Insights/Opinion — Architectural Cognition in Practice: A Framework for Integrating User Cognition Evidence into Architectural Design

Architects and designers must consider issues of sustainability, building regulations, as well as a multitude of subjective questions such as style and taste. They are asked to create spaces not just in consideration of expected user needs, but in anticipation of them, whilst simultaneously defending and substantiating the value of their design decisions. By contrast, there is a growing body of research examining person-environment interactions and how experiences are immediately affected by designed properties of spaces. The research approach of Architectural Cognition in Practice seeks to develop a robust bridge to link learnings about user cognition from academic disciplines such as spatial cognition, neuroarchitecture and environmental psychology into real-world design processes. Toward this, we propose a framework addressing three distinct streams of issues: (1) Fundamental research to increase our understanding of person–environment interactions and their impact on cognition, decision-making and experience; (2) Reflective research considering how (and how well) designers currently conceptualize their end-users in the design process; and (3) Translational research to equip design teams with knowledge and tools to be able to apply learnings from architectural cognition into their practice. We briefly overview each pillar of research and provide examples from our own pool of research to demonstrate how our framework and methodologies aim to tackle this stated divide between knowledge and practice.