Rendering the Digital Future: Understanding the Social-Spatial Perception of a Dynamic Data Intensive Environment as an Architect

The fusion of physical and virtual realms through enhanced digitalisation is driving a revolutionary change in industrial production. Meanwhile, we see the increasing possibilities of the ubiquitous world of Internet of Things (IoT) and digital twins (DT) as key components of Industry 4.0 which formed the latest wave of integration of technology into our lives and surroundings. This rapidly spreading new generation of devices brings cameras, microphones, sensors, computing, and network access into non-computer products, as these developments transition from the ‘realm of artefacts’ into the ‘realm of architecture’ (Alavi et al., 2019a), it becomes the responsibility of an architect (or spatial designer) to know how to deal with this apparatus and the associated challenges. Unfortunately, the adaptation of these artefacts (be it a building or a computer device) or systems is predominantly focused on optimising efficiency, cost, and sustainability, thereby ignoring the socio-spatial matters in terms of interactions between environments, buildings, and their inhabitants. This research explores how the technological advancements of these digital artefacts have transcended the overall realm of architecture, enabling a social-spatial understanding of dynamic activities in spaces and places with digital-spatial systems.