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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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: jurvetson | Flickr

Lately, many technologies are surfacing that help with the tracking of a person’s physiological signals for health. Such a technology is sleep tracking technology which monitors heart rate, movement, and breathing. So, when a person lies in bed sleeping, data is being collected about the quality of that person’s sleep. (1)

Yet, what can you, as an architect, do with such data to help your occupants? And can architecture be the go-between that pulls from data which tracks health, to emitting environmental stimuli which promotes health? Well, I say the answer to the latter question is yes, and for the answer to the first question: read on.

Just imagine if the two could work together: tracking health and promoting health. With tracking, you would find health problems, and with promoting you would treat and prevent health problems. Thus, to make this work, the tracking device and the architecture would need to communicate.

As the device detects shifts in the health algorythms of an occupant, the architecture could pull from this data to release just-in-time environmental stimuli to cater to the particular occupant need.

For example, a sleep monitoring device might detect an occupant tossing and turning in bed while trying to sleep at night. If the architecture could pull from that data (communicating with the device), sensory design could really help the architecture to interactively emit stimuli to prevent further sleep disturbances. Some architectural aspects which could be tailored might include the adjustment of temperature, lighting, sound, and even scent.

So I now ask you to think about how your architecture could be improved if it could communicate with a device within it. What would that communication need to be like in order to make for a successful architectural design response? And how would your architecture be better as a result of that communication?

(1) Simonite, Tom. Sleep Sensor Hides Beneath the Mattress. Technology Review. November 9, 2011.

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Advancements involving architecture are most always a great thing. But what happens when such advancements like technology detract from an architectural design? I think the answer to this lies in the hands of the individual architect for that given project —specifically regarding what aspects of technology they choose to make visible versus invisible.

You see, technology for architecture can bring much value to a project — giving it new kinds of capabilities. But there are also times when a given technology exudes “side-effects” which conflict and/or detract from a design. An example of this “foe” relationship between architecture and technology can be seen in all sorts of building types ranging from retail stores to hospitals.

Take, for instance, the lighting in a clothing store. If not specified correctly, flourescent lighting in the dressing rooms may detract from the very purpose of the store: to sell clothes. The painful lighting makes those trying on clothes look worse, not better. Conversely, well specified lighting would be semi- invisible technology as it would make the occupant benefit from great lighting, without thought of where it is coming from. It would simply become a seamless part of the shopping experience.

In hospitals, medical technology helps to save lives, makes the building more efficient, and serves to assist patients in pain. There exists a “friend” relationship between architecture and technology until…those side-effects surface. From lighting to the aural environment, hospitals could stand to be better. After all, painful lighting from overhead and stressful sounds coming from surrounding machines detract from the healing atmosphere which the medical team and architecture try to create for patients. Again, semi- invisible technology would still save lives — but would do so in a less overwhelming and abrasive way.

In the end, architecture and technology can yield a very strong relationship where each brings value to the other. But what is the factor that makes this possible — tuurning them from “foes” into “friends”?

Perhaps it is the notion of having an invisible technology where functions are elevated within architecture because of it — but where side-effects and trade-offs are non-existant. To accomplish this, a holistic sensory design mindset is necessary, where you as a designer factor for a multitude of senses within your design. In this way, you will be aware of when technology issues a trade-off, and you will be able to correct it.

So, back to the question: Are architecture and technology “friends” of “foes”?

I would say “friends”, if the architect designing for them takes advantage of an invisible technology mindset, thus obliterating technological side-effects and trade-offs. It’s a way to get to the benefit of technology without any of the obstacles or risks.

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to control your house or other environment with your mind? Well, advances in brain computer interfaces are beginning to make much of this a reality. You see, certain brain computer interfaces can feed off of the electroencephalograph (EEG) signals from your brain, to then translate them into commands that are sent throughout a given building. (1)

If you look for them, you will see that brain computer interfaces are beginning to surface — take for instance the emotiv epoc headset which uses similar technology to what I described above, where this neural headset feeds off of the EEG signals from the brain.

But what does this mean for architecture?

For starters, the notion of control within environments will be going through a shift. As such brain computers as the emotiv epoc headset continue to be refined in their development, it may be possible to assert environmental decisions with less physical action and more mental reliance. This does seem to be great news for those who are physically impaired, as they could use such an epoc neuroheadset to engage with their environment more seamlessly.

Since the epic headset can allow its user to do things like arrange Flickr photographs according to emotion, just imagine what might be possible when incorporating transient environmental qualities into the mix.

What if when wearing such an epoc headset, you could change your environment with your mind by using your emotions. How would your house respond to you when you are feeling happy? And what might it do if you were to feel sad? Would the house then try to cheer you up with its happier lighting, sounds, or aromas?

