Pantheon of Wonder

Essay

Abstraction of Colorful Light

How Wearable Technology Will Change Building Occupants

by Maria Lorena Lehman

Technology

Architecture Drawing

Technology is moving into the wearable realm — where it will be built into the things we wear like glasses, watches, clothes, and shoes. And this brings with it many advantages like anywhere information that is presented at just the right moment. Greater personalization will also emerge as such worn-devices target their user’s preferences, habits, and behaviors. All of these advantages of wearable technology will change your building occupant. They will be more informed, more self-aware, and more connected. In fact, they will even connect to their surrounding environments in new ways.

The key is for the architecture to make sense of new occupant interactions. As their wearables help them to live healthier and happier lifestyles — the architecture should do the same. In other words, architecture and wearable technology should work together to help occupants reach their goals.

In the article entitled 3 Ways to Make Wearable Tech Actually Wearable, it is stated that such technologies need to be both meaningful and beautiful for the user. (1) This is interesting, as beauty ties into personalization — where the technology becomes an extension of the user, and must express their style or “sense of beauty”. Also, the information that such wearables express to their user must be of value, having direct meaning for them in their life. Both meaning and beauty must exude from such technologies (unless they are hidden), and as they extend their reach into their surrounding environment — meaning and beauty should reflect as well.

Thus, designing architecture for occupants that use wearable technology means that your architecture will gain vocabulary by which to communicate with occupants. The key is to understand what information to extract from wearables, as well as to know which information to send to them. Just as many technologies will be connected, so too will the architecture. Thus, it will be up to the designer to coordinate engagement, interaction, and change.

Reference:

(1) Darmour, Jennifer. 3 Ways to Make Wearable Tech Actually Wearable. Fast Company.

Image Credit: © mjaud | Fotolia

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Dear reader,


I believe life is a continual process of awakening. As the journey of my own life continues, I always find myself connecting my experiences, studies, and ideas to new creative projects that bring beauty, inspiration, and hope for our world. For over 30 years, since starting at age 17, I have immersed myself in architectural design; and early on, I earned a Master of Design with Distinction from Harvard University, setting the foundation for decades of deep immersion in the field. Yet even before this, I held music close to my heart. At the age of 5, I began my first piano lessons; and since then, I began to see the world through a musical lens — even while designing architecture.


Over the decades, I grew closer and closer to music with a deep love for the design of instruments, their unique timbres, and for all the immersive ways their sounds could be interwoven into beautiful orchestrated compositions. I even began to develop a musical composition methodology, Spatial Symphonics, as I found my architectural design work becoming more and more emotive, soul-stirring, and yes: musical.


In recent years, I finally turned my full attention to music composition. I hold a Graduate Diploma from the Film Scoring Academy of Europe where my works have been recorded by the acclaimed European Recording Orchestra (ERO), and I am founder of MLL ATELIER® — an award-winning studio now dedicated to my work as an orchestral composer and spatial symphonist.


It is my hope that I can share my ongoing musical journey with you, directly from my studio through my video-newsletter entitled 'Orchestral Notes'. Expect video updates filled with first-access studio news announcing: album releases, concert premiers, sheet music publications, creative process sneak-peeks, and my own compositional philosophies as they develop to fuel my ongoing body of musical works.


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Warmly,

Maria Lorena Lehman


Founder of MLL ATELIER® | Orchestral Notes

Your invitation:


Dear reader,


I believe life is a continual process of awakening. As the journey of my own life continues, I always find myself connecting my experiences, studies, and ideas to new creative projects that bring beauty, inspiration, and hope for our world. For over 30 years, since starting at age 17, I have immersed myself in architectural design; and early on, I earned a Master of Design with Distinction from Harvard University, setting the foundation for decades of deep immersion in the field. Yet even before this, I held music close to my heart. At the age of 5, I began my first piano lessons; and since then, I began to see the world through a musical lens — even while designing architecture.


Over the decades, I grew closer and closer to music with a deep love for the design of instruments, their unique timbres, and for all the immersive ways their sounds could be interwoven into beautiful orchestrated compositions. I even began to develop a musical composition methodology, Spatial Symphonics, as I found my architectural design work becoming more and more emotive, soul-stirring, and yes: musical.


In recent years, I finally turned my full attention to music composition. I hold a Graduate Diploma from the Film Scoring Academy of Europe where my works have been recorded by the acclaimed European Recording Orchestra (ERO), and I am founder of MLL ATELIER® — an award-winning studio now dedicated to my work as an orchestral composer and spatial symphonist.


It is my hope that I can share my ongoing musical journey with you, directly from my studio through my video-newsletter entitled 'Orchestral Notes'. Expect video updates filled with first-access studio news announcing: album releases, concert premiers, sheet music publications, creative process sneak-peeks, and my own compositional philosophies as they develop to fuel my ongoing body of musical works.


I would love for you to join me for this exciting new chapter.


Simply click the button below to join my Orchestral Notes video-newsletter delivered every two weeks directly to your email inbox. Plus, get access to the full publication archives.

JOIN ORCHESTRAL NOTES

Limited availability each month.


Warmly,

Maria Lorena Lehman


Founder of MLL ATELIER

Author of PANTHEON OF WONDER

Maria Lorena Lehman has received the following awards and has been seen in the following publications: