STOMATA
2020
The objective of this project is to optimize building energy retrofits by creating smart environments that autonomously respond to the occupants’ comfort level using affective computing, AI, and adaptive systems. This occupant-oriented and adaptive approach will help us to improve sustainability and energy efficiency without sacrificing occupant comfort.
Through passive cooling and heating strategy, these cognizant spaces autonomously respond to occupants’ preferences decoded from their biological and neurological data. This project is a smart shell that can be controlled by occupants’ biological signals and change according to environmental and user data. It is a flexible and reconfigurable shell that can undertake different configurations through kinetic components. To achieve the goal of this project, we have to take a multi-faceted approach. Part of it is engaged in a sensory network of collecting, measuring, and analyzing biodata and understanding the human condition while other parts focus on translating signals into actionable changes in an adaptive shell which involve adaptive structures, actuation systems, and materials that can respond in kind. We want to address this research question: How can such smart environment retrofits measurably improve the well-being of occupants by autonomously responding to their comfort needs while improving sustainability in buildings.
