2021, Article in monograph or in proceedings (The 17th International Conference on Intelligent Environments (IE2021). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)The ageing of the population in developed countries asks for smart solutions to promote seniors' inclusion in society. Therefore, how to shape a place that is both smart and encourages healthy ageing is a key question in the field of shaping smart and inclusive living environments. Smart placemaking, i.e. the augmentation of physical place with location-specific digital services, offers a range of powerful opportunities to add value to public spaces in ways which can translate into health promotion in society and improved living environments for all. In order to successfully shape a healthy ageing living environment through smart placemaking, one could learn from the experience of successful practices of existing healthy communities. An example of such communities can be "Blue Zones" which are home for the world's longest-lived populations[1]. This paper aims to integrate the process of smart placemaking with learnings from socio-spatial characteristics of Blue Zones in a neighbourhood-scale environment, i.e. Malvalaan, in The Netherlands. This integration will be presented in the form of proposing urban and architectural design interventions. The process of integration will be experimented in an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environment. This paper reports on the feedback received from the participants (inhabitants of the Malvalaan) of the experiment which can lead to a better understanding of the proposed design interventions and, consequently, can help to provide better place-based architectural and urban design guidelines.
2021, Article / Letter to editor (Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, (2021))This research explores current strategies and approaches directed to integrate innovative technologies in the home modification process to support independent living and ageing in place. The systematic review considered studies conducted from the perspective of architecture, smart technology, and gerontology. Scientific databases of related disciplines (e.g. Scopus, Web of Science, Engineer village, Google Scholar, Crossref) were searched and supplemented by hand search method. Thirty-three out of 2594 articles were analysed from three perspectives: the framework of the smart home environment for ageing in place, the smart home modification process, and problems and countermeasures of independent living. The result shows that both home modification and smart technologies can support older adults’ independent living, especially with fall prevention and indoor accessibility. Technologies deployed in older adults’ homes are transiting from manual assistive technology to more intelligent devices, and the notion of the robotic home has emerged. According to existing practices, universal design is an extensively adopted strategy for smart home design and modification. However, in most cases, universal design is used as a retrofitting guideline for general home settings rather than specifically for smart homes. The fundamental requirements in smart home modification phases are customisation, minimum life interference, and extensible technologies to cope with the ageing process.
2020, Article / Letter to editor (Online Journal of Art and Design, vol. 8, iss. 3, (2020), pp. 75-89)Due to recent technological advancements, technological transition through designing
together with living organisms is a growing phenomenon in multiple disciplines as well as
in building design. Within this technological transition period, a large number of concepts
with varied terms and definitions introduce comprehensive aspects and possible impacts
of the unity of living and manufactured components. While many concepts resonate in
building design, a blanket term is missing in the existing literature. To identify suitable
terms and definitions which either should be adopted or disregarded in the scope of the
building design, this paper presents an overview of the existing terminology. In the
framework of the research, firstly the descriptions of the innovations, exemplifying the
incorporation of living components, were examined in eighty (80) cases related to
building design. The most-used terms and definitions lead us to determine the scope of
the literature review. Further on, expert opinions, (20) twenty practitioners professionally
working with the innovations, were obtained. While the research clarifies the variety in
the terminology, the paper underlines the critical importance of the phenomenon in
terms of bringing substantial possibilities into building design through multiple functions,
domains, disciplines.
2020, Article in monograph or in proceedings (Biloria, N. (ed.), Data-driven multivalence in the built environment, pp. 157-180)In this chapter, we explore the possibility to use the living environment (of inpatient and outpatient care settings) for facilitating and encouraging the social inclusion of older adults in an increasingly smart society. We therefore pay attention to the spatial and smart design of emerging housing typologies for older adults in the Netherlands in which social activities and encounters take place.
Our first explorative research question reads: To what extent can the social inclusion of older adults with physical and/or mental disabilities contribute to their well-being? Based on (sociological) theories and existing knowledge from the literature, we can conclude that there are sufficient indications that the social inclusion of senior citizens in society have positive effects on their well-being, by strengthening social resources, in the case of intimate ties, and by stimulating public familiarity and random encounters. Moreover, it can be argued that encounters between elderly people with (either physical or mental) disabilities and healthy others can have a positive influence on the social acceptance of the former.
Following on the above, our second research question examines which spatial and smart interventions in and around inpatient and outpatient care settings can stimulate social inclusion. In this light, we discussed two new housing typologies in the Netherlands that can positively affect the inclusion of senior citizens in society: Farm sharing, which is particularly suitable for vital older adults who want to live independently for as long as possible, and the Care Estate, that seems to be a suitable form of living for vulnerable elderly people with physical and mental comorbidity, such as dementia. These housing typologies demonstrate the existence of an interplay between spatial design and smart technologies, in the sense that these factors can make each other superfluous or can provide added value.
