What do you do when your architectural design tool won’t allow you to test your design for the senses? How do you know that you are creating the best design for your future building occupants? What architecture techniques will you use?

Well, we all know that there is a multitude of modeling software out there to keep you refining your design — to present it not only to yourself, but to reviewers and clients. And with this software, you can come close to modeling architecture for the different parts of the senses. You can use software like 3DStudio Max to visually see what is going on; you can model sound using acoustic modeling software. But —what about touch? And smell?

Well, much can be gathered through the eyes about touch and smell. After all, you can infer that a textured looking wall might be rough to touch. Also, you pull from previous experience about what certain elements will feel and smell like. And from there, you begin to formulate and model a design concept — to better understand its intricacies, problem areas, and winning solutions.

Also, for your design you can specify materials and interact with samples. So in the end, you can account for the classical senses by using different architecture techniques — whether software based, experience-based, or real-world material based.

Thus, the whole point of this article is to remind you (the architect) to not only think about the senses of your future building occupants that perceive the building, but to also think about your own senses as you create your design.

Don’t always rely on one tool to “see” how your design is shaping up for its occupants. Be resourceful. Explore. And use your own senses to “pre-experience” what you are designing for your future building occupants.

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Elevator technology reduces occupants from taking the stairs --- some may find this helpful while others need the exercise.

As architectural technology gains greater capability to do more, will occupants like doing less? Well, I think much of the debate revolves around two issues: control and privacy. And when these two issues are dealt with correctly, technology can serve to lift limitations — so occupants can do more of the things they want to do.

You see, with technologies that monitor occupant behaviors through the objects they use and through the routines with which they engage daily, less is private and control points are being streamlined. This means that as technology develops, care needs to be taken to incorporate control and privacy solutions — so that occupants do indeed like feeling less limited — without worry, frustration, or boredom.

We stand in prime position today because with advancements in architectural technology come great strides in our ability to uplift occupant lifestyle. Technology certainly does make things easier — at least until there is a glitch or it has to be maintained or upgraded. But all in all, our relationship with architectural technology is still good, as long as it is integrated into an architectural design correctly.

The key is for such technology to help occupants reach their goals, whether they are daily or lifetime milestones. And to do this it is important to “integrate” it correctly into a design, rather than to just “apply” it as an afterthought.

Truly revolutionary technology that can uplift our lives may be right around the corner, but just know that it will likely not only strive to remove us from our present-day “chores”, but will also help us to predict and plan for better lives by making better decisions.

So, will occupants like doing less as technology advances? Maybe the answer isn’t about doing less — but rather, it is about doing more in life with less limitations. Hence, I think people want to do more, to live fully, but to do it with less limitations — and this is something with which the architectural technology of tomorrow can help.

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

As more and more technologies converge into smaller and more mobile devices, the spaces that we build are being understood and perceived in entirely new ways. In fact, when a person experiences a physical space with a mobile device, it can be augmented — where new dimensions about the space are revealed to the observer, within which it is made easier to navigate, remember, and find comfort.

For instance, in the following video, technology augments life’s experiences from the point of awakening every morning. This may be where technology is headed — and if so, how would you as an architect design for such augmented perception? Think about this question as you watch the following video.

As you can see from the video, at just about any point during the day, an event can occur that may be acted upon, shared, or downloaded for future retrieval. With the help of mobile technology, you could be reminded, taught, or even asked to socialize in new ways. So, what does this mean for architecture?

In a world where “places” are being shared virtually, or where way-finding becomes more intuitive, the architecture begins to enter into a new type of conversation with its visitors. The transformation of “place” that yields more real-time “events” means that architecture is becoming ever more dynamic.

With added layers of information making up a physical space, would it be possible to accomplish more in that place for the occupant? And if so, how could the architecture work hand-in-hand with the augmenting technology to feed occupants not only when they need it, but also where they need it?