Brain computer interfaces are certainly changing the face of interaction by allowing otherwise secondary aspects, like emotions, to surface more transparently into the decision-making realm. Really, emotions have always been a part of decision-making in human life, but now with neuroheadsets we will be able to see the real cause-and-effect relationship between emotion, decision-making and consequence. — all three of which could contribute to better design and usability for occupants within their environments.

Please Tell Me What You Think

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(1) Rowe-Graham, Duncan. Control Your Home With Thought Alone. New Scientist. July 5, 2011.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

3-D viewing of objects is something that many designers (particularly architects) are always in search of doing better — for, building design models that take the form of physical prototypes or even virtual prototypes (as is built within the computer using digital media) most often become limited in what they can tell a designer about their designs.

But what happens when a 3-D viewing system is developed that can scan a real-life object and put it on display so that, as a person walks around it, they are viewing it in real life? Or, what if a 3-D system could present your digital model — again, so that one could walk around the model and view it just as if it was real-life? And then the real power comes in when you add interactivity to that model. Well, a group of students at Tsinghua University, in China, have designed just such a 3-D viewing system.

The beauty of a system like this is that you could have a combination of the best of both worlds: 1) a three-dimensional representation of a virtual model that you could walk around and interact with, and 2) an augmented reality model within which can be programmed functionalities that go beyond zooming or panning the model itself, but involve aspects about the model’s design that impact occupant experience through their senses.

I write this article in hopes to inspire such a merger between physical and virtual model-making, where augmented reality models for architecture can take on a three-dimensional interactive viewing system. That is, where the union between the physical and the virtual help with the design of buildings by allowing designers to see more than just what is on their surface (building skin and bones), but to be able to steer more deeply into the way they behave in relation to certain contexts.

Application in Design: The Augmented Reality Museum

Apart from the design process itself, such a three-dimensional viewing system may also contribute significantly to museum exhibit design — where an augmented reality museum, for example, would be able to capitalize on such a fusion between the physical, the virtual, and the interactive. I would imagine that such a 3D interactive viewing system would make for some quite educational, cultural, and memorable museum visitor experiences. In such an example you can see how you not only would be designing with such a 3-D viewing system, but you could also be incorporating such a viewing system into some of your designs.

To do this, you must begin to think and ask yourself certain strategic questions.

For example, as you design, it is important to ask yourself about what type of architectural behavioral information would help you best to visualize the building design that you’re working on. Would it be about the behavior of your building’s energy, light, motion, thermal properties, or other transient differences? Then, imagine how such behavioral information about the design will help to inform you toward your design decisions. It may help to first ask yourself “what” you are looking to discover with such an augmented reality model, and then you can strategize as to “how” to achieve what you want to discover if you presented it in augmented reality model form.

The merger between the virtual and the real is more than just about replicating a design idea just because you can. Instead, it can be about experimenting and testing ideas to see not only how they look, but also how they behave and feel.

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Brain EEG

Researchers at the UCSD division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) have developed innovative CAD (computer-aided design) software called CAVE-CAD that, when integrated with novel hardware to monitor human neurological and physiological responses, makes architectural design more efficient. CAVE-CAD also adds an important feature missing in conventional CAD: an ability to immediately experience the consequence of modifying design.

Source: UC San Diego News Center, CAVE-CAD Software Will Help Mine Human Brain to Improve Architectural Design

This exciting latest development of CAVE-CAD means great things for the evolution of occupant-centered architectural design. While this instrument is used to measure occupant response to an immersive experience of an architectural building design decision, I see many other uses for such a development that can really help our profession as well as all people that experience architecture.

To give you a better idea of what this simulation/experiential tool can do, please watch the following video which will show you CAVE-CAD in action, while also explaining some of the research team’s future plans for development:

As you can see, CAVE-CAD is a great instrument for testing architectural designs in terms of how occupants will be likely to experience them. As an immersive testing and design tool, it is possible to make design changes on the fly while simultaneously analyzing how an occupant would respond to such change. I particularly like that the aural environment that goes along with the visual environment which can be tested simultaneously for an occupant’s experiential reaction. It’s a great way to get inside the head of an occupant, and to get inside the design before it’s constructed so as to better understand how design decisions impact occupants.

While being immersed in CAVE-CAD, occupants might feel lost or overwhelmed, surprised or bored, or curious and happy.And if steps can be taken to delve into such occupant physiology, emotion, behavior, cognition, and even spirituality — then CAVE-CAD can prove to be a very powerful tool for architectural design.

