Design for human lourishing

in architecture: Programmatic
writing as a way to design
socio-cultural affordances
------------------------------------------------------

Ruth Stevens1 Abstract In architectural design for human lourishing (DfHF),

[email protected] compatibility between the environment and the user is crucial. A
supportive relationship between the two is characterized by the
Ann Petermans1 environment’s action possibilities and the user’s perception thereof
[email protected] in terms of complementarity with the users’ psychological needs
and personal goals.
Jan Vanrie1
[email protected] This paper highlights a design method called “programmatic
writing”, that was developed in a student design project.
1
Hasselt University, Programmatic writing connects target groups’ needs and an
Belgium enriched program within an architectural design, by applying
techniques as narratives and scenario writing. This is a irst crucial
step in an architectural DfHF-process.

In this paper, irst, a short theoretical background of DfHF and the

set-up of the design project are sketched. Next, the development of
the design method is discussed through an analysis of the design
process in the exercise. Hereby, we aim to contribute to the
development of an architectural DfHF-process.

Keywords Architecture, Design for human lourishing, Design

90 — 99
exercise, Programmatic writing, Affordances

Introduction users’ needs. We noticed that over time, the affordance

Human lourishing is a topic in design research that is evolved from only responding to basic, instinctive and
starting to receive attention today (e.g. Desmet & physical needs, towards including more cultural and
Pohlmeyer, 2013), but in the ield of architecture, it psychological user characteristics. Our study on
remains rather underexposed (e.g. Delle Fave et al, affordance theories concluded with introducing
2011; Stevens et al, 2014, 2016a). As a design approach, ‘spatial lourishing affordances’, a new, complete
design for human lourishing (DfHF) consequently humane outlook on affordances. Spatial lourishing
could beneit from a theoretical basis that can be used affordances can be deined as an environmental
to develop practical tools for architects to guide them affordance that invites, incites and enthuses the user
to adopt this approach. In that respect, this paper to undertake activities that the environment enables,
discusses the development of the design method of in order to fulil their psychological needs and
“programmatic writing”, with the purpose of personal goals. In that way, a person can be set on its
introducing it as a possible method to be applied in an way to lourishing (Stevens et al, 2016a). The trajectory
architectural DfHF-process. is comprised of three main components that need to be
treated by architects in a speciic order. As Figure 1
A trajectory to design for human lourishing: demonstrates, irst, the architect must invest in his
designing spatial lourishing affordances ‘target group’, and collect psychological information
Recently, we have proposed a theoretical trajectory to regarding their needs, goals and daily goings. Next,
design architecture for human lourishing, see Figure 1 these data need to be processed into an elaborate
(Stevens et al, 2016a). It takes an affordance-approach programming phase in which activities need to be
and is based on a re-interpretation of the Vitruvian designed, complying with the expectations, and
architectural quality criterion of Venustas, that psychological and socio-cultural needs and wants of
comprises the poetic, experiential properties of the target group. Finally, the program needs to be
architecture, to anchor it in architectural theory. For translated into a material design, via architectural
the development of the theoretical trajectory, elements.
affordance theories -starting from the basic work of
Gibson (1979), over Warren (1984), Norman (2002), In DfHF, the responsibility of architects lies in
Chemero (2003, 2009) and Rietveld and Kiverstein creating architectural conditions under which a
(2014)- are researched by the irst author (a designer) speciic target group can lourish; in designing spaces
from a humane angle, in order to capture what that psychologically support, invite, enthuse and
beneits an environmental affordance provides to its enable users to undertake meaningful actions, and
users, more particularly in terms of compliance with thereby empower themselves and gain a positive effect

Celebration & Contemplation, 10th International Conference on Design & Emotion 27 — 30 September 2016, Amsterdam
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 1. A theoretical trajectory to DfHF in architecture: designing spatial lourishing affordances.

on their lourishing. Note that this trajectory is not yet brief had an overarching humane character; neither
a design methodology. It provides architects with a further programmatic demands nor spatial end terms
general frame of reference to give direction to their were formulated. The exercise focused on the
architectural process, and assists them in practicing a experiential character of spaces. Ten design groups
new, more humane way of architectural thinking. This were each comprised of four master students in
paper however is a irst step in concretizing the interior architecture, and each group was attributed
trajectory. Through designerly and empirically one public loor of the high-rise living tower to
exploring this proposed trajectory, we aim to distil conigure into a ’social layer’ meeting the humane
useful and more concrete applicable information for design brief.
architects, and formulate how they can work with the

