Note about blog usage

This won't be my final year blog. I will create my final blog once I have finalised - with certainty - the title of my final year project. Once I've done that, I'll create a blog with the same title - or similar if the URL's already taken - and re-post everything relevant from this blog into that.

Part of the reason I've used this blog for now is that it helps to express a continuum of ideas, linking on from the last subject I recently used this blog for - Augmented Reality, during the late summer term this year. I have had a long-standing affinity for technology, and its multifarious utilities as a tool in design and in making human life more productive, comfortable, and / or stimulating.

Part of what makes technology so interesting is just that; that it's stimulating. It's that stimulation which engages the mind - or, rather, the senses - and from there, the mind and the technology (if it's good technology) are putty in each other's hands. And more recently, it can even be argued that each learns from the other, through the rise of "machine learning algorithms" as a branch of artificial intelligence.

I think it's a pretty exciting thing to look into. Objects which are self-modifying, and responsive to their environment seem to be picking up interest in areas other than specifically computing. Other forms of technology are catching up with this idea. A simple example of this is that of a responsive facade like the CH2 Building in Melbourne, opening and adjusting the angles of its louvres in response to local climate internal and external to the building. The integration of responsive technology into our daily lives is becoming more comprehensive, and is - as just mentioned - becoming integrated into architecture.

The CH2 building. (image from http://www.nullarbortimber.com.au/projects/ch2/ch2.html)

The CH2 building again, at a different time of day. (image from http://inhabitat.com/ch2-australias-greenest-building/)

This is just one aspect of architectural design that I think is worthwhile investigating during this research studio - I'll be elaborating on other ideas I think are promising in later posts.

Also, I should mention that I'll be splitting the main points of my ideas into different posts to try and establish a thought continuum with useful landmarks, rather than a huge wall of text. On to the next post!