Responsive architecture is an evolving field of architectural practice and research. Responsive architectures are those that measure actual environmental conditions (via sensors) to enable buildings to adapt their form, shape, color or character responsively (via actuators).
Responsive architectures aim to refine and extend the discipline of architecture by improving the energy performance of buildings with responsive technologies (sensors / control systems / actuators) while also producing buildings that reflect the technological and cultural conditions of our time.
Responsive architectures distinguish themselves from other forms of interactive design by incorporating intelligent and responsive technologies into the core elements of a building's fabric. For example: by incorporating responsive technologies into the structural systems of buildings architects have the ability to tie the shape of a building directly to its environment. This enables architects to reconsider the way they design and construct space while striving to advance the discipline rather than applying patchworks of intelligent technologies to an existing vision of "building".
History
The common definition of responsive architecture, as described by many authors, is a class of architecture or building that demonstrates an ability to alter its form, to continually reflect the environmental conditions that surround it.
The term responsive architecture was introduced by Nicholas Negroponte, who first conceived of it during the late 1960s when spatial design problems were being explored by applying cybernetics to architecture. Negroponte proposes that responsive architecture is the natural product of the integration of computing power into built spaces and structures, and that better performing, more rational buildings are the result. Negroponte also extends this mixture to include the concepts of recognition, intention, contextual variation, and meaning into computing and its successful (ubiquitous) integration into architecture. This cross-fertilization of ideas lasted for about eight years. Several important theories resulted from these efforts, but today Nicholas Negroponte’s contributions are the most obvious to architecture. His work moved the field of architecture in a technical, functional, and actuated direction.
Since Negroponte’s contribution, new works of responsive architecture have also emerged, but as aesthetic creations—rather than functional ones. The works of Diller & Scofidio (Blur), dECOi (Aegis Hypo-Surface), and NOX (The Freshwater Pavilion, NL) are all classifiable as types of responsive architecture. Each of these works monitors fluctuations in the environment and alters its form in response to these changes. The Blur project by Diller & Scofidio relies upon the responsive characteristics of a cloud to change its form while blowing in the wind. In the work of dECOi, responsiveness is enabled by a programmable façade, and finally in the work of NOX, a programmable audio–visual interior.
All of these works depend upon the abilities of computers to continuously calculate and join digital models that are programmable, to the real world and the events that shape it.
Finally an account of the development of the use of responsive systems and their history in respect to recent architectural theory can be found in Tristan d'Estree Sterk's recent opening keynote address (ACADIA 2009) entitled "Thoughts for Gen X— Speculating about the Rise of Continuous Measurement in Architecture"
Current work
While a considerable amount of time and effort has been spent on intelligent homes in recent years, the emphasis here has been mainly on developing computerized systems and electronics to adapt the interior of the building or its rooms to the needs of residents. Research in the area of responsive architecture has had far more to do with the building structure itself, its ability to adapt to changing weather conditions and to take account of light, heat and cold. This could theoretically be achieved by designing structures consisting of rods and strings which would bend in response to wind, distributing the load in much the same way as a tree. Similarly, windows would respond to light, opening and closing to provide the best lighting and heating conditions inside the building.
This line of research, known as actuated tensegrity, relies on changes in structures controlled by actuators which in turn are driven by computerized interpreters of the real world conditions.