91 — 99
components in practice. Designing socio-cultural affordances, tested
in Layer Cake
In the next chapters, we will describe the student In the exercise Layer Cake, students were obliged to
design project “Layer Cake”, in which we aimed to spend the irst design week entirely on their ‘social
create lourishing architecture for elderly persons by concept’, by which we mean they had to select a basic
empathically designing social environments as seen social function for their loor, developing it further
through their eyes. We will analyse the design process into a number of meaningful activities and
with the use of Figure 1, the theoretical trajectory for experiences that it the needs of the target group.
human lourishing. Concretely, we will zoom in on the Communication of these intangible design results was
design of the ‘socio-cultural affordances’ that are also an important factor. Altogether, the designing of
created via the irst two trajectory-components, that these so-called ‘socio-cultural affordances’ formed the
is, ‘target group’ and ‘program’ (visualized in the centre of gravity of the exercise. Only in the second
highlighted left part of Figure 1). Next, we discuss the week we asked students to make an actual spatial
development of the design method of programmatic translation, by 3D modelling, and thereby
writing that evolved from unravelling the design steps transforming the program into an architectural 3D
that students took in working with ‘target group’ and design. In this paper, we will only discuss the irst
‘program’. To conclude, we propose programmatic design week, namely designing the ‘social concept’, in
writing as a design method that architects can apply which the design method of programmatic writing
in order to create socio-cultural affordances and by was developed. In terms of the trajectory, this implies
that, take concrete measures to DfHF. working with the design components ‘target group’
and ‘program’, as visualized in the highlighted left
Design studio project “Layer Cake” part of Figure 1.
Layer Cake was a two-week fulltime master class in
architectural DfHF, organized in February 2014. The Below, we will explain the development of the design
task was to design social programs for a high-rise method programmatic writing, by unravelling the
residential building for people over 60 years, students’ design process per component of the
comprised of 40 residential loors (containing private trajectory. More in detail, per component we irst
apartments, service lats or even care rooms) present short theoretical insights that were valuable
interlarded with 10 ‘public loors’ with a variety in and applicable to incorporate in the design process.
social programs, see Figure 2. The ten public loor Secondly, we present how these insights were inserted
designs formed the design exercise, and needed to (1) in the set-up of the design exercise. Thirdly, we
assist residents in lourishing, (2) address the entire discuss in what way the students received and
group of residents, differing in physical and other handled these insights in the actual design process.
age-related characteristics, and (3) root the building
socially in the neighbouring urban fabric. The design

Celebration & Contemplation, 10th International Conference on Design & Emotion 27 — 30 September 2016, Amsterdam
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 2. Layer Cake: a photo of the scale model, a sketch of the tower and a list of the ten designed projects that came out of the exercise.

Component one Target group: deining target students, and developed narrative thinking as an
group speciics anchor throughout the design process and a help to
connect designers and users. In this respect,
Theory narratives show potential to get to know future users
To empathically connect with their target group, and make an empathic connection. We believe
architects need speciic experiential information: daily narratives contribute to proiling and personifying
goings, hopes and fears, aspirations, etcetera. unknown clients, which in DfHF can help architects to
Architects have at least two options in gathering this make more empathized design decisions. DfHF is
kind of psychological information: collect data designing meaningful activities that are in accordance
themselves, or consult academic sociological data with the users’ psychological needs and personal
regarding the target group. goals; personal narratives linked to the users as such,
can be viewed as a valuable tool to set designers on a
In the irst option of gathering information path to designerly thinking in terms of activities and

92 — 99
themselves, many methods come to mind. Architects usage patterns, rooted in the living environment of the
that design small projects for a single client, for user. This could lead to more daring and creative
instance living spaces, are familiar with asking clients design solutions. We thereby felt that narratives are a
for their daily routines, or they build on their own suitable method to be included in the design process
intuition or predicate upon personal ‘living’ of component one, ‘target group’, in the exercise.
experiences to empathize with clients. This is what
Juhani Pallasmaa refers to when stating: “The only In the second option, namely that architects would
proper way to deal with the everyday practice of apply data from scientiic research, they often struggle
architecture is that the architect becomes the client with the format under which data are presented; these
him- or herself” (Havik & Tielens, 2013, p. 41). However, are often written in a language that architects are not
when the ‘client’ is not a single family requesting a acquainted with and this kind of knowledge is not
design for a house, but a varied audience in a (semi-) directly applicable in design processes. However,
public building such as residential care, architects implementing research data can assist designers in
needs to tap into other approaches, since empathizing fulilling their humane task, but only when the
with a more abstract and undeined client does not research is directed at and serving to the architect’s
come natural. Additionally, architects in formation are work. As researchers in human lourishing, earlier the
barely confronted with psychological and social authors have developed a framework containing
sciences (e.g. Oppliger, 2015), which impedes the psychological information important for lourishing of
interpretation of socio-cultural knowledge and its the target group of elderly persons.
inclusion in a spatial design process.
Layer Cake – set up
With Layer Cake, we attempted to overcome this Before the start of the exercise, we asked the four
burden for architects, by applying techniques from students in each design group to gather narratives
narrative theory and thereby integrating the user into from the target group, that is, personal stories
the design process, not as a co-designer but as a sort containing psychological and experiential information
of narrator. Parnell (2003) already argued that from respectively four elderly persons. Since we aimed
listening to clients and communicating with people for coverage of the varied, heterogeneous group of
from day one in the design process, can help elderly people, the four students were asked to each
architecture students to see their perspective on cover a resident residing in one of the following four
design and value them within the design, and Till types of elderly housing: (1) living independently at
(2005) recognizes the power of simple, ordinary home, (2) residing with family members or living at
conversations in search for new methods of home and receiving help, (3) residing in an assisted
communication with clients in design. Gerards and De living initiative and (4) living in a residential care
Bleeckere (2014) have already successfully brought centre (RCC). The purpose was for the students to get a
these insights into a design exercise with architecture grip on the daily activities, life aspirations, hopes, and

Celebration & Contemplation, 10th International Conference on Design & Emotion 27 — 30 September 2016, Amsterdam
fears of elderly people regarding their present and to actual concerns, hopes and wishes from this target
future. group.

In addition to the collected narratives, the authors In the analysis of the gathered narratives, it became
provided the students with a framework called ‘the clear that respondents gave information in six
building blocks of elderly lourishing’ that was categories: ‘ambitions for the future’, ‘activities that
composed after a review of gerontology literature in had to be given up’, ‘current hobbies’, ‘something that
four key journals in the ield of aging research: Journal gives meaning’, ‘important objects’ and ‘favourite
of Aging Studies, Aging International, Archives of location’. The irst four categories contain intangible,
Gerontology and Geriatrics and the International experiential information, the latter two contain
Journal of Gerontology. This literature review was tangible information with a spatial undertone. In the
conducted to upload each of the ive items of the students’ processing of the data with the purpose of
acronym and well-being-model P.E.R.M.A. (Seligman, deining a generic social topic to design their social
2011) with speciications regarding the target group of layer around, we noticed that they did not
elderly persons (Stevens et al, 2016b). The building automatically search for the most frequently occurring
blocks of elderly lourishing contain speciic activities, but often empathically chose for one
psychological information, and explicate 17 important interesting quote or a remarkable social activity an
psychological needs of this target group that are interviewee tried to maintain. For instance, in the
important for their lourishing, see Table 1. We project “Ex Libris” one interviewee living in a service
purposefully described the psychological information lat mentioned she visits the adjoining RCC once a
under the format of ‘strategies’ or generalist actions month to volunteer with a small book cart from the
which elderly persons can undertake, in a way that it local library to accommodate RCC residents with
is understandable for architects and can be applied books. She is also still active as a lector in her parish.
together with narratives in a design process focusing Empathically, students were drawn to this anecdotal
on designing meaningful activities. fact, and then searched their data for aspects that
could be linked to the topic of reading. Eventually,
Layer Cake – student’s design process they decided to further develop ‘library’ as their social
Students collected narratives from their target group topic. Another approach other students took was
via in-depth interviews. In addition, some gave the seeking for a ‘general truth’ in the data, a main topic
elderly person a diary to ill in, accompanied the that was present throughout all personal details and
interviewee on daily activities, etcetera. Coming to the anecdotes. The ‘general truth’ behind the topic was

93 — 99
design workshop with their collected narratives, we distilled by students out of the different ways the
asked each design group to set up a think process in interviewees handled or executed it. For instance in
which they had to distil a main ‘generic’ social topic the project “Sport-o-rama”, students found that sports
for their spatial layer in Layer Cake out of the was a recurring topic, and their interviewees had
narratives. Students irst came up with for instance a different relations to a sport experience: ranging from
library, a museum or a garden. The proposed functions watching sports on television, simulating sports on
are all closely linked to the traditional living habits of the x-box, actively practising sports, etcetera. Other
educating, entertaining, relaxing, etcetera. By using student groups tried to distil experiences that
the real-life narrative information from the elderly provided meaning out of their data, for instance the
population as the base to select a social topic, Layer design group of project “Jong geleerd oud gedaan”,
Cake’s design and its affordances are a direct response noticed that their interviewees all valued getting
together with family or friends, preferably in the
cosiness of their own living room. Bringing the two
Table 1. The 17 building blocks of elderly lourishing, in ive together, led to their topic of a large public ‘living
overarching themes. room’ equipped with homemade or second-life
----------------------------------- furniture.
Overarching theme Building blocks
BEING ACTIVE – Train & master existing skills After the processing of the narratives, we asked
CHALLENGE YOURSELF Execute hobbies students to build further on their generic social topic,
Engage in meaningful activities and include and interpret the building blocks of
Develop new skills -> challenge! elderly lourishing we had given them. This moment
SOCIALLY ACTIVE IN A Solidarity & empathy formed the transition between component one ‘target
NETWORK Productive role in society group’ and component two ‘program’. In the next part,
Built & invest in social network we will discuss in detail how students in cooperation
IDENTITY ENFORCING Reminiscence with the irst author developed methods to transform
Narratives the generic social topic into a social concept and an
Mindfulness & spirituality enriched program to assist the target group in
BEING VISIBLE TO THE Sharing knowledge, items, hobbies lourishing, with the use of the building blocks
WORLD - COUNTING IN Volunteering & charity framework.
Organizational involvement: having a
role in community
STAYING ENGAGED Resourcefulness – adaptation
WITH LIFE – SELF- Exercise control
MAINTAINING Goals & individual choices
Engagement with life

Celebration & Contemplation, 10th International Conference on Design & Emotion 27 — 30 September 2016, Amsterdam
Component two Program: Designing an enriched In that matter, the set up should stimulate students to
program enrich and add extra layers to the generic social topic
they pinpointed in step one of the design exercise, in a
Theory way that it supports the target group in lourishing.
In DfHF the designed activities must provide meaning Notwithstanding theoretical insights from other
for the target group; even the most banal activities can design branches are useful in architecture, we needed
become meaningful if they are connected to and fulil to search for a systematic way to combine knowledge
certain psychological needs of users (Desmet & and design so-called meaningful activities in
Hassenzahl, 2012; Hassenzahl et al, 2013). architecture. Since this approach requests a new
design attitude, the authors opted to co-work with
In transforming a generic social topic into a set of students in inding ways to design these meaningful
qualitative activities, in the viewpoint of the authors, activities and desired behaviours. We gave students
the theory of narratives can be applied yet again, the remaining four days of design week 1 to transfer
however in a different manner. Instead of the target their social topic into an enriched program containing
group recalling life events and sharing life full-grown activity patterns.
experiences, architects now have to create experiences
and new ‘memories’, for instance via storytelling. Layer Cake – (researcher’s &) student’s design process
Consequently, in architecture, inventing and writing During this phase, students were asked to develop the
out new narratives in the form of daily schedules, experiential content of their spatial layer, with the
storyboards or usage patterns helps to enrich help of the theoretical information we had provided
activities experientially. Since DfHF is based on them with.
fulilling psychological needs, it is essential to ind
activities that can fulil these needs. In other words, During the irst two days of designing social scenarios,
activities should incite speciic behaviours in people. we noticed that the role of the irst author was
We believe that when designerly handling this, important in order to co-work with students to
interesting links can be found with the theory on develop methods to combine their chosen topic and
design for behaviour change (e.g. Fogg, 2009). We do the ‘psychological information’ of the building blocks
not directly aim for behaviour change in DfHF, but the into architectural designing. To start with, the irst
two have in common that they both aim to encourage author stimulated students to think out narratives:
people to undertake certain predesigned activities, social stories and logical activity patterns that could
that incite an internal process; whether that process is occur within their chosen social topic. Each time,

94 — 99
behaviour change or lourishing. Fogg’s model for examples were given in what way the building blocks
design for behaviour change (2009) can be useful to could help students to come up with these scenarios,
include in designing activity patterns for lourishing; and stay focused on the target group’s needs. For
it demonstrates that intensity, frequency and duration example, the design group working around the topic
are important aspects that activities need to be ‘spending time outdoors’ (project “Tussen de soep en
measured up to if the purpose is inducing positive de patatten”) were stimulated to develop garden
internal change. These factors can assist designers in activities that allowed residents to pick up on their
deepening the experience within their activities. In hobby of gardening (to fulil building blocks ‘execute
DfHF, we feel that all three factors are inherently hobbies’ and ‘train & master existing skills’, and even
linked to the natural differentiation within ‘mindfulness’), invent scenarios with cooking
heterogeneous target groups such as ‘elderly persons’, workshops that allowed residents to maintain or gain
differing in mental, physical and many other extra skills regarding preparing food (to fulil building
characteristics. Consequently, these users are in need blocks ‘train & master existing skills’, ‘develop new
of variations in intensity, frequency and duration skills’ and even ‘engage in meaningful activities’), but
within an activity to keep it interesting and successful could also lead to fulilling building block
to all. ‘reminiscence’ when preparing long lost recipes and
picking up on the aroma of home-made soup, or to
Layer Cake – set up fulilment of ‘volunteering and charity’ and ‘solidarity
Next to the insights borrowed from design for & empathy’, when a sort of soup kitchen is
behaviour change and narrative theory, the framework established. During these irst attempts of designing
of building blocks of elderly lourishing was used as scenarios, it became clear that most of the design
input in Layer Cake’s set up. The framework was groups tried to ‘manage’ the design challenge by
inserted in the design process as a base to anticipate subcategorizing their chosen topic. For instance the
on speciic behaviours and to start designing activity group whose social topic was ‘sports’, made the
patterns. Concretely, it presented students the subdivision of ‘active’, ‘semi-active’ and ‘passive’ ways
psychological needs and desired behaviours they had of practising sports. The group whose social topic was
to fulil. Narrative theory provided students with a ‘spending time outdoors’ even made two types of
method that stimulated thinking in terms of scenarios subdivisions: (1) activities in each of the four seasons
and activity patterns that provide users with a variety and (2) three additional themes they further wanted to
of ‘chances’ (activities) to fulil their needs. The explore in their design: ‘vegetable garden’, ‘soup bar’
insights from design for behaviour change had the and ‘relaxing outdoors’. This was an important irst
purpose of designing activities that speak to the entire step in concretizing their topic and simultaneously
target group, and respond to differentiation (e.g. linking it even more to the lifestyle of elderly persons,
physical and mental characteristics, age). since the inspiration for categorization came from
rereading the narratives that they collected at the

Celebration & Contemplation, 10th International Conference on Design & Emotion 27 — 30 September 2016, Amsterdam
different perspectives on and intensities of sports
related to a speciic user group (a resident’s kin, a
resident that likes recreational sports, a resident in
need of physical rehabilitation). In developing their
scenarios, speciically for each of the four zones, they
irst illed in a framework of building blocks with
suitable activities. Concretely, they ran through each
of the 17 building blocks to deine events that could be
undertaken. Then, per zone, they coded their activities
with regards to the three different types of user
groups they had deined earlier. In that way, the
activities became even more layered and detailed
regarding the zone they were in, and the speciics and
----------------------------------- characteristics of the different user groups. That way
Figure 3. Flow of activities. Figure 4. Spider web of activities. of working led to a web of many different empowering
events that can occur for all different users within the
four zones. Also, by each designed addition, the
start of the master class. After subcategorizing, it activities became more socially layered and detailed in
became easier for students to develop scenarios lourishing effect. So that way of designing led to an
related to their social topic, and inding matches elaborate mix of activities, or in other words a spider
between the scenarios and the building blocks in the web of activities within the imaginary boundaries of
framework. the social topic, as illustrated in Figure 4.

We call this step in the design process ‘concretizing We labelled this step in the design process ‘scenario
social concept’, see Figure 6. development, enriched program’, see Figure 6.

The next days, the irst author encouraged students to With the end of the irst design week approaching,
elaborate the scenarios they had already designed, by students were asked to continue and keep on
(1) iteratively trying to include as many building elaborating the scenarios they had designed, by
blocks as possible in the story and expanding their including more possible users, searching for more
designed new narratives, (2) exploring links between overlaps between the activities or including more

95 — 99
different scenarios, (3) inding ramiications in the building blocks within the story told. This became an
scenario, meaning that one action might lead to a iterative process of thinking out scenarios and
number of possible other actions, and (4) making sure immediately evaluating them by (re)running them
that every type of elderly person is ‘included’ in the through the framework of building blocks, with all the
scenarios, by layering activities in intensity, duration different members of the target group in mind. Each
and frequency (Fogg, 2009). At that moment, we noticed time another type of person entered a scenario, the
that students further developed the scenarios in two framework was reapplied to argue what behaviour
manners: starting out from the user (the different could be provoked and in what way that person could
types of elderly persons (target group) and outsiders) be assisted in lourishing in the already designed
or from the subthemes and categorizations within scenarios, or what new scenarios had to be written.
their social topic. For instance in the design project of Also, when non-residents (visitors, neighbours,
the social topic ‘library’, the design group drew a low passers-by) entered the scenarios, the framework was
chart per type of user that they had deined in their of use to see in what way these people could beneit
design process (i.e., a it resident of Layer Cake, a each other and residents. Consequently, programs of
resident with dementia disorder and the grandson of a usage became even more enriched and layered in
resident), and developed a scenario that included lourishing experiences, and an overall picture of the
many actions and activities with this user as a daily goings in each spatial layer in Layer Cake
protagonist, and other people included. The building became clear. Then, the socio-cultural affordances
blocks were applied in this process to design activities were designed, and the irst part of a DfHF-process is
that have a speciic aimed effect on the predeined ran through, see Figure 1.
user(s). This approach led to the development of a low
of activities; one activity set others in motion, and an Visualization
overlap between the scenarios arose. By repeating this Throughout the irst design week, students had to
process many times, and trying to fulil as many daily communicate their designed social scenarios to
building blocks as possible, a coherent story for the the irst author and guest studio mentors. Hence,
usage patterns of the library was developed and a attention to inding suitable ways of visually
logical sequence of activities and events was communicating the complex social designs was on the
presented, see an example in Figure 3. students’ to do list as well.

Most of the design groups started out from the When analysing students’ ways of representation at
subthemes they had developed for their social topic. the jury that concluded the irst design week, we
For instance the group working with the topic ‘sports’ noticed differences in visualisation methods used by
had come up with two types of subcategorizations: the design groups that had designed their enriched
four different sport zones (yoga & dance, mini golf, program starting out from developed subcategories
running, and active sport such as biking) and three within their social topic, and the groups that had

Celebration & Contemplation, 10th International Conference on Design & Emotion 27 — 30 September 2016, Amsterdam
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 5. Representations to communicate designed socio-cultural affordances.

started from the users. As the left part of Figure 5 architecture, namely the program with its activities as
demonstrates, a visual representation of the socio-cultural affordances, instead of jumping rather
framework of building blocks, added with collages and quickly into actual spatial designs that contain
3D images per scenario was the most important tangible information such as form, structure and
output of design groups that had started out from material information (Cross, 2011).
their subcategories. Design groups that had started
from the user mostly applied low charts and puzzle Now that the method of programmatic writing is
pictures, see the right part of Figure 5. discussed, we can insert these insights into the
theoretical trajectory for DfHF. In Figure 7, we have
Conclusion: programmatic writing as a repeated the theoretical trajectory, and uploaded the
method to design socio-cultural affordances socio-cultural affordance-part with the details and
in a DfHF-process techniques of the developed design method of
As a conclusion, in Figure 6, all of the described design programmatic writing. The process starts by collecting
steps thoroughly discussed in this paper are experiential and psychological information from the
generalized into a timeline visualizing the design target group. A close contact and empathic connection
process of socio-cultural affordances. In the top part with this target group is requested. Next, the design
of the time line, per yellow dot, the design steps are process continues with designing enriched social

