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.