Sequence as a determining factor of design

Abstract

This thesis explores perceptual experience as it relates to architecture and its design. It recognizes the disparity which exists between the inevitable linearity of our experience of buildings, and the fact that buildings and the process of their design are non-linear. This opposition between the sequential nature of architectural experience and the three dimensional, non-linear reality of the architectural design process, presents a problem; that of understanding and stating concepts of sequential experience in a form that admits directly into the design process. This thesis addresses this problem. The main contention is that concepts of sequential experience must be tested in the process of design. Only by going back and forth between the hypothesis and its use can accurate and useful tools of thought be fashioned. Hence, this exploration has two parts; the analysis of sequential experience and the design of a building.