The goal of this project is to explore responsive environments facilitating human interaction to enable events and activities and promote to engagement and personal involvement within the larger community.  The notion that an individual affects ones environment is widened.  The primary intention is to facilitate human interaction, response and enjoyment from a centric social basis.

In light of social networking, web2.0 and wider area communications, the opportunity exists to actively engage wide areas of communities, supporting face to face interactions (Shaw, 2000) within a community especially where mobile phones are highly prevalent with homeless populations (Adams, 2004). On a physical architectural level, in light of recent resurfacing of the work of cyberneticist Gordon Pask in the work of Architect and Media Artist Usman Haque (Haque, 2006), the opportunity to close the loop between people, their environments and the reciprocal relationships between the two can also be explored.
This project does not intend to ignore more traditional architectural design concepts rather to build upon them in parts integrating a methodological design process less focused upon the aesthetic and more upon its meaning uses and interactions that it can facilitate. This is particularly relevant as technological sophistication develops in the way in which buildings are designed, manufactured and operated and meaning ways in which technologies can be used meaningfully, engaging and appropriate manner is increasingly important. This attitude has grounding in McCullough’s (McCullough , 2004) attitudes towards architectural design however it is also aware of the value of the aesthetic within this context of interactivity. Similar work in this mode of thinking exists with Mitchell’s Digital Zaragoza (Mitchell, 2005), NOX’s D-Tower and ONL’s Hyperbodies, however these often lack a strong supporting methodologies supporting the work.

Through the design process for a Knowledge and Cultural Hub in the Bigg Market, Newcastle upon Tyne, this paper explores these theoretical issues in a practical design based manner applied to a typology and context which offers a wide opportunity for interactions and cues for a responsive agenda. The brief is a critical response to Tower Hamlet Council’s Idea Store programme (Idea Store, 1999) which is a re-branding rather than a redefinition of the library typology. The Bigg Market Knowledge and Cultural Hub stems from the realm of public and forums and social networks which enhance today’s society, offering expression, inclusion and interaction between socially diverse individuals. The role of the library in this context is seen as an information service supporting wider activities and interactions on a local, national and international stage.

In the paper, current theoretical frameworks for the application of interaction design and responsive environments principles are critically analysed and the general methodology for the application of these principles to a specific building typology is presented.   By means of examples, different ways of creating a building (a Knowledge and Cultural Hub in this case) which is more engaging through physical design and associated digital infrastructure are also illustrated.  For instance, an integral part of our Knowledge and Cultural Hub are customisable pods.  These are scattered across the scheme based upon the same initial configuration vary according to specific location offer workshop spaces as well as create an integral part of the responsive public space and urban environment, creating a personalised and changing environment enabling user ownership and fostering user interaction between the traditional public institution and the individual. The manner in which these pods respond to changing site and programmatic conditions varies based upon each pod’s location and the mode of which has evolved from Interaction Design Methodology and state design used in Artificial Intelligence systems.   Storyboarding techniques were used to create a narrative of engaging the building and its context which are then translated into a technical solution.
