Designing Experience: Towards an Empathic Method of Design

Abstract

This thesis investigates the relationship between the physical environment and its influence on human emotion and thought. Through a series of design explorations, the project aims to establish an elemental understanding of the interpretation of experience. By translating the building blocks of experience into an architectural design language, the project explores the potential of architecture as a set of emotional cues. The work suggests that the experience of the inhabitant can be influenced by focusing on the organization and juxtaposition of inter/personal relationships, time, spatial reference, and sensorial stimulation during the design process.

The developed theory is tested against the conditions of a typical site: the urban parking lot. The project is an iterative exploration of design process. The resulting architecture is meant to engage us physically and emotionally, and, through the strategic organization of sequence and space, prompt a state of contemplation.