Three years later, Yona Friedman wrote about the changing relationship between clients and architects. He said that a new design methodology was needed because architects could not assess the future spatial needs of building users accurately enough. Proposing a new model, he split architectural design in two complementary halves, hardware design and software design, reasoning that this would give users the opportunity to adapt built spaces to suit their needs.

Both of these ideas describe approaches to the production of an architecture that can change shape and configuration in response to changing patterns of use. Rabeneck’s approach illustrates the benefit of predictive technologies and automation, while Friedman’s model illustrates the benefit of user intervention and direct manipulation. This paper discusses developments in the field of responsive architecture in relation to two opposing user-centred interaction methodologies. It proposes methods for controlling responsive buildings and suggests that human computer interaction methodologies need to be re-thought and extended when applied within intelligent, responsive, architectures.

The paper presents the results and analyses of an online user survey (please refer to http://cumincad.scix.net/data/works/att/8d88.content.09055.pdf) which considers the use of currently available media, their roles and performance in the delivery of information of architectural works. It proposes suggestions for the manner and reasons these factors fashion users’ preferences. It also highlights several aspects of architectural data (e.g. forms, lighting, materials, etc) as well as those of the respective media used to represent them while indicating how significant end-users perceive these aspects in the process of understanding architecture. The interpretations of the results outlined in this paper may suggest some answers to the questions relating to current media use, but they may also pose more questions about the types of and the manner in which information should be delivered to architecture enthusiasts/readers. This reassessment is intended to help anticipate future directions in the application of these media in presenting architectural information. Special attention is particularly paid to the opportunities afforded by the digital platform.

It could easily be established that architectural information has undergone various manners of representations in publications; most, if not all of which are author-driven in contents and structures. To whatever extent that these publications may have been relied upon as other sources of information and knowledge, it is unusual that there appears to be an absence of assessment of the effectiveness they assume to deliver. It is often found that in such publications, readers are met with irrational expectations of prior understanding of the subject matters that the publications themselves often become beacons which spotlight the positions or commands of knowledge of the authors rather than ones that genuinely guide readers to achieve maximum possible comprehension. Could the reclusive nature of the activity, brought upon by these publications unlike that of the lecture settings, allow them to be easily unquestion-ed/able? Or have they become so effective that their positions are beyond reproach?

In the age where a shadow of change is being brought upon by the presence of a more interactive electronic delivery, it is an interesting period to retreat and reassess the position of the current available media in relation to message recipients. Have the available sources of information really been effective? Will/Should Technology see mere replicas of traditional mode of delivery in digital forms? Could we see possible shifts of delivery methods? What should we be prepared for? These questions were springboards that launched the need for the survey. However, the collected data may be used in a few other various manners than to locate the present scenario or serve as basis to drive the future direction/s in architectural information representations.