Transformation of the Interface: Future Human-Building Interactions

Abstract

Buildings are responsible for about 40% of total energy use in the world, and this rate leads to serious environmental concerns that have triggered researchers to work on new ways of operating and utilizing built environments. As future built environments are supposed to be equipped with the latest technologies with many innovative features, the interactions between occupants and buildings are expected to be different in intelligent buildings from that of conventional ones. For many years, primitive building components that are almost entirely transparent with their simple logic and physical interfaces provided occupants sophisticated opportunities to regulate indoor environmental conditions, including temperature, lighting, and air quality. However, as buildings are expected to incorporate more automated services, intelligent applications, and artificial intelligence in the near future along with the improvements in the field, it is foreseen that conventional touch-input modalities will be subjected to change and there will be a radical transition in the way people interact with the built environment. This research aims to review the current condition in human-building interactions and outlines the probable upcoming changes by referring to the advancements in the field.