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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 Read more
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“Invoked computing” is a term being used to describe how everyday objects can gain mega-functionality by having computer functions applied to them. These developments predict a world where there are no location-specific computers like we have today, but where everyday objects can be used as computers — even a banana, as you will see in the following video demonstration.
There is a point where architecture works hand-in-hand with the objects within it: such as in a museum which houses artifacts in exhibits or in a home which makes way for different technological installations like phones, televisions, and computers. That is where we are today, but what about tomorrow?
Read more
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Seth Godin recently wrote an article on “pre-digital environments” which I encourage you to read here. Now that you have read it, I ask you…how can you as an architect push advancement from this pre-digital age?
While it seems that much of what makes a place digital depends on the technology — I will tell you that is also depends on how the “design of place” works with that technology.
If the technology that makes a place “digital” is designed as an afterthought (not well integrated into the environment) it will likely have detrimental effects. On the other hand, if the technology that makes a place digital harmonizes with the architectural design, mountains can be moved to help occupants.
The linchpin in all of this is sensory design — which can guide the Read more
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Technology is embedding itself everywhere. Within environments, it is becoming smaller and can be found in more and more everyday objects as well as in the fabric that makes up the environment itself. So, the main question becomes: what should we do with all of the information that such technology gathers?
Within smart environments such everywhere technology might be in the form of sensors and actuators that gather important data that gets fedback into a system to optimize a particular environmental function. Such sensors and actuators could live within everyday occupant objects or within the environment itself — again, to use the information gathered toward a given purpose. But, for what?
The following are:
7 Ways Ubiquitous Technology Can Be Used Within Smart Environments
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Image: maistora | Flickr
Ubiquitous computing is in the works and so is the smart building.
From portable computing to smart devices and from calm computing to wearable computing, architecture will no longer exist as a static “frame” which surrounds activity. Instead, buildings will begin to “move” around their occupants — as if to gain a nervous system.
Networks will help Buildings be Smart
Computers are getting smaller and they are being increasingly networked. The result will be buildings that communicate with both their exterior and interior environments. Since computers will be embedded in just about everything, from environmental objects to occupant clothing, designing for this type of ubiquitous computing evolution will be both challenging and amazing.
For starters, buildings will have to protect while also Read more
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I have heard much talk about kitchens and stores for the future, but as you will see, it is nice to see some prototypes. They actually give us something tangible to think about so we can begin to advance them, challenge them and seize upon great opportunity.
The two following videos explain how a future store and kitchen of the future can work together — integrating them toward a more seamless experience. If you watch both, you will get an idea as to what your own experience might be like if you were to live and use such environments.
Does Life Get Any Easier?
Although they are not exactly interactive, there is much that a user can control and specify. Additionally, due to RFID tags, many of the procedural steps that are necessary today may not be necessary in the future.
However, does life get any easier? I would say that it Read more
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Image: adamgreenfield | Flickr
THE PROMISE OF UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING
When discussing the topic of ubiquitous computing, there is a particular author that really stands out — his name is Adam Greenfield. In his book Everyware: The Dawinng Age of Ubiquitous Computing
Everyware is an attempt to describe the form computing will take in the next few years. Specifically, it’s about a vision of processing power so distributed throughout the environment that computers per se effectively disappear. (1)
[…]
In everyware, all the information we now look to our phones or Web browsers to provide becomes accessible from just about anywhere, at any time, and is delivered in a manner appropriate to our location and context. (1)
[…]
The vision is, without doubt, a lovely one: deeply humane, even compassionate. But getting from here to there may prove unexpectedly difficult. (1)
Ubiquitous computing holds much promise in certain ways; yet, it seems that it can fall short in others. As evolution brings us toward environments where there are a multitude of computers per person, it seems that such smart environments can indeed “streamline” our lives. The problem emerges; however, when we consider how this all might actually work.
HOW CAN WE MAKE IT BETTTER?
As more and more data is collected to help computers help us, privacy quickly becomes a major concern. Also important is how we plan to make “sense” this data, as sensors and actuating devices work together to “simplify” our lives. Because of such major issues, designers need to start establishing Read more
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Image: Adistock | Dreamstime
The development of smart environments causes a lot of concern for both designers and skeptics. Both want to make sure that such innovations have great benefits that will greatly outweigh the costs. For this reason, it is important to question advancements as designers and engineers continue to research, test and develop smart environments.
A BRIEF DEFINITION
I recently wrote a very brief “smart environment” description as follows:
A smart environment takes the notion of interactive architecture a bit further. With the use of sensing devices and actuators it will be possible to coordinate different objects and materials in a built environment to make buildings more functional and better able meet occupant needs in real-time. One trend is to make smart environments “goal-based” (thus, occupant-centered).
