The contemporary world faces multifaceted challenges, including climate change, demographic shifts, technological innovation, ecological resource pressures, and societal transformations. These interwoven factors shape a future filled with uncertainty. This paper explores a core research question: In the “era of new civilizational transformation,” how can architectural design address changes in future living environments and lifestyles. The next-generation architecture must meet the psychological needs of navigating transitions between physical and virtual spaces, establishing a “home for physical and mental well-being.”
This study analyzes global macro drivers including climate crisis, ecological imbalance, pandemics, demographic changes, societal shifts, economic challenges, and technological disruptions. Based on humanity’s enduring needs, it proposes next-generation architectural design specifications focusing on seven key dimensions: safety, health, intelligence, symbiosis, spirituality, maintenance, and economy, along with the fulfillment of their respective requirements.
The study argues that significant changes in the global environment, society, work, lifestyles, and interactive technologies will necessitate transformations in architectural design and planning. New measures are required in spatial design, environmental creation, and equipment considerations. Proposed solutions include: creating a “micro-symbiotic environment” oriented toward indoor health; establishing a “core cabin” as a central space for disaster prevention, safety, and physical restoration; incorporating maintenance and replacement of pipelines and equipment, dynamic sensing and analysis for disaster resilience, and establishing a digital building record with intelligent sensing and warning devices, alongside a “building AI” system; addressing dynamic work-life transitions and multifunctional needs for work-leisure and virtual-physical conversions through a “flexible transformation room” with intelligent, multifunctional modular equipment and spatial design; anticipating the integration of AI robots as future “robotic residents” in households by incorporating their functional needs into pre-planned spatial and equipment designs; and adapting to changes in transportation, such as drones, autonomous vehicles, and robotic delivery systems, by incorporating “new connection pathways” into architectural design.