In the end, augmenting mobile technologies are making it easier for people to find and act upon what they need. But how does the “static-ness” of architecture interact with the dynamic qualities of such technologies? How can the two come together to impact and uplift human experience?

One way, is for architects to consider that in addition to the classical human senses, occupants are gaining dynamic real-time information, visualized and understood as an added layer through technology. For instance, when technology is connected to the internet or is “crowd-sourced”, there is a deeper sensing that can occur. The trick then is to use such information and engagement to inform the design of buildings.

Augmenting mobile technology does seem to make a lot of experiences “easier”. But with architecture that takes such technologies into account, perhaps experiences can reach higher and richer levels — all in real-time, seamlessly woven into the fabric of daily life.

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

As a person works to achieve their goal, they often will encounter milestones along the way. And at these milestones it becomes important for them to assess how they are doing. Are they behind where they should be at a certain point? Are they ahead? And what happens as a result of where they are?

Well, what if an environment could pick up on cues about where an occupant is in relation to their goal? Perhaps it could use some just in time design interventions to help motivate and educate occupants toward their goal. This type of designing might take advantage of what I wrote about in my last post on adaptive architecture. That is, the architecture could feedback information to its occupant to help them achieve their goals.

Such an architecture would take advantage of aspects like teaching and rewarding occupants at just the right moments. Akin to a video game that rewards you to continue onto the next level — this type of adaptive architecture differs in that it aims to ease the obstacles and challenges while motivating and teaching its occupant.

Some examples of this type of reward-system architecture could be an environment that proactively helps occupants lose weight, engage in healthier habits, or work more productively. You see, each of these goals can be broken down into milestones, and each of the milestones can be used as points in time during which the environment can offer feedback on where an occupant is in their process, on how to improve for their next steps, and it can offer feedback in the form of a reward — which can serve as powerful motivation.

So, your objective as a designer isn’t to reward your occupants in meaningless ways, but to find rewards for them that are meaningful for them and their way of life…for their goals and objectives. You can make your environment feedback to its occupants in the form of signage, digital media installations, beautifully composed architectural elements, or even through their mobile devices. Don’t forget that environments are becoming more able to communicate with occupants through objects and appliances found within the environment.

Whatever the case, think about reward for your occupants as you design. How will you reward them? When will you reward them? And for what will you reward them? Think about elements that fit into their daily narrative, and also remember that you can use techniques like surprise, beauty, and knowedge to enhance their experience and propel occupants toward their goals.

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

If a building can provide real-time feedback to assist with promoting positive behaviors, do you think it would be a good idea to design such a building? You see, the implications to designing such a building are many. For instance, notions of privacy, control, and determining what positive behaviors to promote all feed into what might make such a building challenging to build.

Nevertheless, we can already see feedback being used to promote behaviors during regular daily life. For example, your car lets you know how fast you’re going, how much gas you have left, and whether or not you’ve forgotten to put your seatbelt on. In the case of the car, its feedback mechanisms target letting you know how to engage in positive behaviors that keep you and your car safe. Plus, the issues of privacy and control are all dealt with seamlessly.

For a building that is adaptive in its design, it could sense aspects like occupant mood and behavior, from which it could detect patterns — to determine desired outcomes, goals, and/or experiences seeked out by occupants. And in doing so, it could feedback to its occupants with important and timely information to help trigger positive behaviors.

Such positive behaviors could be to exercise more, to watch less tv, to eat healthier, to go to bed earlier for a better night’s sleep, or to become more productive by working smarter and multi-tasking less. Really, the behaviors that are deemed positive and worthy of being an occupant goal might all be embedded within the adaptive building’s fabric. Thus, what the building feedsback via its environmental stimuli would target helping occupants achieve such positive behaviors to reach their goals.

So, to answer the initial question which this article began with: Can Building feedback help to increase positive occupant behaviors? I think that if designed well, then the answer is yes. However, much care should be given to ensure that the building is targeting what the occupant wants to achieve, along with any predetermined safety measures as determined by the architect.

