For the ecological understanding of architectural design activities Hiroki SEKI This paper shows the possibilities of understanding architectural design activities from the perspectives of James J. Gibson's ecological approach to human behavior. Architectural design activities have not been considered from the viewpoint of Gibson's approach, although other architectural studies, such as studies of environmental behavior, have been applying his approach. First, this paper examines Gibson's unpublished memorandum, which indicates affinities between design activities and his approach. Second, to validate this examination, this paper focuses on the study of building element presented by Uchida et al.. As a consequence, the possibilities of understanding design activities based on Gibson's approach are reexamined .
This study attempted to examine the ecological foundations of design activities based on the findings of previous studies. First, the results of previous studies were summarized, and five properties of architectural design intentions were extracted. Next, each property of design intentions was compared with the environmental concepts discussed in the architectural studies. In addition, the problems in understanding design intentions in ecological terms, that is, the natural character that appears beyond the artificial, were confirmed. The concept of nature, as presented by the 18th-century German critic Gotthold E. Lessing, was subsequently introduced as a useful concept to overcome the problems.
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