Designing for future home spaces based on playful interactions with technologies

As emerging technologies weave into daily life and their ambient presence reshapes routines within spaces, the built environment often fails to reflect corresponding architectural changes. In response, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has widened its focus from artefacts to environments, paving the way for Human-Building Interaction (HBI). Yet, even though diverse forms of interaction with technologies are forming in light of this, the architectural implications of playful interactions remain largely overlooked. This dissertation addresses this gap by investigating how designing for architectural change in future homes can be informed through enhancing the playful interactions of early adopters who live within or around distinct urban boundaries. This research follows Research Through Design (RtD) methodology, while also incorporating Situated Play Design (SPD) approach to chase, enhance, and evaluate situated playful instances in domestic spaces located in peripheral gated communities in Istanbul. This inquiry draws on semi-structured interviews, diary studies, speculative co-design workshops, and in-the-wild enactments, synthesizing the findings into two contributions: (1) design recommendations that support architects in creating spatial concepts that accommodate playful technology use in gated communities and related contexts, and (2) design space articulating relationships among technologies, playful interactions, and architectural spatial changes, offering intermediate-level knowledge that can guide early ideation in HBI and guide HCI researchers and interaction designers anticipate spatial consequences of new products. This work demonstrates how everyday play with technology can be translated into actionable insights that inform architectural change, support industry in developing new products, and underpin future initiatives in pilot studies or new regulations by local and central authorities.