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IA

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IA: Interactive Architecture

Physical ChangeTrends in Kinetic ArchitectureWays and Means of Kinetic MotionHorizons of Kinetic Architecture

Embedded ComputationTrends in Embedded Computation

Ways and Means of ECHorizons of EC in ArchitectureInteractive Architecture

Adaptable SpaceEnvironments for LivingEnvironments for Working

Environments for EntertainmentEnvironmental Impact

Energy EfficiencyActive Sustainable SolutionsEphemeralizationEnvironmental Cognizance

Enhancing and Extending ActivitiesMediated EnvironmentsGerontechnologyPhysically ChallengedActive ParticipationCoexistence

Sociological and Psychological ImplicationsChanging Lifestyle PatternsBehavior AwarenessBuilding AwarenessArtistic Initiatives

Design and the Profession

Designing Interactive SystemsNovel Tools and HeuristicsA Pedagogical Approach

Academic InitiativesClient and User InitiativesCorporate Initiatives

Economic FeasibilityNew Horizons

Technology TransferInterface DesignAutonomous RoboticsThe End of MechanicsBiomimeticsEvolutionary SystemsPossibilities and Understandings

The End of the Beginning

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In the 1960s, Gordon Pask and other cyberneticians made advancements

toward understanding and identifying the field of interactive architecturecollaborated with a number of architects in the '70s and '80s, developed aConversation Theory, which served as the basis of much of the architecturaldevelopment in interactive architecture at the time (Pask 1969).

An environment should allow users to take a bottom-up role in configuring theirsurroundings in a malleable way without specific goals.

Norbert Weiner

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Pask's trouble, in particular,was a lack of marketingpotential in his physicalproof-of-concept models.

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The realm of such proof-of-concept prototypes was essentially driven out by thedevelopment of the digital computer

Most research in these areas had to adapt to what could be implementeddigitally in order to be funded

The ENIAC

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In the 70s a number of people further developed the theoretical ideas ofinteractive architecture

William Brody - ArchitectTeach our environments first complex, thenself-organizing, intelligence that would

eventually become evolutionary

Nicholas NegroponteThe Architecture Machine , although theapplications he described were more concernedwith digital media and design processes than thephysical built environment

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Charles Eastman further developed the

model of Adaptive-Conditional Architecture

Architects should interpret spaces andusers (participants) as complete feedbacksystems. dynamic stability

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Eastmans model was essentially that of a machine-led approach

Andrew Rabeneck made a very pragmatic interpretationin 1969 by proposing the use of cybernetic technologiesto produce an adaptive architecture that would increasethe useful life span of a building through adaptation

Hybridization is a concept that has prevailed today in modern robotics,

whereby simple automated feedback is coupled with higher-leveldeliberative processing

Image From: The Ninth European Conference on Artificial Life

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These early ideas rooted in cybernetics were picked up at the time by a fewarchitects who solidly translated them into the arena of architecture.

Cedric Price extended it to an architectural concept of anticipatory architecture.

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John Frazer who was a consultant for Priceand also worked with Pask

For something to be intelligent it must be able to learnabout its world and develop its own ability to interact with it.

Architecture should be a living, evolving thing.

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Frazer states: Natural ecosystems have complex biological structures: they recycletheir materials, permit change and adaptation, and make efficient use of ambientenergy

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Meanwhile.

Although the computational means were not quite evolved to the extent thatproliferation of concepts in cybernetics could take a strong foothold inarchitecture The computational world did begin to evolve quite rapidly however,tangentially skirting the field of architecture in a much more pragmatic and market-driven fashion.

In the 1950s, widespread developmentswere taking place in environmentalcontrol systems within buildings as adirect derivative of the introduction ofsensors with remote signaling allowingfor a central control room

Harvard University: central control room

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The invention of the remote controlalso came along at this time,enabling the user to assume alarger role as an operator of objectsin space.

Cultural and corporate interests playedmajor roles in influencing interactive

architecture through the development ofnumerous market-driven products andsystems that directly involved users in thereal world.