In the end, such an adaptive building could really help to improve occupang lifestyle, health, and happiness. The key is to make certain that the building’s feedback is in fact helping them positively. If designed well, I think that there is much that could be accomplished with such an architecture.

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

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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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: 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: nate steiner | Flickr

Samsung has come out with a transparent smart window, and I think it will be interesting to see how this impacts architectural design. You see, such a smart window provides much added functionality — particularly if certain apps get created for this particular “window-type” smart use.

Now, before I go on, I’d like to show you what these transparent smart windows look like. Here’s the video:

So, will such a smart window do much to improve architectural design? Or could it destroy an architectural design if not integrated correctly? Well, I think it can do both, depending on how it’s used.

I think the placement of such smart windows will be paramount, as will attention to making sure technology isn’t getting in the way. You see, such a smart window is really all about what is going on inside of a room. But I question — what will happen if the window begins to use apps that also take into account what is going on in the nearby exterior? What if the window becomes more truly interactive?

Suddenly, this transparent smart window will act as a communication portal that connects the interior with the exterior in new ways. Already, checking your Twitter account is an “exterior”, but what about your immediate surrounding context?

In order for the smart window to be truly innovative (where it is more than just a computer slapped onto a window), it needs to go-between what a window does and what a computer does. In other words, I think with appropriate app development, some pretty amazing things can be achieved with such a transparent smart window.

For instance, the window succeeds in tying “window” with “computer” as it provides weather information. While simple in theory, looking out of this window will give you more weather information than looking out of a non-smart window. Suddenly, you can not only see the sunshine outside through the window, but you can also see the forecast which calls for rain later in the day. Thus, looking out of this window provides “bigger eyes” — allowing you to delve deeper.

The main point with all of this is to make sure that if you use such a window in your design, it is not fragmenting functionalities for occupants. In other words, make sure that it is uniting functionalities, where associations are more streamlined and congruent. Thus, this smart window can really serve to improve your architectural design if you are conscientious about where and how it will be used. Placement within a home, office, or school could make or break its success.

Place it in the wrong location and this smart window could be a wasted opportunity where it gets in the way. I am also curious as to how finger-prints are dealt with which may obstruct any views.

The key here is to not see this window as simply a boundary between interior and exterior, but as a portal which could also connect two interior spaces. The notion of a “transparent smart surface” will likely manifest into better architectural design uses, as that opens up the potential for more creativity in getting this “window” used in new and more truly innovative ways.

So, all in all, I’d say this is a great step forward — but now it’s up to designers to figure out how best to incorporate such a technology so it’s not in the way, but instead shows the way. Perhaps the magic will reside in the apps that get uploaded to this window; thus, its functionality will provide for better architectural experiences where not only eyes become “bigger”, but the other senses do as well.

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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 Credit: jan.tito | Flickr

Within architecture, there are many places where occupant choice surfaces. Every time an occupant makes a decision on where to go, what to focus on, or what to feel — they are interacting with your architecture, and making decisions based off of it. So, why is occupant choice so important?

Choice is everywhere. And for you as an architect, it is your job to distill those choices within your environments for your occupants. By making their choices clear, and meaningful, their experiences will be that much richer.

The key is also to align the architectural design choices which you provide for occupants with their needs in time. So, from moment to moment, your occupants are thinking, feeling, and doing in response to your architecture — thus, the choices which your buildings provide must be clear, meaningful, and inspired.

As your occupants “choose” while taking a journey through your designed built space, keep in mind that it is as though they are reading an interactive story, where they decide where to go (within the confines of the environment you have designed). So, should you think of yourself as an architect that is an interactive storyteller?

Perhaps yes, because this might be a way to get you to better understand your occupant’s narrative, including what they need, when they need it, and why. The main idea is to help your occupants reach their goals — and a significant contribution to help them do that is to provide the right guidance through your architectural work: in other words, the right choices.

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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 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.

Please Tell Me What You Think

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