29.10.18 - Daniels students explore the use of Artificial Intelligence to design better office spaces in award-winning competition project
Third year Daniels Master of Architecture students, John Nguyen, Abubaker Bajaman, and Stephen Baik received an Honourable Mention in Non Architecture Competitions' 7th International Design Competition "Thinking: Alternative Designs for Offices."
With a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI), the students "sought to explore the everyday mundane minuscules of contemporary office design layouts," questioning their effectiveness, and exploring "whether Artificial Intelligence can not only increase workers' efficiency, but contribute to improving their physical, mental, and creative state of mind."
Their project, titled "Locus Intelligentes," tackled 3 main issues: creativity reduction caused by repetitive office routines, poor access to communication between workers caused by inadequate placement and distancing of desks, and spaces not used to their maximum potential.
Write the students in their project description:
Our idea looks at desks that are interchangeable and moveable. Everything is controlled by artificial intelligence that records people’s stages of work and when certain people need to be clustered together. A series of curtains make the spaces but are moveable themselves. The AI will also record people’s daily patterns and attempts to gradually transition layouts in-between stages of a project to be minimally intrusive overtime. This constant flux in arrangements will help keep the workers more engaged.
There were 38 finalists in the competition, which was open to all. Of those, 9 received honourable mentions, and 3 winners were selected. Nguyen, Bajaman, and Baik's project will be featured in the Non Architecture Competitions book and website.
To learn more about the Daniels students' project, visit the Non Architecture Competitions website.