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Two diametrically opposed perspectives prevailed at this time: that of a lifedefined by pragmatic convenience, and that of a life controlled by the machine

Today - we have come to embrace every new

technology with the promise (perhaps illusionary) ofconvenience, but for the most part, without the fear.

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The 1970s architecture began to adaptnew technologies in a turn toward apromise of environmental efficiency,when they sought to justify technologythat could improve building performanceand consequently save money.

Energy management systems wereintroduced as well as microprocessors but,

for the most part, the architecture worldhad yet to embrace the promises of suchtechnologies from an interactivestandpoint.

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The PC soonbecame the interfacethat replaced thecentral consolecontrol, distributeddirect digital controlreplaced

conventional controlsystems, andcommunication couldbe programmed totake place on localarea networks.

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It is important also to understand the historical development that washappening, somewhat in parallel, in digital computation and human interaction.

Intelligent environments aredefined as spaces in whichcomputation is seamlessly used toenhance ordinary activity.

The Adaptive House essentially programmed itself by monitoring the environmentand sensing actions performed by the inhabitants, observing the occupancy andbehavior patterns of the inhabitants, and learning to predict future states of the

house.

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Michael Coen, MITs Intelligent Room project - whichwas created to experiment with different forms of

natural, multimodal human-computer interaction (HCI)by embedding computational smarts into everythingwith which the users come in contact.

The developments inIE were essentiallyfueled by the conceptof ubiquitouscomputing (a termcoined in 1988 byMark Weiser as apost-desktop model ofhuman-computer

interaction).Ubiquitous computingcan be defined ascomputationthoroughly integratedinto everyday objectsand activities,

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Research Originating out of: Computer Science, Intelligent EnvironmentsNot being led by architects

Carnegie Mellon

Vision & Autonomous Systems Center

Georgia TechFuture Computing Environments (FCE) Group

Numerous academic smart home and smart workplace projects were initiatedin the 1990s that relied heavily on available technological advancements. It wasa time when wireless networks, embedded computation, and sensor effectorsbecame both technologically

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In the 1990s, interactive architecture began to take a foothold as ideas beganto be both technologically and economically feasible.

Bartlett School of Architecture was initiated in the early 1990s as a pioneeringforum for actual architectural pursuits under the guidance of Stephen Gage.

Student work from Unit 20 of the Bartlett School of Architecture in London. The book is editedby Marcos Cruz and Salvador Prez Arroyo, and its projects date from 1999-200

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It was also at this time that the long history of kinetics in architecture began to bereexamined under the premise that performance could be optimized if it could usecomputational information and processing to control physical adaptation in new

ways to respond to contemporary culture.

MIT: kdg: kinetic design group

Physical - Spatial - Tangible

Mechanical Motions

Biometrics

Tropisms

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More recent developments have begun tosignal a shift from a mechanical paradigm

of adaptation to a biological paradigm.

These technologically driven human behavioral patterns are beginning tofacilitate a paradigmatic shift from the mechanical to the biological from astandpoint of adaptation. Change in the mechanical world is cyclical, butthere is no development, as the factors are continually repeated with setoutcomes; the organic paradigm is developmental and reciprocal: it emulates

life.

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The organic paradigm of kinetic adaptation has driven a profound set ofdevelopments in materials, autonomous robotics, biomimetics, and evolutionarysystems, whereby the adaptation becomes much more holistic, and operates on avery small scale.

The prevalence of the organic paradigm isbeginning to alter the conceptual model that

we apply in order to comprehend ourenvironment and, consequently, design inour environment. Organic theory emergesfrom nature, and possesses evolutionarypatterns that produce forms of growth andstrategies of behavior, optimizing eachparticular pattern to the contextual situation

The purple pitcher plant: home to the changing NorthAmerican mosquito.

