Design

Advanced technologies like Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR) opened up new possibilities for non-professionals to create 3D shapes, forms, or artworks without professional training. Still, most existing works focus on supporting 3D modeling tasks; and understanding how to support the early stage of design (ideation and creative expression) is still lacking. This paper aims to investigate future interfaces that could support non-professional’s 3D geometry ideation and construction process. We present the generative design study in which we observed how ten non-professional designers brainstormed and generated custom 3D shapes for their personal desired objects. We found that non-design experts rely on various 3D reference objects when generating their desired 3D geometry shapes, and they tend to apply those references directly in shape descriptions. Based on these insights, we highlighted the potential of having reference-based digital 3D design tools for novices. A new system called ShapeloreVR is proposed, which utilizes everyday objects and basic primitives in a VR design playground so that non-experts can quickly interact with, merge, modify, and generate desired 3D shapes while brainstorming.

• We propose a generative design workflow that integrates a stochastic multi-agent simulation with the intent of helping building designers reduce the risk posed by COVID-19 and future pathogens. Our custom simulation randomly generates activities and movements of individual occupants, tracking the amount of virus transmitted through air and surfaces from contagious to susceptible agents. The stochastic nature of the simulation requires that many repetitions be performed to achieve statistically reliable results. Accordingly, a series of initial experiments identified parameter values that balanced the trade-off between computational cost and accuracy. Applying generative design to a case study based on an existing office space reduced the predicted transmission by around 10% to 20% compared with a baseline set of layouts. Additionally, a qualitative examination of the generated layouts revealed design patterns that may reduce transmission. Stochastic multi-agent simulation is a computationally expensive yet plausible way to generate safer building designs.

• The COVID-19 pandemic changed our lives, forcing us to reconsider our built environment, architectural designs, and even behaviours.

• However, systems to effectively and interactively evaluate virus transmission in physical spaces are lacking.

• To help fill this gap, we propose OccSim, a system that automatically generates occupancy behaviours in a 3D model of a building and helps users analyze the potential effect of virus transmission from a large-scale and longitudinal perspective.

• Our participatory evaluation with four groups of stakeholders revealed that OccSim could enhance their decision making processes by identifying specific risks of virus transmission in advance, and illuminating how each risk relates to complex human-building interactions.

The design of a workplace can have a profound impact on the effectiveness of the workforce utilizing the space. When considering dynamic social activities in the flow of work, the constraints of the static elements of the interior reveals the adaptive behaviour of the occupants in trying to accommodate these constraints while performing their daily tasks. To better understand how workplace design shapes social interactions, we ran an empirical study in an office context over a two week period. We collected video from 24 cameras in a dozen space configurations totaling 1,920 hours of recorded activities. We utilized computer vision techniques, to produce skeletonized representations of the occupants, to assist in the annotation and data analysis process. We present our findings of socio-spatial formation patterns and the effects of furniture and interior elements on the observed behaviour of collaborators for both computer-supported work and for unmediated social interaction. Combining the observations with an interview of the occupants’ reflections, we discuss dynamics of socio-spatial formations and how this knowledge can support social interactions in the domain of space design systems and interactive interiors.

A well-designed workplace has a direct and significant impact on our work experiences and productivity. In this paper, we investigate how office interior layouts influence the way we socially experience office buildings. We extend the previous work that examined static social formations of office workers by looking at their dynamic movements during informal desk visiting interactions. With a month of video data collected in the office, we implemented a vision-based analysis system that enables us to examine how people occupy space in social contexts in relation to desk configurations. The results showed that both social territoriality and approach path highlight social comfort in human-building interactions, which are different from efficiency or path optimization. From these findings, we propose the concepts of socio-spatial comfort: social buffers, privacy buffers, and varying proxemics to inform a user-centered way of designing human building interactions and architecture.

The design of a workplace can have a profound impact on the effectiveness of the workforce utilizing the space. When considering dynamic social activities in the flow of work, the constraints of the static elements of the interior reveals the adaptive behaviour of the occupants in trying to accommodate these constraints while performing their daily tasks. To better understand how workplace design shapes social interactions, we ran an empirical study in an office context over a two week period. We collected video from 24 cameras in a dozen space configurations totaling 1,920 hours of recorded activities. We utilized computer vision techniques, to produce skeletonized representations of the occupants, to assist in the annotation and data analysis process. We present our findings of socio-spatial formation patterns and the effects of furniture and interior elements on the observed behaviour of collaborators for both computer-supported work and for unmediated social interaction. Combining the observations with an interview of the occupants’ reflections, we discuss dynamics of socio-spatial formations and how this knowledge can support social interactions in the domain of space design systems and interactive interiors.

