Often the architecture that you see and use each day acts as a surrounding container with which occupants interact at certain times, and in often very physical ways — whether it be to open a door, open a window, engage in cleaning or maintenance, or even when using building interface devices like light switches, temperature controls or plumbing hardware which can often be found systematically throughout a building. Because of this, occupants often have to travel to predesignated places within buildings, in order to interact or change their surroundings — adding on to them, personalizing them or simply to use them for their intended functions.

As we are now in the midst of increasingly instantaneous and automatic lifestyles, you will find that the interactive will occur in more and more places within your building — and each of those places are becoming better equipped to handle a greater amount of functions. While this may be a good thing in many ways, I think we still have to revisit and renew what occupant connectedness means with regard to how a person interacts with their surrounding built environment, finding new and overlooked opportunities that may make improved use of occupant-to-building interactions.

What You Can Begin to Ask of an Interactive Wall

Of course, many of you have likely already seen interactive floors were projections give way to colorful visuals which respond to a person’s movements as they enter into a dialogue (examples might be playing, exercising or learning) with that particular installation. But I ask, what other ways might there be for occupants to interact with their buildings?…particularly as more variation and functionality gives way to greater personalization?

For instance, new innovations are bringing about technologies which make use of gesture-based as well as touch-based communication between a user and the functional goals of their interface — whether computer-based, object-based or environment-based. But what might happen if within buildings, surfaces (like walls) are Read more

What was once a simple table can now be transformed into an interactive, multi-tasking, mutli-media “feature” that can redefine the way you would typically think of a particular space — thus, able to change some conventions.

Eating with your family in a restaurant or shopping at your favorite store can become not only more interactive, but also, highly customized.

In the following video, you will see such an “interactive table” used for a multitude of functions — which are really only limited only by your own imagination. Just imagine if surfaces, like the one you see in the video below, could be positioned vertically or horizontally anywhere in a building.

Think of how this could augment an architectural space. What possibilities do you see?

WHAT’S YOUR DESIGN INTENTION?

Applied vertically or horizontally, such an interactive installation can become a type of anchor for a space — not necessarily the central core, but possibly a focal point.

Perhaps, such “interactive tables” will also encourage your occupants to interact with each other differently — maybe more, maybe less. Parts of your design will gain greater ability to “behave” with occupants, while others will remain Read more