Smart materials represent a new technology in the field of architecture and the past decades have witnessed a growing interest in gaining knowledge of smart materials and their applications. It is a class of materials that can change their physical properties, such as shape, size, hardness, color, and electrical conductivity, in response to external stimuli, such as temperature, pressure, light, humidity, or magnetic or electric fields. It is considered an important transformation in the construction industry and provides additional capabilities to control buildings and enhance efficiency and sustainability. However, there are many obstacles to the application of smart materials in architecture, such as the high cost of implementing projects, and high technology that cannot be implemented in developing countries, which increases the complexity of implementation processes, in addition to the special skills needed in installation and maintenance. This means a number of these materials remain in the experimental stage and their results are unreliable. The research aims to explore criteria through which the extent to which smart materials can be applied in the field of architecture can be determined by presenting a group of smart materials and displaying their behavior, characteristics, and obstacles to their integration within the smart system in the building.