Essay

Introduction

In the video today, I delve into various ways architectural design speaks to its occupants as it inherently provides “choice”. And as an architect, you hold the key as you design such architectural elements, which all affect your occupant in a multitude of ways. For instance, many of these elements either compete with each other, or work with each other, as they offer incentives (or deterrents) that may influence your occupant’s decision-making as they travel through your building design.

Follow along as I show you, through simple diagrammatic form, how you are inevitably filling your design spaces with choices — affecting the daily lives of your occupants in so many ways. As you will see, one of the lessons to be learned here is that you should be aware of what you offer to your occupants through your building designs, for they may very well choose (and do) what you offer.

Transcript

00:08 Maria Lorena Lehman: This is Maria Lorena Lehman. In today’s video, I’m going to explore how architectural design affects occupant choice and what exactly that means for your occupants. Because hopefully as you design architecture for your occupants, you aren’t just simply trying to meet a list of programmatic requirements and trying to insert those programmatic requirements and spatial functions into allotted spaces, without giving some serious consideration into the relationships between those programmatic elements. Because each of them speaks with one another as your occupant travels through those spaces and travels from one to the other.

00:58 MLL: So, as you can see in this diagram below, we have a diagrammatic elevator here, a stairwell here, and just a simple hallway leading outward, followed by a larger hallway-like space towards the south. Now, supposing this is your occupant that is traveling through the space heading in this direction, they will be presented with a series of choices. First, as they’re traveling through this hallway, they may decide to take the elevator to travel vertically to the left or they will have the choice to take the stairs. Of course, depending on their needs at that time, they may need to travel through this entire space as they go in this direction, or they may like to sit down. Perhaps this is a seating area for socialization, another seating area here for socialization or contemplation, or thinking space in preparation to go into whatever programmatic function might be at the other end of this hallway.

02:31 MLL: Now, what might be interesting for you as an architect is to think beyond just putting in a space for seating. What might your occupant do there? Would it help them if they had a view of nature or access to the outdoors? Would it help them if there was a sculptural park out here, where perhaps seating or eating areas, eating outside could occur out here? So, there’s an interrelation now between the inside and the outside which could be quite nice. On the other hand, what if they decide to take the elevator versus the stair? What does that mean for their health? What does that mean in terms of their journey upward through your architectural space? Would taking the stair be more of an aesthetic experience or would taking the elevator be more of an intriguing experience, where the doors open to reveal the surprise which awaits them on the upper levels?

03:36 MLL: Furthermore, as they’re traveling in this direction up the hallway, might they get some kind of clue, perhaps earlier on in the hallway that there is a special experience, if they were to take the elevator in this direction, or a clue that the stair might be a special experience? Even from this point you’re already presenting your occupant, as they see this clue with incentive to possibly turn right, or left, depending upon what journey you think might be best for that particular occupant at that particular time, within that particular position within your space.

04:23 MLL: Furthermore, you could use way-finding as a way to communicate with your occupant. However, don’t rely too fully on way-finding as using architectural elements may provide a more beautiful and seamless solution that may actually help to uplift some of the other qualities and characteristics of your architectural space. So, by designing for occupant choice, whether to give it or restrict it, you can create an architectural narrative that can take your architecture from being a place where functions and forms just happen, to being a place where they actually thrive. And likewise, in places where they thrive, your occupants will thrive, particularly as you begin to think about where your occupants came from, whether it’s the exterior or another interior room and where they’re going.

05:31 MLL: So as you design, give some consideration to how your designs affect occupant choice and what that means for your occupants within your architectural spaces.