The design of a workplace can have a profound impact on the effectiveness of the workforce utilizing the space. When considering dynamic social activities in the flow of work, the constraints of the static elements of the interior reveals the adaptive behaviour of the occupants in trying to accommodate these constraints while performing their daily tasks. To better understand how workplace design shapes social interactions, we ran an empirical study in an office context over a two week period. We collected video from 24 cameras in a dozen space configurations totaling 1,920 hours of recorded activities. We utilized computer vision techniques, to produce skeletonized representations of the occupants, to assist in the annotation and data analysis process. We present our findings of socio-spatial formation patterns and the effects of furniture and interior elements on the observed behaviour of collaborators for both computer-supported work and for unmediated social interaction. Combining the observations with an interview of the occupants’ reflections, we discuss dynamics of socio-spatial formations and how this knowledge can support social interactions in the domain of space design systems and interactive interiors.

Actuated furniture, such as electric adjustable sit-stand desks, helps users vary their posture and contributes to comfort and health. However, studies found that users rarely initiate height changes. Therefore, in this paper, we look into furniture that adjusts itself to the user’s needs. A situated interview study indicated task-changing as an opportune moment for automatic height adjustment. We then performed a Wizard of Oz study to find the best timing for changing desk height to minimize interruption and discomfort. The results are in line with prior work on task interruption in graphical user interfaces and show that the table should change height during a task change. However, results also indicate that until users build trust in the system, they prefer actuation after a task change to experience the impact of the adjustment. Based on the results, we discuss design guidelines for interactive desks with agency.

In this paper, we explored the application of human factor guidelines in personal fabrication. This is useful for several Do-It-Yourself (DIY) scenarios, including users adjusting workstation configurations or designing a desk to fit a single person. We identified a dependency map between the user’s anthropometrics, ergonomic pose recommendations, and design dimensions. Based on this, we developed situated and interactive guidelines to assist users in design applications. We applied these guidelines in a Virtual Reality (VR) system that lets users customize their desk and provides real-time feedback and feedforward on pose and design. We evaluated the system with six participants, had each one design a personal desk, fabricated their desks, and let them work on their desks for four hours. The design and evaluation contribute to fabrication tools as it helped users be aware of their pose and ergonomic knowledge, and design for their bodies and needs.

In this paper, we explored the application of human factor guidelines in personal fabrication. This is useful for several Do-It-Yourself (DIY) scenarios, including users adjusting workstation configurations or designing a desk to fit a single person. We identified a dependency map between the user’s anthropometrics, ergonomic pose recommendations, and design dimensions. Based on this, we developed situated and interactive guidelines to assist users in design applications. We applied these guidelines in a Virtual Reality (VR) system that lets users customize their desk and provides real-time feedback and feedforward on pose and design. We evaluated the system with six participants, had each one design a personal desk, fabricated their desks, and let them work on their desks for four hours. The design and evaluation contribute to fabrication tools as it helped users be aware of their pose and ergonomic knowledge, and design for their bodies and needs.

In this paper, we explored the application of human factor guidelines in personal fabrication. This is useful for several Do-It-Yourself (DIY) scenarios, including users adjusting workstation configurations or designing a desk to fit a single person. We identified a dependency map between the user’s anthropometrics, ergonomic pose recommendations, and design dimensions. Based on this, we developed situated and interactive guidelines to assist users in design applications. We applied these guidelines in a Virtual Reality (VR) system that lets users customize their desk and provides real-time feedback and feedforward on pose and design. We evaluated the system with six participants, had each one design a personal desk, fabricated their desks, and let them work on their desks for four hours. The design and evaluation contribute to fabrication tools as it helped users be aware of their pose and ergonomic knowledge, and design for their bodies and needs.

Food 3D printing is getting the spotlight by offering the opportunity to customize food appearances, textures, and flavors that are troublesome to make by hand. Additive manufacturing machines extrude ingredients into a certain shape, however, they cannot be applied to all types of food, such as mandu (Korean dumpling). In this pictorial, we extend the research on digital gastronomy by using digital fabrication to create custom tools that assist the process of cooking. We present the iterative process of designing the “Ori-mandu” system, and how Ori-mandu enables users to fabricate dumplings in whatever shape they want.