Calm Technology in Quiet Architecture
Written by Cathy Dalton
Cathy Dalton is a design researcher, architect. Research interests include Inclusive Design, Designing for Neurodiversity, design for autism, design for elderly people; dementia design; responsive environments, person-environment interaction, healthcare design, therapeutic environments, neuroaesthetics, generative and immersive digital media.
Responsive buildings are already a reality, but, to date, they have been designed to respond largely to internal and external environmental context, in order to modify internal conditions for the comfort of users, or to reduce energy consumption. Responsive facades may respond to changes in intensity and direction of sunlight, while a building management system (BMS) adjusts internal conditions: temperature, humidity, or lighting levels. Interaction that intimately involves the user in aesthetic outcomes tends to be confined to interactive art installations; 'smart' buildings rarely address anything other than the purely functional, leaving design at the sidelines.