Principles for Knowledge Creation in Collaborative Design Science Research

Design Science Research (DSR) advances the scientific knowledge base while at the same time leading to research results of practical utility. Several guidelines for DSR have been proposed to support researchers in their work. Collaborative forms of DSR require that knowledge be created across the boundaries of the research community and the practitioners\u27 community. Only little research, though, has been undertaken so far investigating the topic of knowledge creation in collaborative DSR settings. Answers to fundamental questions are still missing: What knowledge creation processes are used? What problems may occur during researcher-practitioner collaboration? This paper addresses the gap in literature by taking a knowledge creation perspective on DSR. Based on a literature review and findings from the field it proposes a set of principles for knowledge creation in collaborative DSR

Tangible user interfaces : past, present and future directions

In the last two decades, Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) have emerged as a new interface type that interlinks the digital and physical worlds. Drawing upon users' knowledge and skills of interaction with the real non-digital world, TUIs show a potential to enhance the way in which people interact with and leverage digital information. However, TUI research is still in its infancy and extensive research is required in or- der to fully understand the implications of tangible user interfaces, to develop technologies that further bridge the digital and the physical, and to guide TUI design with empirical knowledge. This paper examines the existing body of work on Tangible User In- terfaces. We start by sketching the history of tangible user interfaces, examining the intellectual origins of this field. We then present TUIs in a broader context, survey application domains, and review frame- works and taxonomies. We also discuss conceptual foundations of TUIs including perspectives from cognitive sciences, phycology, and philoso- phy. Methods and technologies for designing, building, and evaluating TUIs are also addressed. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limita- tions of TUIs and chart directions for future research

Kinetic facades: towards design for environmental performance

Over the past few decades, kinetic facades have emerged as alternative building envelopes, designed to meet the increasing of varying and complex demands related to user comfort, energy consumption and cost efficiency. This concept has been described in a number of ways, ranging from the usage of innovative components to highly complex designs and advance technological application. In this research, kinetic facades are defined as the ability to response and adapt to the changes of the environmental conditions. The strategies mainly focus on the functions and performances of kinetic facades in the context of indoor daylight quality and thermal heat performance. These are achieved by examining the role of kinetic elements on the building facades to form effective kinetic configurations in response to environmental changes. Identifying and evaluating the performance of kinetic designs on the building facades at the early design phase will assist designers to understand design issues and strategies in constructing the kinetic facades. Although the existing design implementation of kinetic facades were intended to enhance the building performance, the inclusion of daylight and thermal radiation, a fair number of them struggle to achieve the optimum performance after the facades were installed and being operated. Designing and evaluating responsive kinetic facades are complex tasks as they involve interactive kinetic elements within three-dimensional dynamic physical elements or components that constantly change. Therefore, this research presents a methodology, alternative tools, and design evaluation techniques, which define a performance-based design, an approach to analyse the design and simulate responsiveness of kinetic facades during the early design phase. This demonstrates how the process of designing and developing kinetic facades can be effectively tested and evaluated to understand the challenges and problems before the actual facades are constructed and installed in the buildings. As designing static facades totally contrasts from designing dynamic components that involved various state changes, this research proposed alternative platforms for designers to design and evaluate the kinetic facades, which respond to the environmental condition. One major contribution of this research is a dual methodology for designing and evaluating kinetic facades, using analogue and digital simulation tools. Rapid prototyping and physical testing were used at the early design stages with the aid of digital tools for verification of the architectural kinetics whilst more detailed physical experimental tests were performed on a one-to-one scale installation on site. These evaluations are aimed to achieve an optimum automated facade configuration, which specifically enable design exploration of semi autonomous or fully autonomous configurations of a kinetic facade system. The process of evaluating the performance of kinetic design via digital simulations and physical testings allows designers to overcome the limitations of the existing analytical and digital simulation tools. This investigation demonstrates the design approach and techniques to conduct an evaluation on kinetic design through physical prototyping and testing, which complement the findings gain from existing digital simulation tools. Ultimately, this research is intended to provide insights and alternative platform for designers to improve, validate and make informed decisions during the early design development while offering unprecedented ways of exploring design options and strategies in realising the kinetic facades towards environmental performance.&nbsp