As you design your buildings using your own process, just imagine how you might like to test certain aspects experientially, going beyond the visual. By finding and developing a testing ground where you can fuse the different senses together into a virtual experience of a space, you will likely make better design decisions and will also be able to communicate your design better to future occupants.

And don’t think that you need CAVE-CAD to do all of your testing for occupant experience. For example, you can set up virtual aural and visual simulations using your computer along with a projection screen and speakers. The trick is to devise a plan to study your occupant’s reactions: whether physiological, intellectual, emotional, behavioral, and/or spiritual.

For optimal results, keep track of what research materials and tools are becoming available to you as an architectural designer. Try to improve your designs for your occupants by better understanding not only your designs before they are built, but also by better understanding your occupants’ reactions to those design ideas. In following along this path, you will stand in prime position to boost your design process to yield higher quality design with less error.

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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: tr.robinson | Flickr

So often, as an architect, attention is paid to the visual senses as masses, materiality, and even lighting are carefully chosen for a particular design vision. But how do you as an architect target more intangible things, like building air quality?

I read an article recently that describes one way to track patterns of building air quality changes within a room. You see, by using a sensor-embedded Roomba, researchers were able to “map” any detrimental changes in a room’s air quality as the Roomba traveled about its path. So, the next question becomes — what to do with such a map?

First, I would say that air quality within an environment is quite important. And by understanding more about the quality of air within a room’s design, you may be able to spot leaks,off-gasing, or even toxins that invisibly impact your occupant’s health. While using the Roomba is a novel idea, it does invite one to think about what other devices within a room can track and monitor patterns that would otherwise go undetected during lifelong daily occupant use.

The key is to think about the aging process of a building, the changing needs of your occupant, or even the evolving surroundings of your built environment that may well affect the quality of its interior. Thus, your built designed environments need to be maintained and optimized for occupant health.

Thus, I invite you to consider what happens to your designed spaces once built? Do they maintain that “healthy” initial state that they had when they were first constructed? Do you or your occupants have a way to check the more imperceptible living conditions of that space while it is being inhabited? And how might you go beyond the Roomba solution described above, to make sure your design keeps up with your or your occupant’s standards?

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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: Biscarotte | Flickr

Have you ever thought about the significance of lighting in terms of how it affects your daily activities and your ability to perform them well? Lighting interiors can make a significant difference in carrying through the intent of how you want your building to function, whether it be a retail clothing store, a hospital patient room, a residential design or a school classroom.

In the following four examples, I will be presenting you with how lighting can make a significant difference in helping a building design to perform better and be more effective —

• Retail Clothing Store Design: Have you ever been within a retail clothing store where the clothes look so beautiful on the rack (as they are illuminated well there)? Then, you select your size off the rack and proceed to a dressing room to try them on. Low and behold, it looks terrible because the lighting overhead in the dressing room is flickering, makes noise and/or distributing an improper color. Needless to say — the sale was missed. Be sure to notice the good stores who get this right.
• Hospital Patient Room: Within a hospital postoperative recovery room, there comes a point where it is important for the patient to engage in Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) — various grooming activities. But for a recovering patient in the hospital who has been sick it can be a huge effort to go into the bathroom to engage in such activities. Now what if when looking in the mirror to groom, the lighting was poor? How do you think that would affect the patient’s mood, optimism toward healing, and general sense of “feeling better “as they start off and end their day? Thus, there are key places where lighting interiors can make a very significant difference in healing.
• At Home: Suppose an elderly person keeps their medicine at home in their kitchen, by their nightstand or perhaps in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Suppose there is improper lighting in one of these places at the time of day when this person goes to take their new medication. As they read instructions on the bottle, they misread and take the improper dosage amount. Thus, lighting interiors properly can have both subtle and serious consequences.
• School Classroom: In a school classroom, improper lighting can actually affect learning — like when the student is trying to read the chalkboard from different distances, or when they are trying to read their computer screen while sitting next a bright window, or perhaps while trying to watch a computer-based PowerPoint lecture that the teacher is giving. After all, if that student is sitting in a dark room watching a PowerPoint lecture, will they be able to see the notes that they are taking on their desk? Perhaps not unless they have their own computer glaring right back at them in the darkness. Thus, better classroom lighting interiors can help to boost classroom learning and perhaps even participation.

As you can see from the following examples, lighting interiors are important factors that contribute to how your space gets used, which results in not only how your building is perceived, but also in how well those that use it are able to do just that. Improper lighting can hinder so many aspects of what makes space functional. So as you design your next space, make sure you consider the nuances involved when it comes to good lighting.

What works for one space within your building may not work for another space within the same building. Much depends on the activity that goes on within a particular area at a certain time. Also, do not think about lighting interiors in terms of just trying to prevent lighting mistakes. You should also think of lighting as another design tool which can help you leverage your buildings effectiveness.

For example, consider how natural daylight spectrums filter into your interior spaces as your occupants need a certain amount of exposure per day since it affects their circadian rhythm. And of course, the circadian rhythm can be linked to sleep and wake cycles and can ultimately impact overall health. Another example of how lighting affects functionality.

So, I urge you to consider how your lighting interiors are impacting your occupants. How might you make them better? And how might you use them to leverage what your design already does best?

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

Image: -Marlith- | Flickr

There are many times on this site where I write about new sense technologies that are evolving and making their way into the mainstream, and I often encourage you as an architect to think about unique and creative ways that you can integrate this technology into your design to make it better for your occupants — this is a distinction from simply using technology “just for the sake of using it”, but rather to use it when the time and place is appropriate so it can bring newfound innovation to your design vision.

There are other times in many of my articles where I discuss incorporating a “just-in-time” design intervention, where you strategically place something within your design to improve the lives of your occupants at just the right moment — such as helping them to achieve a goal. Now, this is important because when you unite the power of what sense technologies can do with this notion of a “just-in-time intervention”, you have the ability to engage with your occupant in real time, and if done in the right way you can really make a positive difference in your occupants’ life.

See a “Just-In-Time” Design Intervention in Action

In the following video, you will see a design group demonstrating what can happen when technology and design ingenuity merge. You will see a simple, yet great example of a “just-in-time intervention”, where this group of designers have transformed a simple staircase that sits next to an escalator — all in hopes of seeing if they can get more people to use the stairs instead of the escalator. Of course, this would create a positive impact on those that use the stairs, since they would gain potential health benefits due to more daily exercise or even potential increase in speed in getting from point A to point B. Nevertheless, I think this video is a “must see” because it shows you very clearly how technology can be integrated into environments to really change and make positive impact on the way people live.

The following is the video called “Piano Stairs”:

Don’t Underestimate the Power of Fun that Sense Technologies Bring

As you can see in the video, there is also a certain element of fun that the designers had when executing this project. And that is not a bad thing. There are times where the element of fun can also be used to boost the way you incorporate sense technologies and such “just-in-time” interventions — making them more appealing to your building occupants, capturing more of their attention, focus and tapping into their inner motivations.

While it is good to always assess the more serious sides to architectural or occupant problems, do not underestimate the power of incorporating “play” in your design. If done correctly, in an elegant and ingenious manner, the element of play will take you and your occupants far as it has the power to help your architecture better connect with its occupants — thus increasing its power to better be able to help your occupants.

So, be sure to think back to this video example when, for instance, you might be trying to encourage a particular building occupant behavior. Use your building design as a vehicle by which you can invite your occupants to engage. And do not forget that you can appeal to a multitude of their senses to do so, including their sense of play and fun, if presented at just the right time.

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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

Before we go on to talk further about the application technology, I think it best to show you a glimpse of what such multi-touch devices can do:

As you can see, 3-D visualizations are developing past solely working with still renderings or even scripted and locked in place animations — which today mostly run as “replays” of camera movements that serve to walk someone through a space along a predesignated path. But what makes these new multi touch virtual reality environments even more helpful is that they give architects the ability to interact with their construction documents in new ways, that are a bit more interactive and intuitive as they are tools that can be used to answer possible questions that may arise or to spot potential problems that may need to be solved in real time during meetings or client presentations.

By making construction documents link to more comprehensive building “models”, they become a bit more of an immersive experience that not only helps architects “see” their designs better, but also helps them to “explain” them better as other members of their design team, consulting team and client teams seek to more fully understand the implications of certain design decisions…thus, preventing future problems that may arise.

Image: campuspartycolombia | Flickr

When presenting, such an interactive table or screen application might help clients or other reviewers to feel more “in control” as they travel through a space — being able to question it in the places where they think it needs questioning. In turn, this helps by making them feel more confident if they like what they see and experience, all because this interface helps architects to better communicate their most complex of architectural visions.

Essentially, such new and interactive tools that can be used within both architectural working environments as well as architectural presentation environments are quite important to keep developing. For when designing a building, it helps when tools are optimized so that they help bridge the gap between architects, the unrealized building, and their clients — helping them to make smarter decisions more quickly, prevent future problems from arising during construction, and ensuring that the client sees and is confident that they are getting what they want and need. Needless to say, I do think that there will be a bright future for such multi touch architectural design and presentation interactive tools. So what you think? How could such an interactive tool help you with your architectural design process?

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