FORUM INTERACTION AND ARCHITECTURE
working across these two fields and
how that might work in terms of
using interaction technologies to
reimagine spatial aspects of our built
environment and geographical flows of
people, objects, and information.
One example of how interactive
technologies can be configured
to redefine the flows in a physical
environment can be found in my
hometown, Umeå, located in the
northern part of Sweden. In this
town, we have a quite interesting
newly opened restaurant. When
you arrive at the entrance, you get
a special plastic card with an RFID
tag to be used during your stay at
the restaurant. You can then move
around freely to different stations
within the restaurant and use this
RFID card to order different dishes
or beverages; for each order, you
swipe this card at the corresponding
station. After ordering a dish, you
then get another electronic device
to bring with you to any available
table. When the dish is ready to
be picked up, it is communicated
wirelessly to this device, which starts
to blink, indicating that you can
go and get your dish. When you’ve
finished eating, you check out from
the restaurant by swiping and then
returning the borrowed RFID card,
then paying for the items registered
on the card.
This example not only illustrates
the design of an RFID-based order/
payment system; it also illustrates
interaction design that is tightly
integrated with the architectural
program of a restaurant. We can
observe how the design interplays
with the overall architecture of the
restaurant, including the different
stations and the spatial layout. We
can also observe how this interactive
system allows for a unique flow of
people, service, and payment within
the restaurant, and, further on, how
this enables an alternative organization
of the staff (a number of different
stations, each with its own chef; no
waitstaff serving tables, but instead a
check-in/check-out counter; etc.).
From the viewpoint of
interaction and architecture, it
should be highlighted how guests
with their borrowed RFID plastic
cards in fact become “mobile
On the empirical side of things,
interest in the intersection of
architecture and interaction design
is growing rapidly. Newly established
notions such as smart cities, smart
buildings, interactive architecture,
and the deployment of public displays
and digital signage are all examples of
an interest in thinking architecturally
about interaction design and vice versa.
But there are also many ways in
which architecture and interaction
design are becoming increasingly
blurred on a more subtle or abstract
level. For example, Wiltse and
Stolterman [ 2] have described how
digital systems can also work as
“architectures of interaction” and,
accordingly, architectural thinking
is currently finding its way into pure
digital design.
In this forum we’re interested
in all these different ways in which
architecture and interaction design
are becoming concerns for one
another, and how this changes the
world around us. Such changes
might be about the deployment
of new interactive technologies in
physical environments, or digital
systems deliberately designed to
work as stable structures for ways
of interacting (to guide certain
behaviors, activities, or flows of
information). We’re also interested
in lessons learned from working with
design projects across these two fields,
such as the importance of a precise
design language and ways of working
with style, formats, and materials
(including digital materials). To
further explore the intersection of
architecture and interaction design,
it is important that we also look at the
history of design (ideas).
ON DOING ARCHITECTURE
AND INTERACTION DESIGN
Given there seem to be clear
advantages to further exploring
the intersection of architecture and
interaction design, we might also need
concrete examples of how architects
and designers have already started
(left) Wireless device (AllCall) + RFID card. AllCall receives a message and notifies
its user. (right) RFID card reader.
Solar-powered wireless parking meters in
Bloomington, Indiana.