Abstract

Human physical activities such as walking and climbing stairs inside campus buildings produce mechanical energy that has the potential to be converted into electrical energy. However, this potential has not been optimized in conventional architectural design approaches. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of human-centred responsive design in increasing the energy output of user activities. A quasi-experimental method was used with a pretest and posttest approach to compare step frequencies and energy estimates before and after the design intervention. Data is obtained through simulation of user movements in strategic zones such as corridors and stairs, with the support of DepthMapX spatial analysis with connectivity and visual integration algorithms. The energy output is calculated based on the piezoelectric technical parameters of the prototype. The results showed that the responsive design resulted in an estimated energy output of 396.5 kWh/week from walking activities, and 283.99 kWh/week from climbing stairs, with a total contribution of 680.49 kWh/week. The Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test showed a significance value of 0.028 (p < 0.05), proving a statistically significant improvement. The study confirms that the integration of user-based architectural design strategies with piezoelectric technology can increase the intensity of physical activity as well as the potential for energy harvesting. These findings contribute to the development of educational buildings that are more sustainable and adaptive to user behavior.

Key words: Energy Conversion Activities; Human Centered Architecture; Responsive Design; Sustainable Campus Building;