INTERACTIONS.ACM.ORG 90 INTERACTIONS NOVEMBER–DECEMBER2018
Interaction design is increasingly about embedding interactive technologies in our built environment; architecture is
increasingly about the use of interactive technologies to reimagine and dynamically repurpose our built environment.
This forum focuses on this intersection of interaction and architecture. — Mikael Wiberg, Editor
FORUM INTERACTION AND ARCHITECTURE
Scale?” Barry Brown, Susanne Bødker,
and Kristina Höök [ 5] refer to scale
in terms of “how technology is used
in large networks of interconnected
systems, with billions of users, across
diverse contexts.” They discuss
three different scales: the number of
users, the different contexts of use,
and the multitude of systems and
technologies. In this article we add a
fourth perspective. We discuss how the
interaction model might scale—from
the level of the individual and the
artifact to public spaces and interactive
solutions at architectural scale.
SCALING—REIMAGINING IXD
IN THE REALM OF HUMAN-BUILDING INTERACTION
If we now consider this on a more
concrete level in terms of design
solutions, we are faced with a central
design challenge: How do we unite
the individual’s ability to interact
with an interface with a larger canvas
for interaction that might be at
architectural scale? Here we consider
something at architectural scale to be,
for instance, a room or a building—a
built environment that we can inhabit.
Throughout the history of
interactive systems, digital artifacts
have typically been physically
embodied and structured within
architectural spaces. The device
paradigm—in which we conceptualize
and design interactive systems as a
“tool” or within some computational
container (rather than imagining
interactive systems as completely
blended with the architecture)—
remains strong. Some exceptions
include early work on intelligent
Smart homes, intelligent environments, interactive architecture, and human-building interaction (HBI) [ 1, 2] all come with the promise of interactivity
at the scale of architecture. However,
typical interaction design works at the
level of the small scale and at the level
of the individual—just think about the
typical use case with a person in front
of a laptop, or one where a person is
fiddling on his or her mobile phone. At
this scale, user interfaces are typically
designed for an individual to operate
a computational device. But what if
we want to scale interaction design
from the device to the building, and
from the individual to the public? Put
differently, how can we reimagine
interaction design at architectural
scale, while enabling people to interact
with such large-scale interactive
systems?
In this article, we elaborate on
scaling as a design challenge for HCI.
We do this to imagine innovative
solutions that might enable human-building interaction (HBI) [ 2]. We also
do it to explore how interaction design
might operate across different scales—
from small-scale designs to interaction
design at architectural scale.
WHAT IS SCALE? DRAWING
ON ARCHITECTURE
Any architectural drawing or blueprint
typically includes some information
concerning its scale. This information
is essential in order to understand the
size and dimensions of the building; it
also allows for small-scale interaction
(e.g., sketching and remodeling the
blueprint) with the building as a
large-scale construction. As such, this
information relates the small drawing
to the building’s construction, and it
enables the scaling of interaction—from
sketching on the table to the effect of
these edits on the overall design and
layout of the full-size building.
From a practical viewpoint, the
notion of scale also works the other way
around. Scale enables the illustration
and representation of a huge building
to fit on a piece of paper, providing an
overview. This in turn enables a person
to play around with the drawing of a
building, and to study and experiment
with its form, program, and general
layout. Through this use of scale, the
architect can work at the individual
level, with an intended outcome at
architectural scale.
Scaling is also something that
has recently been addressed by HCI
researchers. As pointed out by Dalton
et al. [ 1], Molly Wright Steenson [ 3],
and Mikael Wiberg [ 4], HCI does in
fact have some roots in architecture.
So it comes as no surprise that HCI
researchers are increasingly drawing
on architectural notions such as scale.
For instance, in their article “Does HCI
Scaling Interaction—
From Small-Scale Interaction
to Architectural Scale
Fatemeh Moradi, Mikael Wiberg, and Mikael Hansson, Umeå University
Insights
→ Typical interaction design is
adjusted to the scale of the
individual.
→ Rooms and buildings are
implemented at architectural scale.
→ The scaling of interaction is
necessary to enable human-building interaction.