D. Glidden

The idea behind interaction in the Bubbles project is

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about emergent behavior. There isnt a control

algorithm behind what it does; it operates by a few very

simple rules. How the bubbles interact with humans

over the course of an evening is impossible to

predict . If there were a only a few interactions it isnot very interesting but as you have more and more the

behavior gets much more complex , yet the system does

not. The behavior becomes synergistic. The idea is to

use numerous discrete sensors and actuators which

provide control through very specific response. The

important point is that each individual actuator is

controlled by a decentralized controller at a local

level . This model of decentralized identification and

control is based on neural networks simplifying the

implementation of the control. Simplified

implementation based of decentralization shows great

promise in having two outstanding benefits; both in

terms of the robustness of the system and the

economic feasibility. Both of these issues were

paramount in the Bubbles project as it was

unsupervised and open to the general public.

Traditionally architects and engineers have created

spaces through static geometries that foster or

dictate the activity that is supposed to take place

there. The quality of space has been traditionally

thought of as being predetermined . People then have

always been expected more or less to adapt to the

spaces provided them. If a building could adapt to our

desires however, it would also shape our experiences.

If our experiences are shaped through interactive

environments we have a new design set to respond to.

To what extent architects choose to dictate staticexperiences as oppose to respond and create unknown

experiences is an area of potentially great importance.

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The organic paradigm of kinetic adaptation has fostered a profoundset of advancements in both robotics and new materials whereby the

adaptation becomes much more holistic, and operates on a verysmall internal scale.

Rethinking the notion of Smart Environments:Smart Environments embed sensors and computing devices in everydayobjects enabling seamless and intelligent interaction with humans.

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In architectural terms, such advancementsin robotics are viewed as a transitional areawhere scale is heavily influenced bydevelopments in material science andbiomimetics.

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The notion of kinetics is currently being

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The notion of kinetics is currently beingradically redefined through. Current trends

in the design of robotic systems are settingprecedents for how intelligent objects canwork together to accomplish changinggoals.

The landscape of projects that makes up the field of robotics is also seeing a shiftin the way that people design robots. For many applications ranging fromexploring space to domestic cleanup, designers are moving away from figuralhumanoid robots to transformable systems made up of a number of smallerrobots.

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As architects and designers familiarizethemselves with these new systems,

they are beginning to understand waysto apply them to dynamic situational

activities and build them into systemsthat make up space.

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The possibilities in IA from the vantage point of a biological paradigm make themechanical paradigm seem dated, ironically before it ever had a chance to fullymanifest itself.

The notion of mechanical shading devices seems absurd no matter how intelligentthe system is, when the glass itself can change opacity or tinting or UV resistance.

The idea of small robots scaling a building to repair a facade or clean the glass

seems archaic when the materials can heal themselves from decay and crackinglike a bone remodels itself and the windows can utilize ultrasound to cleanthemselves.

A mechanical device to scrape snow from a roof could be replaced by a materialthat heats itself and never allows snow to collect in the first place.

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IA has very quickly reached a point where technological aptitude is surpassingvisionary imagination. IA as a field is not at the beginning, nor is it by any means atan end; but it is, in a sense, at the end of the beginning.

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The notion of mechanical shadingdevices seems absurd no matterhow intelligent the system is, when

the glass itself can change opacityor tinting or UV resistance.

The idea of small robotsscaling a building to repair afacade or clean the glass

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facade or clean the glassseems archaic when thematerials can healthemselves from decay andcracking like a boneremodels itself and the

windows can utilizeultrasound to cleanthemselves.

Snow - rain

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IA has very quickly reached a point where technological aptitude issurpassing visionary imagination. IA as a field is not at the beginning, nor is

it by any means at an end; but it is, in a sense, at the end of the beginning.

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The role of the architect here, I think, is notso much to design a building or city as to

catalyze them: to act that they may evolve

-Pask

Process: New Modes of Designing

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Virtual ModelingPhysical modelingCNC fabricationRoboticsPrototyping

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i a

Robotecturehttp://www.robotecture.com

Fox Linhttp://www.foxlin.com

KDGhttp://kdg.mit.edu

emailmafox@foxlin.com

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I A