RAD, Responsive Architecture and Design is a research unit housed at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto.
RAD provides resources and expertise for project-based research on the spatial ramifications of embedded technology and ubiquitous computing.
The research is premised on the notion that every building or landscape component can be equipped with computational power. Projects at RAD develop models for such digitally enhanced environments to better handle persistent and emerging challenges in the areas of healthcare, building technology and sustainability. The projects are set up for multi-disciplinary collaboration and for potential development in partnership with industry.
Computing is migrating from dedicated static appliances to mobile devices, objects of everyday life, and physical environments thanks to increasingly proliferating microchips and ever-expanding information networks. The spatial nature of ubiquitous computing directly implicates and empowers architecture, landscape and urban design.
RAD capitalizes on this potential, bringing research to bear on the built environment from a variety of fields that exploit the spatial consequences of distributed computing: responsive and interactive systems, augmented reality, embedded/situated technology, ambient intelligence, mobile computing and locative media.
RAD is led by Assistant Professor Carol Moukheiber and Associate Professor Rodolphe el-Khoury, Directors, along with Assistant Professor Christos Marcopoulos, Investigator. The RAD website presents ongoing research initiatives and trajectories developed under the supervision of RAD directors, investigators and collaborators.
The RAD lab is a recent recipient of a Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) grant. Support for the lab has also been provided by H.H. Angus and Associates Limited.