What is Architecture and Spatial Design?

Architecture and other forms of spatial design touch our lives every day. We inhabit the inside of buildings and the spaces created between it. We socialise in public spaces and quietly retreat to the private domains of our homes. The way in which our built environment is organised can have long-lasting effects on the community that inhabits it. You can read more about the impact of apartheid on the design of South African cities in the journal article ‘Green Apartheid: Urban green infrastructure remains unequally distributed across income and race geographics in South Africa’. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016920462030394 7  

Design is at the core of what architects and spatial designers do. Design is a method of thinking, a means of engaging with the world. Through studying these design disciplines, you emerge in this way of thinking and way of creative problem-solving. These principles and skills can be applied to all aspects of your life. Many graduates of architecture and spatial design continue to apply their design skills in other professions. For example, the famous fashion designer, Tom Ford, studied architecture at The New School in New York and quite a few famous singers first studied architecture, including three members of the band, Pink Floyd. If you are interested in reading more about design thinking you can read ‘Situated Design-Thinking in Architectural Practice’. https://journals.openedition.org/ardeth/754 

The spatial design disciplines are positioned somewhere between art, which is abstract and conceptual, and the technology of construction, which is scientific, practical and precise. Unlike pure art, buildings and spaces need to be safe and structurally sound and the design needs to take into consideration how it will be constructed, function and experienced. The architect and spatial designer must therefore have knowledge of both, nothing happens in isolation and everything is interconnected.

Construction is one of the biggest users of energy on the planet, both in the way that it is built and in the energy that it needs to be operational. Following sustainable and regenerative design principles, such as passive design strategies, and cradle-to-cradle approaches leads to the optimised use of resources. Selecting building methods and materials that does not emit harmful toxins are also part of this approach, focused on health for the planet and the people on it.  Read about a cradle-to-cradle example here. https://www.archdaily.com/880060/constructing-the-curriculum-william-mcdonoughs-cradle-to-cradle-building-to-inspire-the-next-generation 

If you are interested in design, technology, or sustainability, the disciplines of architecture and spatial design will interest you.