occupants are likely to remember your building and their experiences there after they have left. Are there places within your building where it is fun? Positive? Or engaging?

Thus, to design and build a memorable building you may want to strive for those three goals: a design that is fun, positive, and engaging. Your building will likely be more enjoyable to experience, will function better, and will leave a longer lasting impression on your occupants. And of course, a great reason to be concerned with leaving an impression upon your occupants is that it can be one of value, that brings them benefit well after they have left your building.

So, remember: Fun + Positive + Engaging = Memory Boost

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: MAZZALIARMADI.IT |Flickr

Working memory is a part of everyone’s life. That is, it is the combination of the processes that go on during focused attention. Until now, it has been thought that such working memory is really limited to only one focused task, but now there is a theory that working memory is really a sum total of different processes that go on to accomplish tasks. (1)

For instance, say you’re involved in focused attention to get ready for a presentation. Well, the tasks that you are involved with to finish your presentation may be numerous, and may vary widely in terms of the type of work that needs to be done. Reading is a different task from building a design model, for instance. And when you engage with the task of reading, different parts of your brain process as compared with when you engage in the task of building a design model.

So what does this all have to do with architectural design?

Well, when designing a professional office design that needs to help its occupants carry out certain tasks — wouldn’t it be beneficial to design it in such a way that it promotes the very creativity, productivity, and efficiency that its very occupants are trying to achieve with their work?

In an effort to design for better creative offices, you as the architect may want to think about environmental features that boost such working memory. Thus, you would need to dissect what tasks your occupant engages in during their day, to better understand what senses they are using, when they are using them, and how they are using them with each other — that is, to determine if a task involves both visual, aural, and memorization (like when preparing for a presentation), or the sense of touch, vision, and proprioception (as when building a model). Then, you should find solutions that boost those functions.

Such a technique may also work beyond professional office design, as it may also be used to help environments for the aging or for those with impairments. The key is to uncover and delve deeper into not only what tasks your occupants do, but to better understand the physiology of how they do them. By uncovering what your occupant actually does from a sensory standpoint, you can unravel what is behind seemingly simple and more complex tasks like reading (seemingly simple) or building a model while listening to music and referencing architectural drawings (seemingly complex).

So, think in greater “dimmensions” about the tasks with which the occupants in your architectural designs engage. You will like uncover clues and greater insight which will help you to design more personalized and more harmonious environments. And the more creative and thoughtful your solutions, the more likely your occupants will acheive what they set out to achieve. Creative offices are only the beginning.

Citation: (1) How the Brain Keeps Track of What We’re Doing. Science Daily. July 29, 2011.

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: Jeremy Levine Design | Flickr

Comfort in architecture can relate to many aspects of how a building gets designed. It’s not always just about temperature control — the issue that gets so much attention anytime building comfort gets mentioned. In fact, building comfort has a lot to do with how an architectural built form engages an occupant through all of their senses, particularly when considering the harmonization between them…like with factors of lighting, materiality, sound, and so on.

Ideally, building comfort also includes your architectural ability to foresee occupant need before they even know they need it. This boost in performance will likely have your occupants’ say to themselves… “I didn’t realize I needed this. But now that I have it, I do not want to be without it.” Through this lens, building comfort transcends the senses as it evolves to trigger aspects like occupant cognition, physiology and/or emotion.

Of course, this does not mean that you are to design extraneous and superfluous elements within your building that will not make a significant difference in your occupants’ end-goals. After all, it is not meeting their needs if you add-on to a building design in a manner that raises building cost and provides no real value. Instead, you should concentrate on meeting your occupants’ needs by increasing your design’s leverage points — and one way to do this is by pulling what sensory design can do within architecture to bring greater value to your occupants’ present day and future needs.

Thus, I invite you to consider building comfort as you design — where through a deeper lens you are able to understand how your architectural elements tie together to yield a design that meets those occupant needs that they themselves did not know they needed. This means that it is up to you as the architect to understand what your design can do for your occupant in its ability to meet their needs, either as they themselves change and grow, or as they realize more needs once they embark on a particular project, new lifestyle behavior, or simply begin to use your new design.

Building comfort through this light will allow you to compose the elements of your design, as opposed to seeing them as separate elements where each meets a respective occupant need. Instead, you should see building comfort as a fusion of architectural elements that come together to complement one another and to form relationships with each other that make the design as a whole stronger for your building occupant.

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: tegioz | Flickr

Building structure, at face value, is about the framework that holds up the building. But what does a commercial steel building structure reveal about the building perceptually? Does the rhythm of its components add to the excitement of experiencing an architectural work? And when do structural elements that are further detailed (as when a column is uniquely articulated), take on their own behavioral fabric?

Well, there are times when building structure contributes to a magnificent positive tension between building elements and their composition. And this “tension”, if executed well, can make for quite an exciting place to experience.

If you take into account much of Santiago Calatrava’s architectural designs, you cannot help but be inspired by the type of tension his works radiate. As the structures embrace the rhythm that becomes gentle in the places where you would expect it to be most strong — Calatrava uses structure to articulate a language of both strength and delicateness. And this way of pushing structure to such different ends of the same spectrum, I think is one important factor behind what makes Calatrava’s work so interesting, beautiful and surprising.

When considering the Alamillo Bridge project in Seville, Spain by Calatrava it becomes quite breathtaking to see what this architect has done with the angled, and concrete filled, steel mast. By using a steel structure in all its glory, a unique experience is created where the steel structure is revealed to almost imply perceptual movement when it is in fact static. As you can see in the image of the Alamillo Bridge project, structure is certainly being used to make a statement, create experience and meet user needs.

So, when you are putting together the concept for the way in which your next commercial steel building structure is to bring beauty by serving as your building’s bones and tendons — consider how the structure itself could not only support your design, but also bring never-before-seen life into your design as it lifts, pulls, cantilevers, angles or even bends.

