Interactive Architecture: Exploring and Unwrapping the Potentials of Organic User Interfaces

Abstract

Organic User Interfaces (OUIs) are flexible, actuated interfaces characterized by being aesthetically pleasing, intuitively manipulated and ubiquitously embedded in our daily life. In this paper, we critically survey the state-of-the-art for OUIs in interactive architecture research at two levels: 1) Architecture and Landscape; and 2) Interior Design. We postulate that OUIs have specific qualities that offer great potential for building interactive interiors and entire architectures that have the potential to -finally- transform the vision of smart homes and ubiquitous computing environments (calm computing) into reality. We formulate a manifesto for OUI Architecture in both exterior and interior design, arguing that OUIs should be at the core of a new interdisciplinary field driving research and practice in architecture. Based on this research agenda we propose concerted efforts to be made to begin addressing the challenges and opportunities of OUIs. This agenda offers us the strongest means through which to deliver a future of interactive architecture.