Experiencing Technology within Environments

Have you ever experienced a building that was painful? This is a building that may have been designed well in some ways, but it lacked the proper integration of architectural technology. You see, when technology is tacked on within an environment as an afterthought, the space will likely suffer in its ability to provide an experience that empowers occupants – from a multi-sensory design perspective.

Much work goes into an architectural design,...

Experience Multi-Sensory Environments Before They Are Built

Can you imagine creating an architectural model in one-to-one scale and in real-time? What would that do for your design process? And for the way you innovate architectural experience? Well, Google is unveiling a virtual reality paintbrush which allows one to create three-dimensional design forms to human scale. By wearing a headset and waving a hand-held paint-brush tool, a designer can create a virtual world limited only by their...

Unlocking 4D Printing Technology Techniques

An exciting new development is underway by a team of scientists at Harvard University. By using 4D printing technology, they are now able to create forms that shapeshift once immersed in water. This is an interesting technique that has far-reaching applications — particularly for the discipline of architectural design thinking.

This newly realized 4D printing technique works by using a “hydrogel composite ink” that behaves like...

The Evolution of Technology

In the past, architectural technology design has served to improve the standard of living. From better lighting and air quality to innovative tools that free up occupant time, technology has been evolving to help alleviate occupant repetitive tasks, and other painful environmental aspects. But what if technology could do more? What if it could actually help to not only remove the unwanted aspects of daily life, but could bring much benefit to the way people live...

So often, new technology is described as a great “divider” that separates people from each other, and even from their own healthy activities. For instance, children today are said to spend too much time with technology, and not enough time running, playing, and using their creativity or imaginations. But is it all technology’s fault? Does it truly divide us from what we should cherish most?

In an age where communication occurs in real-time, architectural technology design is...

As evolutionary trends continue, emerging technologies are getting smaller, cheaper, and smarter — all of which push technology to become evermore ubiquitous. And as technologies continue to integrate into our daily lives through architectural environments, such innovations evolve to not only become more flexible, interactive and adaptable; but to eventually disappear.

This notion of “disappearing technology” is not a new one. In fact, during a recent seminar, Alvin Huang...

As new innovations like the Apple iWatch emerge — one can’t help but explore what possibilities lie ahead as they make their way into the market. Of course, there will be a multitude of new applications that make good use of the hardware that smart watches like the iWatch use to help them interface with their human wearers.

But what happens to all of that information that get collected? Does it simply exist to feedback to the user, or their social networks? Surely, the information...

Architecture is Getting Even More Personal

As new technologies are being developed, architecture is getting better at communicating with its occupants. For example, real-time communication can occur between a building’s system and an occupant’s clothing — or other worn devices, like interactive lenses.

So, does this mean that occupants will be able to control certain aspects of a building they are visiting? Yes, you can see this already happening in certain interactive...

The beautiful Notre Dame de Paris has been recently merged with new Philips lighting technologies. In fact, its interior has been entirely augmented with state-of-the-art LED lighting that allows for Notre Dame to be experienced anew.

Of course, the lighting design for this incredible project is a balancing act between highlighting the features of Notre Dame while still being true to the original architecture.

“Philips is very proud to have placed its know-how and technology at the...

INTRODUCTION – ADAPTIVE URBAN ARCHITECTURE

Urban design within cities around the world has impact upon the citizens they serve. As environmental designers, it is important to continuously evolve how cities beneficially influence citizens as they live their daily lives within these urban areas. A critical way by which to accomplish this is to design urban architecture within such cities so they cooperate and collaborate together to yield a relationship of co-creation with their...