Adaptive Design:

The Dialogue Between Building and Occupant

Adaptive architecture will embody behaviors that respond to human and environmental interactions. It is with this transience that architectural space will more fully interact — or “converse” with its occupants, in grand part due to converging architectural technology.

With adaptive design, architecture will take on “motion” in new ways. A new type of “dialogue” between a building and its user will ask new things of its occupants, while feeding back dynamic and real-time sensorial stimuli.

Instead of having somewhat truncated conversations as you can experience with present-day interactive installations, the adaptive architecture of tomorrow will be able to engage in a dialogue where “feedback from the environment” takes on new meanings.

Today’s Sneak-Peeks

In their book entitled Interactive Architecture (my affiliate link), Miles Kemp and Michael Fox explore just how these adaptive environments could be designed and assembled.

Clearly showing how it will be possible to “construct” adaptive design spaces, they explain how “miniature robots, new material compositions, molecular geometries, robotic prototyping, atypical geometries and shape shifting-architectures” will have a profound effect on Read more

Nature and technology are often thought of in separate terms. Sometimes you see the two juxtaposed, but in more and more buildings today your are now seeing them work side-by-side, feeding into one another’s space — not struggling against each other, but working well together. This is the power of building green by using technology.

In the project called Vertical Eco-Cibernetic City, by Orlando De Urrutia, you can see all of this. This building, inspired by the base of a tree (which extends to look for light from above) is designed as an “alive machine”. The designer’s intent is to create building systems which are self-sufficient and bio-climatic. In short, this design takes advantage of the many aspects of nature and feeds them into the building, creating quite an amazing architectural display.

Putting Architectural Technology to Good Use

An instance of what I am talking about can be seen in this building’s skin, which uses nanotechnology through geometric façade patterns. Such a skin takes advantage of light and shade while also incorporating “vegetal panels”.

Technology is also incorporated into the building through communication networks, which can be seen Read more

DON’T CLICK IT!

I found a novel idea in a website called Don’t Click It, created by the Institute for Interactive Research. This site is great because it challenges the convention of how users typically interact with their computer — this is an entire website that actually does not want you to click. It’s fun. It’s creative. It’s different. It brings new life to user interface design.

Here is the Link: Don’t Click It

REVAMP YOUR DESIGNS

Wouldn’t it be great to design a building that pushes Read more

Ubiquitous computing is giving architecture many benefits that we will continue to see embedded in our buildings. Ubiquitous computing is the wave of the future – providing us with many new architectural functions as well as challenges. For now, let’s focus on the benefits.

The following are the top seven benefits brought about by ubiquitous computing as they impact architecture and occupants in everyday life: Read more

As architectural technology tries to solve one problem it often creates another. For example, as lighting illuminates it often also emits heat; therefore, making the HVAC system work harder. The systems seem out of balance as one trades off side-effects with another.

It appears that architectural technology is not yet highly efficient. Systems do not work together and as a result, occupants are deprived their optimal sensory experience. Take a hospital for instance: Often, patients must recover in spite of the hospital environment which surrounds them – from a sensory perception point of view. Buildings can be cold, intimidating and uninviting as architectural technology is installed onto architecture in an additive manner.

To help solve this dilemma, it becomes necessary for architectural technology to become more flexible. What if its physical appearance and functionality could change dependent on occupant needs in real-time? The key is integration – physically, acoustically, aesthetically and so on.

Architectural technology should become a positive part of occupant environments in any building type. Its appearance, its sounds and its functions should all contribute to the occupant experience in a positive way. If they do not, then that architectural technology is hindering the environment from doing its job – functionally and aesthetically.

Today we have what you might refer to as information overload. We have information coming in from every angle. And because of this, the Institute for the Future states that we will eventually enter an age of “sensemaking”. It is interesting to think of how this will apply to architecture.

In my opinion, I think that architecture should be at the cutting edge of this era. Architecture could make use of incoming information, via sensors and rule-based systems. It could interact with its occupants through architecture technology that is programmed to assemble information for the public good. In doing so, more meaningful connections would take place between people and their surroundings.

Perhaps architecture could find new ways to influence occupant behavior. For example, a person might be persuaded to wait before their walk home based on heartbeat, medical history and a short predicted rainfall. Architecture could tie information together to form smart assumptions that inform occupants that might otherwise not know.

But how would architecture convey this meaning? Perhaps visualizations, sounds and other augmented reality features could work together to convey meaningful messages. Some would be simple to convey, while others would need more sophisticated synchronization. In the age of “sensemaking”, architecture would become dynamic in its behavior and aesthetically beautiful in its evolving and helpful forms.

When designing technology into architecture it must be integrated – not just to fit in with the aesthetic effects of the architecture, but to also fit into the narrative of the place. All too often, technology sits where conversations should spark. Computers, televisions and even lighting technologies should enhance the functions they support. 

Do you remember the last time you were in a dressing room and felt you looked terrible? Blame it on the lighting that feels like an interrogation is about to begin. In this case, lighting is as much about helping the person to look good as it is to make the clothing look good. All too often design places emphasis on function and forgets the person involved in that function.

Technology should proactively augment your experience, not detract from it.

Architectural technology should enhance and even proactively promote the functions within an architectural space. All too often; however, systems detract from a space’s function, sometimes rendering the space temporarily or even permanently useless. For example, improperly synchronized lighting, HVAC and/or acoustical systems can make for “painful” architectural experiences –- particularly for patients in hospital buildings. To solve such problems, architects should gain deeper insight regarding human perception to better integrate and synchronize architectural technology for human experience. 

As architectural technology becomes evermore pervasive, its collective effect upon humans will be evermore complex. For this reason, architectural design should lead technological advancement in a mission to redefine human-centered design.

Sometimes there is a fine line between technology and nature. That line can be as obvious as a window pane or as slight as an accent of green picked out in a textile pattern. There are many ways to integrate nature into an architectural design. For example, be conscious of your choices when selecting features like color and texture. After all, the human senses respond to certain color and texture palettes. 

Mirroring nature in just the right places can make architectural environments more healing. Did you know that patients in rooms with window views of trees reported healing with less pain medication and in reduced time? Nature, in all its dynamic form should serve to inspire and make the architectural space healthy. Whether it be an abstract architectural interpretation or a touch of the outdoors inside, nature with architecture is a powerful union – just don’t forget to make it a conscious and positive one.

Additionally, architectural technology can be used to extract beauty from nature and represent it in unique ways. Have you ever seen a digital media wall of nature? Have you ever walked on a floor that looked like water? Sometimes digital media technology can push you to experience nature in a whole new way. Don’t be afraid to experiment when designing with augmented reality – perhaps designing nature with interactive architectural technologies will make nature and architecture better than the sum of their parts.