96 — 99
explained. The black dotted arrows, explain what kind programs. Thinking out narratives (storytelling) and
of information or tips were inserted in the design scenario writing are important techniques that
process and by whom. architects can use to design meaningful activities out
of the psychological data that are collected from their
We label this design method “programmatic writing”. target group. We believe that designing these social
Concretely, programmatic writing is a mix of scenarios on different architectural scale levels is a
consecutive steps a designer needs to run through in way of integrating very complex demands of
order to develop an enriched program, which is key in heterogenic target groups in a manageable way.
HF-architecture. An enriched program exists of Scenarios can be combined, placed next to each other
activity patterns and scenarios that comply with the to ind interesting overlaps, points of conlict or
psychological needs of the target group. When opportunities. Note that in order to DfHF, architects
executed, the activities will assist these persons in must still translate the socio-cultural affordances into
lourishing. Those activities concern what we have physical affordances. In further research, we aim to
labelled the so-called “socio-cultural affordances” of theoretically and designerly explore methods to do so.
space.
Discussion, implications & further research
By consciously using the verb “writing” in the naming In this paper we discussed the design method of
of our design method programmatic writing, we stress “programmatic writing” that was developed during the
that we focus on intangible programmatic features design exercise Layer Cake, with the purpose of
that need to be ‘designed’ and need particular introducing it as a way to design socio-cultural
attention in the early design phase, whereby we need affordances in a DfHF-process. It is a irst attempt in
to take into account that traditional work approaches transforming DfHF-theory into a practical tool to steer
such as sketching and drawing are not directly architects. The design exercise with students made
applicable in the early steps of programmatic writing. clear that a mentality shift needs to occur during
The program for a target group has to literally be designing, since spatial designers have the intention
thought out, and written out to make it graspable. to direct their attention towards sketching and
Only in the inal steps of programmatic writing, the drawing spatial ‘solutions’ (Pena, 2001; Cross, 2011).
designed scenarios are to be visualized by drawn However in DfHF, intangible aspects need to be
schemes or collages as presented in Figure 5. Even handled in detail before the actual spatial decisions
then, the visualizations are from a different order than can be made. Therefore, during the exercise, the irst
the loor-plan-sketches or 3D-images an architect author stressed the importance of using the
traditionally produces when designing (e.g. Pena, 2001; framework of the building blocks, thinking in terms of
Cross, 2011). To conclude, in contrast to traditional scenarios and telling stories to each other; and
design methods, there is a prolonged and very intense somewhat ‘forbid’ the students in the irst design week
design time spent on the intangible aspects of to speak in spatial terms and jump to spatial

Celebration & Contemplation, 10th International Conference on Design & Emotion 27 — 30 September 2016, Amsterdam
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 6. Design process of socio-cultural affordances: the method of programmatic writing.

97 — 99

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 7. Programmatic writing inserted in the theoretical trajectory to DfHF in architecture.

Celebration & Contemplation, 10th International Conference on Design & Emotion 27 — 30 September 2016, Amsterdam
conclusions. On the other hand, ‘spatial’ expectations Chemero, A. (2009). Radical embodied cognitive
of the users need to be met when a design is presented science. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London: MIT
to them. Therefore, in DfHF, architects must ind Press.
suitable ways to concretize their designed socio-
cultural affordances into a more ‘tangible’ way of Cross, N. (2011). Design thinking. London: Springer.
presentation than simply verbal communication. This
implies that designers need to experiment with Delle Fave, A., Brdar, I., Freire, T., Vella-Brodrick, D., &
communication tools of sketching and drawing to get Wissing, M. P. (2011). The eudaimonic and hedonic
the message across and convince with their designed components of happiness: Qualitative and quantitative
efforts and the experiences the design will provide. indings. Social Indicators Research, 100(2), 185–207.

With programmatic writing as a possible design Desmet, P. M. A. & Hassenzahl, M. (2012). Towards
method to design socio-cultural affordances, an happiness: Possibility-driven design. Human-
important step in concretizing this trajectory is set. Computer Interaction: The Agency Perspective, SCI
This has implications for architectural practice, since 396, 3-27.
designers are in need of explicit information on how to
DfHF, and place the experiential world of the user Desmet, P. M. A., & Pohlmeyer, A. E. (2013). Positive
irst. However, more research is necessary to explore design: An introduction to design for subjective
how this method can work in actual design practice well-being. International Journal of Design, 7(3), 5-19.
and what possible pitfalls designers can encounter;
truly getting to know the target group and investing Fogg, B.J. (2009). The behavior Grid: 35 ways behaviour
design time in developing an enriched program can change. Retrieved October 10 2015 from: http://
prolongs the design process, which has inancial bjfogg.com/fbg.html
consequences for irm and client, an issue that cannot
be neglected in the context of professional design Gerards, S. & De Bleeckere S. (2014). Narrative Thinking
activities. Also, DfHF requests a mind-shift of the in Architectural Education. In: D. Rockwood & M.
designer, so it is our responsibility to research in what Sarvimäki (Eds.), Beyond Architecture: New
way we can assist the designer to overcome dificulties Intersections & Connections ARCC/EAAE Architectural
in that matter, and develop the design tool in a way Research Conference Proceedings (pp. 305-311).
that it is easy to apply for designers, and presented to Hawaii; University of Hawaii.
them in the visual language they are familiar with.

