Interactive Bodies: Creating a Haptic Dialogue

BUILDINGS ARE BORING. The majority of modern buildings often fail to have meaningful engagements with their occupants, resulting in static spaces that prioritize function over experience. If we continue to design for pure functionality, are we any different from machines? My thesis, “Interactive Bodies: Creating a Haptic Dialogue,” explores a shift in architectural design where spaces can adapt and change depending on the users’ ability to interact with them. Through various case studies on kinetic architecture and interactive design experiments, as well as inspiration from Archigram, my research investigates how kinetic components can foster a more meaningful relationship between people and space. These studies have helped to redefine how we interact with building elements and the conversation that results from it. We should no longer view architecture as fixed objects in space, but as bodies waiting for interaction. What does a conversation with a building look like? And how does this impact the way we experience space? I crafted a series of physical and digital models that imitate a variety of kinetic shifts, both found and iterated upon, to test the transformation of the space and the circulation through it. These models have opened the idea to varying scales of interaction, looking at the individual gesture or the group transformation, and how each response of the spatial quality changes with each movement. “Interactive Bodies” seeks to inspire a paradigm shift in architectural design, where the ability to adapt is not a luxury but a necessity; building environments that can respond and adapt to their users.