Image: on_the_wings | Flickr

So often interactive adaptive architectural interfaces must rely on picked up cues that are either created from occupant behaviors or from different objects within an environment that move, change or transmit other real-time information. And with these types of cues comes concern from building occupants about how “control” will be established between them and their surrounding built environment. For if a building is indeed adaptive, where are the control points? Who sets the rules? And how can the resulting architectural transient behavior be seamless for both the building system and its occupant?

Well, an exciting new brain computer interface technology has been demonstrated as a new way for users to interface with their machines. And I think such technology can serve as a liaison between occupants and their buildings. Created by Emotiv Systems, this head-worn device will literally allow one to signal change by simply using one’s own thinking power. Taking only a few minutes to put on this wireless interface technology, suddenly there is so much that can potentially be done to alleviate problem points with which many of today’s interface technologies often struggle.

Within an adaptive building, such technology could greatly ease the way that a building and its occupants communicate. While privacy is indeed a concern, there is an element of control here where the wearer of this interface technology must visualize in order to create the change they wish to experience.

As you will see in the video (at the end of this article), this head-worn device may seem a bit clunky by today’s standards — but if you can imagine where such technology might take us, you will see that the rippling effects in terms of usability can be far-reaching. Not only can such a device impact the many uses for augmented reality where someone using the technology can simply visualize an action through thought, and thus, create consequential behaviors in a virtual world, but it can also improve interactions in real-life applications by enhancing a user’s thinking power as they engage with their surroundings. Think smart buildings here.

Just imagine that within your own home you could use your thoughts to visualize how you would like a certain lighting condition to change, window glass to change in transparency or the temperature of a room to change by simply imagining the action that you would like to see carried out. Although at this point some of this may seem quite “magical”, there is a very real potential for this to not only work, but to have profound and positive life-changing benefits for those that not only use it, but need it. (What this can do for accessibility within buildings could potentially change the canvas of where we are today.)

Getting this “Magical” Headset to Sync with Other Building Systems

However, such a brain computer does not eliminate the need for transient architecture to look for other cues, and continue to develop its mechanisms within its own systems for making sense of incoming data. And of course, an adaptive building system must take into account more cues than just those found within an occupant’s visualization powers and within the behavior of the objects within their building environment. Also, adaptive architecture must also take into account things like external environmental conditions, and the needs of both a collective body of occupants as well as those needs of only an individual. It must synchronize with all of these.

Taking all of this into account, I do think that this Emotiv Systems brain computer interface is definitely making some steps toward thinking outside the box. As more ways for occupants to interact with their built environment come into the forefront, adaptive architecture will be that much better because it will be able to make more sense of a building occupant’s goals, with a more seamless approach on how to get them there.

The following is a video where Tan Le, the head of Emotive Systems, explains how this brain computer interface technology works. Within this video you will see a live demonstration which is quite amazing to watch, and no doubt, you will immediately be struck by other ideas on how this headset technology will impact architectural design through more far-reaching applications.

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: caribb | Flickr

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 certain conventions, like Don’t Click It does? By questioning how we all do things, we can reach more innovative and interactive architectural design solutions.

As architectural technology and emerging architectural tools provide us with new and improved ways to design, you should be questioning what buildings do and how they do it.

Innovation is more than just using new technologies to get the same old result — it is about solving problems in creative ways that challenge conventions. By doing this, you will expose limitations, uncover opportunities for improvement and find new and innovative ideas.

The goal is for your architecture to evolve.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: Kentoh | Dreamstime

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:

1) INVISIBLE:
“Smart” environments will be embedded with computing technologies that will be mostly out-of-sight. Architecture will gain many more capabilities – with less visual clutter.

2) SOCIALIZATION:
Interactions with architecture will be more social in nature. “Smart” buildings will illicit a more social response from occupants as computers user interfaces embed themselves within architecture. (1)

3) DECISION-MAKING:
“Smart” environments will help occupants to make better choices as they go about their everyday lives. At key moments within architectural experiences, a good architectural design will make “smart” environments helpful. Such architecture will be more proactive than passive.

4) EMERGENT BEHAVIOR:
Buildings are now becoming more and more kinetic in form and function. Their movements and constructed designs come together dynamically to yield behaviors that make them more adaptive. Buildings will learn how to learn – in order to run efficiently and aesthetically.

5) INFORMATION PROCESSING:
Since architecture will be gaining a type of “nervous system”, information processing will be gaining a whole new meaning. Architecture will go from crunching data to making sense of data; therefore, eliminating our need to constantly input adjustments.

6) ENHANCING EXPERIENCE:
As computers ubiquitously embed themselves in our environments, sensors and actuators will create “smart” environments where architectural space will be goal-oriented. Therefore, more occupant needs will be better met.

7) CONVERGENCE:
Much of our environment will be supplemented with interconnected digital technologies. Such interconnectivity will allow for a new type of “sharing” that will serve to eliminate many mundane tasks. Also, fewer errors will occur as systems pull data from shared digital locations (instead of having numerous copies to keep up-to-date).

DO YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE?

A wonderful book regarding this topic is Everyware written by Adam Greenfield. He describes the specific pros and cons to the “dawning age of ubiquitous computing” – what we will face and how we can make our transition better (by avoiding potentially negative effects of ubiquitous computing). This book makes for a good read if you are at all interested in these emerging ideas.

Here is the link: Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing (Voices That Matter)

(1) Greenfield, Adam. Everyware. AIGA. 2006.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

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.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: Mypokcik | Dreamstime

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.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: Pixac | Dreamstime

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

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: Raja Rc | Dreamstime

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.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman