Designing for Empathy: The Architecture of Connections in Learning Environments - Softcover

Aşçı, Aybars

Softcover

ISBN 10: 195718342X ISBN 13: 9781957183428

Publisher: Applied Research and Design, 2024

Synopsis

• Presents a proposal for designing healthier and more engaging spaces for learning that actively foster empathy
• Utilising research, computational analysis, and design process, the book shares a new approach to the architecture of learning environments
• While a significant amount of literature and research exists about empathy in education, the discussion on empathy in architectural discourse is limited
• Explores the deep, inextricable relationship between human development and social and exploratory education theories and the careful consideration of the design of spaces for learning

Designing for Empathy: The Architecture of Connections in Learning Environments explores the intersections between human development theories and spatial perception, and proposes design strategies for creating learning environments that catalyse empathy. The critical question guiding the book is: how can architecture influence human development, and by extension, how can concepts of empathy in development be influenced and catalysed by architecture? Planners, architects, and designers are responsible for shaping our physical environment ― from our homes, schools, and cultural and religious centres to the wider neighbourhoods and cities within which human development takes place. However, architecture is conspicuously absent in most development theories, even though the environment is omnipresent.

In Designing for Empathy, architect Aybars Aşçı puts forth a new perspective on empathy in architecture, which shifts focus toward designing emphatic spaces. If the empathic imagination of the designer is at play during the creative process, designing for empathy occurs after the design reaches its intended users. Applied to the design of learning environments, this proposed approach aligns closely with development theories and explores the important impact of spatial environments on the experience of learning. Through examples of projects designed by Aşçı, the book illustrates how physical spaces have the potency to catalyse empathy in learning environments.

About this title

About the Author

Aybars Aşçı, architect and educator, is an advocate of research-driven design, with a focus on designing learning environments. His projects range from planning large scale campuses to designing play structures. As a practicing architect he has over 25 years of experience, working in New York and London, on projects located in North America, South America, Middle East, and Asia. Aşçı is the president and founder of Efficiency Lab for Architecture, a design practice specialises in the design of Education Facilities.
Other contributors: Dr. Julia Higdon.

From the Back Cover

Designing for Empathy: The Architecture of Connections in Learning Environments explores the intersections between human development theories and spatial perception, and proposes design strategies for creating learning environments that catalyse empathy. The critical question guiding the book is: how can architecture influence human development, and by extension, how can concepts of empathy in development be influenced and catalysed by architecture? Planners, architects, and designers are responsible for shaping our physical environment ― from our homes, schools, and cultural and religious centres to the wider neighbourhoods and cities within which human development takes place. However, architecture is conspicuously absent in most development theories, even though the environment is omnipresent.

In Designing for Empathy, architect Aybars Asçi puts forth a new perspective on empathy in architecture, which shifts focus toward designing emphatic spaces. If the empathic imagination of the designer is at play during the creative process, designing for empathy occurs after the design reaches its intended users. Applied to the design of learning environments, this proposed approach aligns closely with development theories and explores the important impact of spatial environments on the experience of learning. Through examples of projects designed by Asçi, the book illustrates how physical spaces have the potency to catalyse empathy in learning environments.

Edition details

• Publisher: Applied Research and Design
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 195718342X
• ISBN 13: 9781957183428
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 236