Smart Architectural Technologies

People-oriented solutions through exploration of spatial and technological resources. The Chair of Smart Architectural Technologies (Eindhoven University of Technology) focuses on ways in which these changes affect the built environment and on making buildings human-centric and future-oriented. The goal is to ensure buildings seamlessly connect with specific human needs through convergence of technology, architecture and social studies. The worlds of human-centered buildings and innovative technologies are combined in the design process to contribute to the development of the integral concept of the ‘Empathic Living Environment.’ Creating such environments means moving beyond Smartness. ‘Traditional’ Smart technology focuses on controlling a building. However, unlike the Smart Home, conceived from a traditional notion of domotics, an Empathic Building has social intelligence. In our view, Smart Buildings should understand people’s requirements, anticipate these, and adapt accordingly. What does an inhabitant or user need and how can that be translated to building-related products and functions? Ideally, people wouldn’t even need to interact with an interface, as a building would make automatic adjustments and improvements, based on user’s behavioral patterns, for example. Our domain aims to make improvements in three key areas: Efficiency Effectivity Empowerment There are two key aspects to our work: * How is technology integrated into the built environment? Our research into this aspect should lead to new building typologies. An important aim is to introduce a way of thinking that doesn’t always turn to automation to solve challenges. * What is the impact of this on peoples’ lives? To answer this question, the Living Labs methodology looks beyond technology and focuses on people’s behavior instead. By introducing solutions into ‘real world’ living environments, shows us which aspects of concepts work as intended, and which require improvement.