[E]motive Architecture: strategies for a behaviour-driven Space configuration

Abstract

As Architect and Engineer, we used to work with the concept of Space. Struggling to find an exhaustive definition, we risk thinking about it as a framework with the same properties of the object we are going to design. Looking at the Space as an abstract background of the objects that we are going to place in it, we risk to not understand how it plays a cultural and social role in human affairs. The configurations of people can be influenced by, or influence, a configuration of space: therefore, the apparent effect of Architecture on social outcomes seems to pass through the relation of spatial layouts. Movement is by far the dominant form of space use and, following this logic, we can argue how spatial configuration can influence the pattern of movement in space. Generative design processes can be used to define the properties for a space layout that better stimulate a sense of well-being through human behavior monitoring. The potential role of generative design processes finds its maximum expression wherever a certain problem's parameters and interactions bring a level of complexity, much greater than that could be handled by human cognitive processes alone. Generative design integrates artificial intelligence by using search algorithms to achieve high-performing results. However, the emphasis on the 'automated design procedures' should not overshadow the central role of the designer's intellectual capacity, essential for the critical judgement towards the employment of algorithms, the selection of input data parameters as well as the criteria of evaluation. Architects and planners now have the chance to calibrate their designs looking at human comfort and social interaction.