A model for everyday experience of the built environment: the embodied perception of architecture

Abstract

Architecture's daily impact on its users is the result of neither concentration nor focused attention. Preoccupied with everyday tasks, most people do not stop to observe the architectural object as a work of art. In this paper I investigate the content that may be present when architecture is experienced in the state Walter Benjamin calls 'distraction'. Using a phenomenological model of attention and my applied research, I propose a plausible model for the Lived Experience of the Built Environment (LEBEN). I further consider the possible components of the everyday experience of architecture and the urban surroundings, and suggest an integrative structure for it. Part I explains the need for the research and presents its objectives. Part II discusses the phenomenological model of attention and awareness. Parts III and IV present the LEBEN model, briefly describing its sources in the literature, and applied research, based on a workshop that examined multi-subjective perspectives. I note the research assumptions, methodology and the challenges facing such an investigation, eg, whether it is possible to study a phenomenon that exists beyond the realm of focal attention. Part V introduces the core-themes and categories distilled from my research (edge, depth, change, atmosphere and affordances) and positions them in the LEBEN model.