From design-oriented research to research-inspired design: Co-constructing intelligent environments & cultivating research into science-fiction prototypes

Intelligent environment is the co-operation between people and the environment when the technological offering is composed in a way that it is obvious to the people. The intelligence is not a quality of people, technology or the environment, but the ecosystem they construct. At best, IE is the co-operation between people and the environment when the technological offering is composed in a way that it is obvious to the people. Currently it is seen important that the environments are constructed piecemeal and supplemented when necessary. In my PhD I have studied how the IE ecosystems are co-constructed with people in a do-it-yourself fashion. The design-oriented research aims to build prototypes and is extremely fulfilling. Yet, as a designer I have the in-build urge to apply the knowledge - and further change and improve things. Therefore, in my PhD work I use science fiction prototypes as design outcome of IE research work that go beyond the research, provide long-term solutions for the technology, and introduce new opportunities and designs applicable in near or distant future. These prototypes have a societal mission and they address the needs of the people who truly own the domains.