Architecture-in-Use: Exploring Meaning, Use, and Design Relations
Architecture is not just a static form but a living framework shaped by how people interact with it daily. To create meaningful and resilient spaces, architects are guided by core values such as sustainability, inclusion, and well-being. These ideals, however, come to life only through continuous interaction between design and use. Understanding this relationship requires more than technical skill—it demands a sensitivity to how built spaces evolve with human engagement over time.
The Gap Between Design Intent and Use
While architects aspire to design for people, research indicates that knowledge of how design translates into use often remains intuitive and unspoken. This gap results in a lack of explicit understanding of how architectural choices influence user behavior. By acknowledging this divide, architecture can move towards a more evidence-based approach that integrates feedback from real-world use into design thinking.
Need for a Structured Vocabulary
A major challenge lies in the absence of a vocabulary to describe how architecture functions once occupied and used. Without clear terms to articulate this process, the evolution of space remains underexplored. Developing a conceptual language that captures the dynamic relationship between users, use, and spatial form can strengthen design processes and inform future architectural education and practice.
Theoretical Framework: Post phenomenology and Script Theory
To address this gap, philosophical and social theories of technology—specifically post phenomenology and script theory—offer valuable insights. Post phenomenology examines how human experience is mediated by artifacts, while script theory considers how technologies prescribe or suggest modes of behavior. Applying these ideas to architecture allows for a deeper understanding of how spaces influence, guide, and adapt to human actions.
Empirical Study: The Semi-Public Square
Through a two-year observation of a large-scale housing project, researchers explored how a semi-public square transformed through ongoing interactions between people and space. This long-term study revealed patterns of use, adaptation, and reinterpretation—highlighting how users continuously reshape architectural meaning. It demonstrated that architecture is never static but evolves through lived experience.
Open Script: Towards a Dynamic Architectural Understanding
The concept of the open script emerged as a new lens to interpret architecture-in-use. Unlike fixed design intentions, an open script embraces flexibility, allowing spaces to accommodate change and user creativity. This framework invites architects to design not only for intended functions but also for future possibilities—encouraging resilient, inclusive, and responsive environments that evolve with their users.
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