98 — 99
Gibson, J. J. (1979). The theory of affordances. In The
If the trajectory is found to be useful and applicable in ecological approach to visual perception. Boston:
practice, we believe it is relevant for many Houghton Miflin Company.
architectural contexts such as care typologies or
school environments, in short, places where people Hassenzahl, M., Eckoldt, K., Diefenbach, S., Laschke,
need to reside for a speciic period of time. If patients M., Lenz, E., & Kim, J. (2013). Designing moments of
in care environments and children in school meaning and pleasure. Experience design and
environments feel well and are lourishing, this might happiness. International Journal of Design, 7(3),
have a positive inluence on their healing or study 21-31.
performance as well. Thereby we aim to reach a large
number of the population. DfHF positively inluences Havik, K. & Tielens, G. (2013). Atmosphere, compassion
the psychological well-being of people, and we can and embodied experience. A conversation about
thereby contribute to the Gross National Happiness of atmosphere with Juhani Pallasmaa. In K. Havik, G.
nations (The Centre for Bhutan Studies & GNH Tielens & H. Teerds (Eds.), Sfeerbouwen. Building
Research, 2015). Atmosphere (pp. 33-52). Rotterdam: NAi010 Publishers.

In future research, we will investigate in what way Norman, D. A. (2002). The Design of Everyday Things.
architecture with a more humane undertone implicitly New York: Basic Books.
works with the three components in the trajectory.
Also, we aim to set up a similar research path to Oppliger, M. (2015). Jan Gehl: “Architects know very
designerly explore physical affordances as well (see little about people” Tages Woche. Retrieved April 13
Figure 1), and by that complete a DfHF-trajectory for 2015 from http://www.tageswoche.ch/+fmm3q
architects and interior architects from an affordance
perspective. However, we believe that this new way of Parnell, R. (2003).Knowledge Skills and Arrogance:
designing can be extrapolated to other design Educating for collaborative practice. In E. Harder (Ed.),
branches, such as industrial design, etcetera. Design Writings in Architectural Education: EAAE
methods will logically differ from the architectural Transaction on architectural education No 15.
ones, so more research is necessary in that respect. Copenhagen. Leuven: EAAE.

References Pena, W. (2001). Problem seeking: an architectural

Chemero, A. (2003). An Outline of a Theory of programming primer (4th edn). New York: John Wiley
Affordance. Ecological Psychology, 15(2), 181-191. & Sons.

Rietveld, E. & Kiverstein, J. (2014). A rich landscape of

affordances. Ecological Psychology, 26(4), 325-352.

Celebration & Contemplation, 10th International Conference on Design & Emotion 27 — 30 September 2016, Amsterdam
Seligman, M.E.P. (2011). Flourish. New York: free Press.

Stevens, R., Petermans, A., Vanrie, J. (2014). Converting

happiness theory into (interior) architectural design
missions. Designing for subjective well-being in
residential care centers. In: Proceedings of the 6th
Annual Architectural Research Symposium, Finland
2014: Designing and Planning the Built Environment
for Human Well-Being. Oulu: Oulu University.

Stevens, R., Petermans, A., Vanrie, J. (2016a). Design for

human lourishing in architecture: designing spatial
lourishing affordances. Manuscript submitted.

Stevens, R., Petermans, A., Vanrie, J. (2016b). Design for

human lourishing: the building blocks of elderly
lourishing. Manuscript submitted

The Centre for Bhutan Studies and NGH Research.

(2015). Gross National Happiness Studies. Retrieved
April 21 2016 from http://www.
grossnationalhappiness.com

Till, J. (2005). Architecture and Participation. In P.

Blundell Jones, D. Petrescu & J. Till (Eds.), Architecture
and Participation (pp. 25-44). London: Routledge.

Warren, W.H. (1984). Perceiving affordances: Visual

guidance of stair climbing. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 10,
683-703.

99 — 99

Celebration & Contemplation, 10th International Conference on Design & Emotion 27 — 30 September 2016, Amsterdam