Social sustainability in design: The window as an interface for social interaction

Abstract

The way people organize the space of their house is strongly related to their local culture. In the process of designing a sustainable home not only is fundamental to make architectural choices toward an environmental and economical sustainability but it is also imperative to pay attention to the process of integration in the local cultural environment. This paper presents the results of an ethnographic research that informs and understands the implementation of a Sustainable Connected Home prototype. The paper demonstrates how the local context and the social sustainability discourse could provide impetus to technological innovation for sustainable design. It also provides a framework for future discussions on the definition of social sustainability in the context of design interventions. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.