UbiWall as a reconfigurable ecosystem of smart blocks

Abstract

Convergence between construction and Information Technology (IT) can facilitate network-enabled building materials that can be used to manifest a built-in digital ecosystem capable of coping with various environmental changes. It is difficult, however, to mix IT components into a building material. Therefore, this research first proposes a network-enabled smart block equipped with various sensing, cognition and actuation capabilities that would cope with various environmental and user requirement changes in addition to maintaining high durability and easy assembly and reconfiguration. Based on the precedent research on Smart Architectural Surface, the developed blocks can also perceive dynamic environmental status and propagates sensed information to the neighboring blocks. Using ecosystem of such smart blocks, we tried to establish UbiWall system which can satisfy diverse interactive multimedia services such as sensor enabled interactive tiled display wall, multi-modal and multifunctional interaction system and autonomous services either localized or globalized depending on the users' interactions with the smart blocks. Ultimately, the developed system can be evolved onto a digital ecosystem which could accommodate a variety of services by strongly coupling a value chain between smart blocks and the users.