arCHitECturE as intErfaCE (^) | 305
pedometers and scales)^33 and other monitoring systems enable
people to track themselves, fostering improvement in behav-
ior from diet and nutrition health^34 to greener environmentally
friendly living.^35
Social: how can we produce network-based discussion and action
through social connection? Can we modify settings to be condu-
cive to human interaction?
Architectural history teaches us that environments have tre-
mendous power over the actions of communities and groups.
They can be designed with the power to divide us, or to unite us.
Interconnected environments will be capable of monitoring and
impacting social patterns of interaction. Ranging from obser-
vation to assessment and action, the social sphere of application
raises questions about how systems should be designed to provide
the information and actions to the group and its constituents in a
useful manner.
An Exercise in Hybrid Design Practice
Apply the Interconnected Environments Framework to design a space
and an experience (see Table 13 - 1 ). You can use this sample narrative
as a model:
Begin by considering an indoor place that has been meaning ful for you.
This might be a room from your childhood or a space you recently vis-
ited where a significant event occurred.- Write a brief narrative describing how this meaning is connected
to your relationships and to clusters of knowledge that you possess
or seek to tap. - Launch your design process with key questions. How do the
answers contribute to the engagement of the visitor with the mean-
ing of the space—in the past, and in the future?
33 http://www.fitbit.com/
34 http://quantifiedself.com/about/
35 http://www.makemesustainable.com/