What does the concept of affordances afford?

Abstract

Gibson once suggested that his ecological approach could provide architecture and design with a new theoretical basis. Erik Rietveld takes up this suggestion—the concept of affordances figures prominently not only in his philosophical and scientific work but also in the design practices he is engaged in. However, as Gibson introduced affordances as a functional concept, it seems ill-suited to capture the many dimensions of our lived experience of the (manufactured) environment. Can the concept of affordances also take on the expressive and aesthetic qualities of artifacts and buildings?