Rethinking the Relationship Between Architectural Representation and Spatial Experience Through the 12th International Architecture Exhibition

The experience of space has a multi-sensory structure realized through the movement of the body. This situation effectively discusses the architectural representations used both in the design process of the space and after it is built, through the concept of experience. Architectural representations are conventionally evaluated for their capacity to communicate formal and technical knowledge of space; their ability to convey the experiential qualities of space — what it feels like to move through, inhabit, and perceive a building — remains theoretically underdeveloped. This study investigates the relationship between architectural representation and spatial experience. Drawing on a cross-reading of phenomenological architectural theory, seven experiential qualities that structure spatial perception are identified: light-shadow, acoustics-sound, proportion-scale, color-texture, movement, temporality, and relationship with landscape. These categories form an analytical framework applied to the 12th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale (2010), curated by Kazuyo Sejima under the theme "People Meet in Architecture." Using Luis Alfonso's "components of experiential representation" as the analytical instrument, each installation is examined by asking what experiential quality it represents and how that quality is communicated through the medium. The analysis demonstrates how all seven qualities are represented through the exhibition medium. This study contributes to the field by transforming phenomenological spatial theory into a structured analytical framework, empirically applying it to an architectural exhibition as a representational medium, and expanding the concept of experiential representation by situating it within concrete analytical categories.