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

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)

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.

Smart environments are currently being developed — such an example is the EasyLiving project at Microsoft Research. In these spaces both occupants and objects are sensed by ubiquitous computing devices embedded within the environment. So, as occupants strive to communicate with their surroundings, interface design becomes critical.

Within the smart environment there may exist a multitude of sensor types. In the EasyLiving paper entitled How a Smart Environment Can Use Perception, cameras, microphones, active badges and pressure sensing floors are all listed as sensing devices. Of course, the list goes on and on as new technology evolves; however, the main overarching goal for all devices is to develop the smart environment to detect both people and objects in “context”.(1)

This idea of sensing “context” means that a given environment can sense what goes on within it to determine an occupant’s given state over time. The smart environment reacts automatically to assist the occupant as certain objectives are targeted. Features like person recognition, person location, person activity and person expression may all be sensed by smart architecture trying to read its occupant’s needs.(1) Additionally, to help with this, objects may be sensed within a given environment as well. Again, objects are sensed in “context” – two methods are object tracking and object recognition.

So, what happens to architectural design as environments become smarter? How will the user interface design of architectural features look and feel? What will happen to interior design and architecture as ubiquitous computing becomes more widespread?

Well, for starters, occupants will begin to communicate with their environments more and more. Occupants will gesture, for example, sending signals to their surroundings. And if occupant expression, gaze and speech can direct environmental features, then architectural design will have more transient states.(1) Thus, the advent of smart architecture brings with it greater potential for a more comprehensive composition of architectural space – including targeting all of an occupant’s senses.

Already, certain new technologies are emerging – such as new objects that can help occupants communicate with their smart environment. The “XWand”, for instance, can be held in different orientations that signal the environment to take action.(1) We are headed toward environments where everyday objects will ultimately take part in the world of ubiquitous computing. Embedded devices will be everywhere and most objects will take part by integrating more subtle and sophisticated design interfaces.

Perception will be two-way — not just from occupant to architecture, but also from architecture to occupant.

(1) Krumm, John, et al. How a Smart Environment Can Use Perception. Microsoft Corporation.

Biofeedback works via the mechanisms of feedback within a system. This is when, during a process, information is given to a previous point to correct a developmental path. Feedback can be quite useful in a realm of areas, particularly when it comes to human health – as in “biofeedback”. During biofeedback, machines help patients to improve the performance of their body physiology by allowing them to train their bodies to respond to stimuli given by a special biofeedback device.(1) Thus, using feedback to optimize performance is a tool that I can see being useful when it comes to the design of smart architecture. Let me explain…

Embedded with sensors, a smart architectural environment and its many ubiquitous computing objects will have the ability to monitor occupant interactions. Such a collection of occupant information may be used to help meet a variety of human needs by detecting patterns or unhealthy behaviors. For example, smart architecture may be able to improve occupant health by making key suggestions at certain decision-making moments. Architecture would be using some principles of biofeedback to help its occupants during the course of their daily activities.

While occupants go about their daily lives, smart architecture could help occupants via its interactive features. It would work with occupants to help them engage in healthier behaviors. For example, using feedback, smart architecture could suggest healthier behavioral options to help occupants increase exercise, eat well balanced meals or improve sleep routines.

All in all, smart architecture can be used to improve people’s lives. From weight maintenance to heart health, from stress relief to stroke rehabilitation — smart architecture can make a positive difference. Just imagine being in an environment that helps you maintain, improve or rehabilitate your good health. When designed with such goals in mind, smart environments become healthy environments; however, smart architecture can benefit occupants beyond healthcare needs.

Smart architecture that utilizes feedback principles can also make huge differences involving other architectural design concerns. For example, using feedback can also make buildings more sustainable, the workplace more productive and schools better for learning. It seems that feedback can help architecture become even more functional as it gains more targeted and meaningful interactivity with its occupants.

(1) Chaves, MD, Jose. Biofeedback: The Therapy of teh 21st Century

Human awareness is not as perfect as you might think. We humans are easily distracted and our attention can be fleeting. So, this notion of an “extended mind” seems to make sense. The idea as described in the Discover article entitled The Brain: How Google Is Making Us Smarter explains that the human mind is really a system made up by the human brain extending into “parts of the environment”. Ultimately, the mind comes to depend on its environment for cues and information.(1)

With the computer revolution, humans are relying more and more on machines to make up a piece of their “extended mind”. As such tools permeate human environments; I can’t help but think of how the notion of an “extended mind” may influence architecture. 

Architectural design, due to its incorporation of aesthetic and function, can almost immediately be considered as part of this “extended mind”. Buildings surround their occupants and provide for many of their needs. Such needs include sensorial stimulation, community relationship building and functional processes. Architecture may also be said to help the human mind by helping it to adapt as, it too, evolves.

First, we cannot deny that computers and other tools are continuously finding their way into architectural environments. Buildings are becoming smarter and more interactive. As architects learn new ways to cater to their building’s occupants, architectural features will become more meaningful as they strive to help occupants live better lives.

With ongoing innovations, architecture will be able to tailor its interactions to occupant styles, tastes and needs in real-time. Architecture itself may become “hub-like” in that it provides a new kind of place for idea-sharing and experience enhancement. As interactive design installations gain popularity, occupants will be able to experience themselves and others in new ways. Information will take on different interactive qualities and architecture will relate more personably to its occupants.

The notion of an “extended mind” will continue to evolve as interactive architecture becomes increasingly main-stream. In addition, these advanced environments may help our minds to evolve as well. Consequently, more interaction with our environments may mean that greater resources will be readily available to us in real-time. Just as Google has placed an abundance of information at our fingertips (literally)(1), interactive architecture will have the power to improve our experiences via augmented realities. Thus, our “extended minds” may connect to architectural design in whole new ways.

(1) Zimmer, Carl. The Brain: How Google Is Making Us Smarter. Discover. January 15, 2009.