Interactive Design: Towards a Responsive Environment

Designers and forward thinkers in the field of interactive design share their reflections and show examples of different models of a responsive future environment.

Interactive design has exploded in recent years with a number of inspiring projects that have opened up a new field of research and design.
This book brings together some of the most prominent actors and thinkers in the field of interactive design, with theoretical articles highlighting different aspects of this work and describing them through current practices and projects.

Supplemented with numerous illustrations, this book offers an overview of the emergence of interactive design and architecture based on the theory of cybernetics. At the same time, it introduces models of interactivity ranging from dynamic and shapechanging materials to wearables, architecture, and transdisciplinary and alternative design methods.
History of the development of interactive design

• Overview of the state of the art and its possibilities
• Models of interactivity in theory and practice

Behnaz Farahi is a designer, creative technologist and critical maker. Trained as an architect, she explores how to foster an empathetic relationship between the human body and the surrounding space through the implementation of emerging technologies. Her work addresses issues such as feminism, emotion, bodily perception and social interaction. She specializes in computational design, interactive technologies, additive manufacturing and digital fabrication technologies.
Farahi has won several awards including the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum Digital Design Award, Fast Company Innovation By Design Linda Tischler Award, World Technology Award (WTN).
She has received her PhD in Interdisciplinary Media Arts and Practice at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Design, California State University, Long Beach.



Neil Leach is an architect, curator and writer. His research interests fall broadly into two fields, critical theory and digital design. In the field of critical theory, he has published many monographs and edited volumes, dealing largely with the impact of importing theoretical tools from critical theory into an architectural arena.
He has taught at numerous international universities including Columbia GSAPP, Dessau Institute of Architecture, IaaC, London Consortium, Royal Danish School of Fine Arts, University of Bath.
He is currently Visiting Professor at Harvard University GSD, Professor at the European Graduate School, Gao Feng Professor at Tongji University, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California.