Implementing a digital model for smart space design: practical and pedagogic issues

Traditionally, models have been used by designers to represent abstract design ideas or to analyze and evaluate the refined design solutions. The digital model, in particular, represents the logics, process, and intended result of the design in the form of digital information and media. Innovations in Internet of Things (IoT) and 3D printing technologies now enable the various levels of real-world spatial interactions that were possible only when the user becomes an avatar in a cyberspace. This level of model virtualizes the design and the building itself, becoming an organism of information and materials whether it is being digital analogue. This phenomenon calls for the reorganization of the conceptual framework during the architectural design process where different kinds of models coexist and continuously evolve. Beyond the ad hoc communications between two modes of models, a symbiotic framework is proposed in this paper, where digital and analogue models interact in synergetic ways in the form of design versions and prototypes. This framework is especially appropriate for designing the smart space. It reflects the paradigm of form-finding and prototyping over the traditional counterpart of design process: form-making. The concept of Smart Analogue Model (SAM) is introduced as a main instrument to facilitate this process. The SAM refers to the prototyping of smart space by integrating ICT-embedded components like sensors and actuators. Through the co-evolving process, two models interact in various channels by utilizing techniques from parametric design, design-by-simulation, and physical computing. The impacts on the pedagogy of architectural design studios are discussed within the framework of the proposed symbiotic design process. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.