With the advent of the smart building comes a new innovation like smart carpeting. And what does a smart carpet do? Well, according to Popular Science, it “detects your gait, and knows if you’ve fallen”. (1) Such smart flooring can be quite an advantage for those that may be living alone or healing in a hospital. You see, there are times when people may need help – like if they have fallen and can’t get up. And this is where the smart environment comes into play,...

As technology becomes smaller and evermore mobile, sensors are being embedded everywhere. This means that those objects which you use every day will be able to convey data about the way they are used. Consequently, with such information coming from a multitude of objects found within the environment — a smart building can use its systems to detect patterns and form inferential decisions that impact the building’s behavior with which to engage occupants.

So the questions...

Until now, I’ve written much about how clothing worn by occupants can act as sensors which collect data about their activities and functions in real time. Such data can be transmitted through to the building to further optimize its own operations and to bring greater value to its occupants.

But I am beginning to see now that the sensing of occupant activities and functions can go well beyond clothing. You see, in the future, skin will be “upgraded”: embedded with sensors,...

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...

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 feedsback into a system to optimize a particular...

With the uprising of more technologies that seem to track everything from sleep, to diet, to other behavioral patterns, environmental design is becoming more of an important player in helping to collect such clues that consequentially help make a person’s life better. Such clues reveal patterns that can be used to determine where, when, and how a person might make adjustments in their life to improve issues like their health, productivity, memory, creativity, or even to help them engage...

As you look around the world today, you will notice that not only are devices getting more interconnected, but also the people that use those devices are getting more interconnected as well. With the Internet and our increasing ability to push data onto it, you as an architect are likely beginning to wonder how such innovations are changing the way buildings function.

For instance, what if many of the architectural devices (think light bulbs, thermostats, window glass, and so on)...

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...

INFORMATION EVERYWHERE

The hospital of the “future” is just around the corner. Already, research is being done to create an “interactive hospital” (1) — also known as a ubiquitous smart space.

The first step for better hospital design is a shift in mind-set where computers need to be thought of differently — departing from the traditional “office-type” mentality.

You see, hospitals deal with all formats of information that need to...

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...