Data-driven environmental art for enhancing user's pro-environmental behavior

Abstract

Buildings account for a significant share of resource consumption. While smart building technologies, including automated systems and equipment, have improved operational efficiency, user behaviour remains a critical variable. Automation often creates the impression that sustainability can be achieved without human involvement, yet daily choices still have a considerable impact, often underestimated in building performance simulations. A central challenge is making building data meaningful and engaging enough to encourage eco conscious behaviour. Beyond presenting technical information, the goal is to create representations that inspire reflection and action. According to the literature, data-driven environmental art has proven effective in opening communication around ecological issues and public engagement. Rather than prescribing behaviour, art invites users to feel and reflect on their relationship with the environment. This thesis investigates whether data-driven environmental art can enhance building users’ emotional and cognitive engagement with building sustainability data. To address this, a data-to-art framework is proposed that represents sustainability as a transformation from building system operation to an indoor experience. The framework operates by (1) taking sustainability-relevant building signals originating at the equipment level or within occupied spaces (e.g., ventilation, airflow, energy consumption, temperature, occupancy signals), (2) interpreting them as indicators of system operation and resulting indoor conditions, and (3) translating these signals into perceptible art forms that reflect the effort required to achieve users’ comfort. The Garden of Sensors installation was developed and exhibited in a university library, as a partial implementation of this framework, combining ventilation airflow as an energy-related operational indicator and room temperature as a proxy for thermal comfort with representations inspired by vulnerable native flora species. A qualitative evaluation, drawing on empirical aesthetics and environmental psychology, assessed emotional responses, reflections, and behavioural intentions. A survey of 43 participants indicated that uplifting emotions such as inspiration and hope were most often associated with reflective engagement and willingness to adopt sustainable habits, whereas emotions such as guilt and melancholy tended to prompt introspection without clear intention. The data-to-art framework developed in this study is flexible, allowing integration of diverse building data and adaptable to multisensory formats such as sound, haptics, or interactivity. This thesis contributes to sustainability communication by demonstrating how data-driven environmental art can complement technical systems with emotional engagement, offering a new model for occupant-centred design.

Date	11 Jan 2026
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Ivanka Iordanova (Supervisor) & Angélique Montuwy (Co-supervisor)