In order to be able to optimize the well-being and health status of their residents, housing typologies must meet the needs of (vulnerable) older adults with regard to care, and social interaction, autonomy as much as possible. The art of designing new suitable housing typologies for older adults therefore should be based on linking different layers of people’s living environment: the care environment, the socio-spatial environment, and the digital environment. The two examples of housing typologies that we cover in this chapter, demonstrate how these different layers can be interconnected in order to design a new suitable housing concept.
2020, Article / Letter to editor (Journal of Building Engineering, vol. 31, iss. 101404, (2020))The dynamic nature of daylight and occupant's position can cause some issues such as heat gains and visual discomfort, which need to be controlled in real-time operation. Responsive facades have been pervasively used for preventing daylight glare and meeting daylight performance requirements. However, some passive strategies such as the colored glass of the Orosi typical architectural elements used in Iranian central courtyard buildings have the potential to filter excess daylight, as well as providing other functions such as aesthetics and privacy. This paper explores, for the first time, the possibility of coupling a kinetic façade with colored glasses to improve the daylight performance. This research builds on a combination of relevant literature and parametric simulation to investigate the development of integration of colored glass from Orosi with interactive kinetic façades, triggered by sun timing and occupants' positions. In total, 72 interactive kinetic façade cases are parametrically simulated, and their daylight performance is evaluated through climate-luminance based metrics. The simulation results confirm the high performance of the interactive kinetic facades for improving daylight performance regarding a base case. The integrated interactive kinetic façade with colored glass provides a real-time adaptation of the multifunctional passive strategy to sun timing and occupants' position. The integrated interactive kinetic façade with colored glass which uses parametric decentralized and hierarchical rotating (0–45°) movements, shows more improvement in daylight performance compared to other cases based on climate-luminance based metrics evaluation.
2020, Article / Letter to editor (vol. 17, iss. 13, (2020))Early studies conclude that high-rise apartment buildings present challenges for people’s quality of life, resulting in social isolation, social annoyance and anonymity for residents. Nevertheless, empirical research into factors supporting social interaction in high-rise apartment buildings is still scarce. This study aims to investigate how often and where people in high-rise neighborhoods interact, and how this is affected by personal and neighborhoods characteristics. A mixture of both quantitative and qualitative methods was used including social interaction diaries and questionnaires among 274 residents, in-depth interviews with 45 residents and objective measurement of the physical environments in four high-rise apartment buildings for low in-income people in Hanoi, Vietnam. Results demonstrate that social interaction is influenced by a number of personal and neighborhood characteristics. Furthermore, most social interactions—also gathering and accompanying playing children—take place in the circulation areas of the apartment buildings. However, the use of these spaces for different purposes of interaction is found to have negative impact on people’s privacy, the feeling of safety and cleanliness of the shared spaces. The findings of this study provide information for planners and designers on how to design and improve high-rise apartment buildings that support social interaction.
2019, Part of book or chapter of book (Brankaert,, Rens; IJsselsteijn, Wijnand (ed.), Dementia Lab 2019. Making Design Work : Engaging with Dementia in Context - 4th Conference, D-Lab 2019, Proceedings, pp. 24-34)
2012, Part of book or chapter of book (, pp. 144-152)Het is algemeen bekend dat architectuur en derhalve de gebouwde woonomgeving ons dagelijkse leven en welzijn beïnvloedt, zowel in directe als indirecte zin. We kennen in de bouwwereld allemaal de tekening van Leonardo da Vinci, de ‘Vitruviusman’, inzake de ‘menselijke maat’ zoals beschreven door Vitruvius. Dit begrip ‘menselijke maat’ heeft tegenwoordig vooral een figuurlijke betekenis gekregen. Om aan de menselijke maat in deze zin te kunnen voldoen moet de omgeving de impliciete en expliciete behoeften van de gebruiker van een gebouw kennen en daarop reageren. ‘People and Buildings’ van Robert Gutman, ‘A Pattern Language’ van Christopher Alexander en ‘The Urban Villagers’ van Herbert Gans zijn slechts enkele voorbeelden van onderzoeken die ontwerpers aanspoorden na te denken over deze interactie tussen de gebouwde omgeving en de gebruiker. Enkele voorbeelden van de menselijke maat in zorgarchitectuur zijn Evidence-Based Design, een ontwerpbenadering waarin besluiten worden geschaafd aan de hand van het best beschikbare bewijs van effectiviteit en Healing Environments dat zich op de oorzaken van gezondheid (salutogenesis) in plaats van op de oorzaken van ziekten (pathogenesis) richt. Het gaat met name om de positieve effecten van natuur op gezondheid en welzijn en de vertaling daarvan in het ontwerp.