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: Averain | Flickr

Have you ever thought about how crowd mentality factors into architectural design? Well, as you can see in the photo of the Spanish Steps, there is a prime example of crowd mentality, showing what happens when a simple factor like sunlight enters the picture. Do you notice how most of the people are sitting in the shade? And have you ever thought about analyzing your building design and its site in these terms?

The exterior areas of your building design are not just “blank” masses of area that are used the same throughout. Instead you may like to think of them as exterior “rooms” where factors like light, temperature, noise, smell, texture or even wind can have a significant effect. So for instance, you may design and exterior plaza, but it may not be used in the same way throughout. Additionally, it may be used much differently from the way you originally intended.

And of course, there are those times where exterior elements just outside of buildings are used by skateboarders to perform a trick or even simply by a person trying to find the quick seat. And then you have to wonder, did the designer intended for these uses? Or where these uses mere byproducts of a different vision than the designer had?

So, when you begin to design the way your building interacts with its surrounding urban scape, consider functionalities as they may actually be used outdoors. For some reason, it seems that a seat indoors would most usually be used as a seat. Whereas a concrete seat outdoors could be used as a skateboard ramp, a table, a stage, or even a desk.

I would say the crowd mentality in exterior spaces have an ability to adapt that is quite different from the way people adapt when inside a building. There are a different set of conditions outdoors, prompting people to engage a bit differently around the built forms which surround them. And often those behaviors can spread from person to person — just as an idea can go viral.

Be sure to consider the many dimensions to your exterior building designs. Consider how different people might see them from different perspectives, and for different uses. Understand which uses you are trying to promote. And also understand where you wish to design an inherent “freedom”, where people may behave in a multitude of ways.

Such techniques will give your design and added layer of sophistication, all because you factor in crowd mentality to make the exterior of your designs just as meaningful as their interiors.

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: telmo32 | Flickr

There is something to be said about a design when it simply presents the user with only what is needed, when it is needed. Simple design does not mean that it is simplistic, but rather that it has stripped away the extraneous and unnecessary that would only confuse or belittle the power of the true underlying design core. This is often a strength of minimal architecture.

In fact, the image to the right depicts how a simple line can be manipulated to express such vast space and dimension — all by expressing form, color and a simple vision that brings the viewer in. Some may say that the success of the iPhone is built upon a similar type of minimalism that makes the user experience an intuitive and joyful one. And much like the line image above, just because it is based on the power of the simple, does not mean that it does not have an inherent complexity.

In applying what a simpler design can do within architecture, I invite you to take a look at the following Electrolux Design Concept, entitled Heart of the Home. As you watch the animation, notice how a simple surface can morph into exactly what a user needs, at precisely the time they need it. Additionally, what is presented in simple form, is made to adjust according to user controls to help a person reach their goal — in this case to prepare a great meal with ease.

On this Sensing Architecture site, I often talk about various emerging technologies that are interactive, adaptive or even augmented. But what I would like you to understand is that such technologies can be used within an architectural design to make what is seemingly simple within a building (like a surface) have inherent complexity that can serve occupants in innovative and multifaceted ways.

So, I urge you to take a look at the following video, and as you watch reconsider what those simple elements within a building can be created to do. The surface, the corner, or even a joint can be reformulated to become so much more than what you may think it is at first glance. Think about how you can build upon the power of minimal architecture, and use the following video to trigger some creative strategies for incorporation into your own work —

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I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter and Facebook followers by clicking on the “re-tweet” and “like” button at the beginning of this page.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: brendan skinner | Flickr

You can work with your building’s surroundings by repressing them, hiding from them, celebrating them, juxtaposing them, making fun of them, uplifting them, supporting them, replacing them, improving them, or even changing them. Look beyond your building’s immediate site, to analyze that which surrounds it. Look at what is permanent and semi-permanent, and at that which is intangible – like the surrounding culture. These issues can inform your architectural site analysis too.

So the next time you are trying to get to the core of your design problem for a particular project, take a moment (or better yet, a physical trip) out to explore what surrounds your building’s site. After all, your building may have a physical site boundary, but it can visually be seen from much further — and thus, experienced from vantage points which you may not consider if you do not extend your own perspective beyond your own site’s boundary.

I mention this because there are times when an architect is asked to design a building within a context that may be challenging because of its unique peculiarities. For instance, during an extensive site analysis you may discover that there are noise issues coming from afar during certain times of day or night that will affect functionality within your building design. Another example is that there may be advertisements or cultural artwork within the surrounding area — it will be up to you, whether to celebrate that culture or dismiss it as you formulate your architectural solution to your site.

There are many factors that come into play regarding an architectural site analysis, but I think it may be important for you to understand (as you are coming up with solutions to your architectural design) what the collective perception is of what is currently on your building site (or what once was there). People that live within the surrounding area often have a certain perception, and even feeling, or better yet an opinion about the site where you will build. And I think as an architect you should be aware of any collective perception that may be out there about your future building site.

I’m not saying that you should be limited to the perceptions of others with regard to the site awaiting your design, but I do think you will formulate a better design concept if you understand the different and sometimes intangible dimensions to the site where you will build. Use that as a springboard to think outside of the box by still being true to your own design style, but still solve for local challenges, opportunities and needs.

Your architectural site analysis is important for many reasons. And key among those is that it presents you with many clues which together add up to help you determine what design opportunities and challenges you can solve, leverage and build upon. A good architectural site analysis gives you a peek into the underlying “personality” of where you will build — and that may just spark your own best innovative architectural design solution.

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I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter and Facebook followers by clicking on the “re-tweet” and “like” button at the beginning of this page.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman