Research Group Projects and Descriptions

The home will soon become a center for health care, energy production, and work, but our places of living are poorly prepared for this future. House_n investigates how new computational design, fabrication, and sensing tools can be used to create responsive, adaptable environments that will better accommodate complex new activities and ever-changing technologies. Researchers are focused on three application areas: health (proactive environments for healthy living), energy (scalable strategies for Net_0 houses), and mass customization (chassis/infill for places of living).

We are creating a location-aware thermostat system that will communicate with GPS-enabled mobile phones of home occupants and will use machine learning algorithms to model traveling time patterns and optimize the control of the HVAC system. The system will allow the temperature to fluctuate based on a resident’s travel time to home, so that temperature is comfortable upon return, yet energy consumption is minimized during periods when the home is not occupied. The system will have a mobile phone-based interface that will not only provide real-time feedback of savings but also use behavior change strategies and good user interface design to encourage long-term use and adoption of the system. It will require no programming by the resident.

MITes (MIT environmental sensors) are low-cost, wireless devices for collecting data about human behavior and the state of the environment. Nine versions of MITes have now been developed, including MITes for people movement (3-axis accelerometers), object movement (2-axis accelerometers), temperature, light levels, indoor location, ultra-violet light exposure, heart rate, haptic output, and electrical current flow. (This is a House_n/Department of Architecture Initiative funded by the National Science Foundation.)

We are developing design algorithms linked to automated fabrication of integrated building assemblies that may allow for highly efficient, high-design housing. Working with industrial sponsors, this project is developing a new model where: (1) developers become integrators and alliance builders to offer tailored solutions to individuals; (2) architects design design-engines to efficiently create thousands of unique environments; (3) manufacturers agree on interface standards and become tier-one suppliers of components; (4) builders become installers and assemblers; and (5) customers (home buyers) become innovators at the center of the process. (This is a House_n Initiative.)

The PlaceLab is a highly instrumented, apartment-scale, shared research facility where new technologies and design concepts can be tested and evaluated in the context of everyday living. Developed by the House_n Research Consortium, PlaceLab allows researchers to collect fine-grained human behavior and environmental data, and to systematically test and evaluate strategies and technologies for the home in a natural setting with volunteer occupants. It is capable of accommodating multiple and simultaneous experiments proposed by academic researchers and MIT industrial collaborators. It is particularly useful for hypothesis testing and for generating pilot data prior to longer-term studies. (PlaceLab is a House_n/Department of Architecture Initiative).

Medical professionals believe that one of the best ways to detect an emerging medical condition before it becomes critical is to look for changes in the “activities of daily living” (ADL). We are developing new pattern-classification and context-based AI algorithms that detect changes in ADL automatically. Such algorithms can be applied both to preventative medicine and devices that monitor and control home and work spaces. Particular attention is focused on identifying behaviors that indicate mental illness and associated medication compliance issues.

The nature of work is rapidly changing, but designers have a poor understanding of how places of work affect interaction, creativity, and productivity. We are instrumenting two workplaces with tiny wireless motion sensors (MITes) to collect information about how spaces are used, the paths that people take, and where people meet. In addition, we are using Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones to ask each worker context-triggered questions about the nature of human interactions and experience. This information will be used in a pilot project to inform the design of a new work environment. Finally, the new workplace will be similarly instrumented to create a data-rich post-occupancy evaluation of the design. (WorkLife is a House_n/Department of Architecture Initiative).