An Exploration of the Relationships Between Architectural Delight and Human Senses

STUDENT PAPER: Through post occupancy evaluation (POE), the designer can assess how well an initial design objective, agreed at the outset, has succeeded when in use. Current POE procedures have been developed by academics and engineers, often focussing on energy performance and sustainability data. There is no disputing that architects are keen to know how their designs are performing technically, and this is often achieved in collaboration with fellow design engineers on the project. Architects enjoy a sense of achievement when the technical performance of their design shows a marked improvement on previous projects, more so when the data shows their design is better than a building of a similar type. Whilst there is some attempt to gather feedback on the ‘aesthetics’ it is still scant and tends to focus on the visual appearance and the occupant’s initial response, sometimes referred to as the ‘wow factor’. POE feedback rarely reflects on the occupant’s full experience of designed spaces. Informal consultations with the occupants will often reveal a sense of delight (or deference) when the inhabitants make references to their ‘common senses’. This paper argues that experiential feedback from the inhabitants is essential to the initial design concept stage of a project. Architects are encouraged to seek the occupant’s sensory feedback from a range of completed projects, as it will inform future design concepts and lead to enhancement of the occupant’s feeling of wellbeing and delight in the built environment. The author has significant experience in the design of schools in South Wales, receiving the Eisteddfod Gold Medal Award for Architecture in 2017 on behalf of his employers, Stride Treglown Architects. His research will focus on his many school designs in Wales, recognising that many issues may resonate in other architectural sectors such as hospital design and landscape design.