Here’s another post where I describe the “goal-based” smart environment trend: Why Ubiquitous Computing should be Goal-based
If you would like to read more about smart environments, be sure to visit the Sensing Architecture Article Page to see more posts listed under the “Smart Environment” section (to the right on the page).
Also, a book that discusses ubiquitous computing is: Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing (Voices That Matter)
CRITICAL CHALLENGES + CONCERNS
In certain circles the notion of a “smart environment” can be a very hot topic. And yes, although there are many benefits to developing such smart spaces, there are numerous reasons why people get concerned when hearing about this development. The following are a few of the challenges and concerns that I have heard expressed: Read more
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Image: Marinini | Dreamstime
The smart environment is made up of numerous ubiquitous computing devices. They each function to sense and actuate according to a given occupant’s need. But what happens when one device contradicts the other? How can the devices cooperate so that a ubiquitous computing environment responds correctly, as a whole?
The paper Smart Environments and Self-Organizing Appliance Ensembles raises the very interesting question, “How do you control devices you do not perceive?”. An answer to this question revolves around goal oriented device cooperation. You see, the smart system cannot rely on the user to provide a step-by-step process of how each device should behave. Similarly, the designer cannot predict all combinations of how an ensemble ubiquitous computing environment needs to respond. Instead, a system may be driven by a user’s goal – where the system generates the strategy.(1)
Within a smart environment, “goal based interactions” are likely to be at its heart. How a computing device carries out a function is not what matters most to a user. It is rather the effect of ubiquitous computing devices that is key.(1) The following is a diagram as described in the paper to illustrate how such a goal oriented context-aware environment will work.
Image: Goal Based Interaction | Smart Environments and Self-Organizing Appliance Ensembles
As you can see, “intention analysis” and “strategy planning” are critical to how the ubiquitous computing system will work. Both are necessary for goal based interactions.(1)
A user’s needs may be quite varied and the smart environment’s devices must cooperate with each other in unison. In addition, as users add or remove devices to their smart environment, ubiquitous computing technologies must easily allow for such user changes.(1) In the end, a goal oriented approach calls for a dynamic system, so the user’s needs are met – even as they change in real-time.
The smart environment will be able to simultaneously feed the senses so occupants can carry out a multitude of functions. With few interface techniques a user may communicate based on their intention; and therefore, their goals. Smart environments will work seamlessly to orchestrate a smart space through context aware techniques. Appliances will form an ensemble, giving rise to architectural space that yields greatest value.
(1) Heider, Thomas & Kirste, Thomas Smart Environments and Self-Organizing Appliance Ensembles. Rockstock University. Germany.
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Image: Carbon Nanotube | ghutchis | Flickr
NANOTECHNOLOGY IS HERE…
Nanotechnology will have profound effects on the way we live. Already, developments are underway for newfound uses. For the architecture profession, nanotechnology will greatly impact construction materials and their properties. Materials will behave in many different ways as we are able to more precisely control their properties at the nano-scale.
WHY CARBON NANOTUBES?
Carbon nanotubes are a great example of how useful materials are being developed. This material is said to be one hundred times stronger than steel because of its “molecular perfection” as explained in the paper Year 2050: Cities in the Age of Nanotechnology by Peter Yeadon. In addition, because carbon atoms can bond with other matter; such material can be an “insulator, semi-conductor or conductor of electricity”. As a result, carbon nanotubes will have significant influence on the architecture industry as such materials can act as “a switchable conduit, a light source, a generator of energy and even a conveyor of matter”. (1)
Image: Aligned Carbon Nanotube | CORE-Materials | Flickr
IMPACTING BOTH DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION
As materials gain such transient features, architectural design and construction will evolve. By transforming the essential properties of matter, nanotechnology will be able to change the way we build. For instance, structures will be constructed from the bottom-up because materials like carbon nanotubes can self-assemble. (1)
Nanotechnology will profoundly affect the industry of architecture at all scales; and, interior design, building design and city design will all benefit. Architecture will have the ability to function at more optimum levels – revolutionizing the way inhabitants live.
NANO-ARCHITECTURE UNLEASHED
Nanotechnology: Molecular Speculations on Global Abundance is a great book that explains how nanotechnology will impact environments. For example, nanotechnology will give architecture superior interactive functions — allowing occupants to better “communicate” with their surroundings. Windows and walls with variable transparency and mood/context sensitive clothing are just a few ways this will become possible.(2)
As new materials and construction methods emerge, “nano-architecture” will definitely unleash the designer’s imagination. For this reason, Nanotechnology: Molecular Speculations on Global Abundance is worth reading.
Here is the link: Nanotechnology: Molecular Speculations on Global Abundance
(1) Yeadon, Peter. Year 2050: Cities in the Age of Nanotechnology
(2) Crandall, BC. Nanotechnology: Molecular Speculations on Global Abundance. MIT Press. 2000.
