Designing for Complex, Interactive Architectural Ecosystems: Developing the Ecological Niche Construction Design Checklist

This paper presents the rationale for and ongoing development of the Design Project Ecological NicheConstruction Checklist (DPENCC) [1], a designer's/researcher's checklist for assessing the usefulness ofpotential environmental design features on cognitive and task performance during the conceptual phase of environmental design. The rationale for developing such a tool stems from a comparative integration of concepts from ecological niche construction [2], systems science [3], embodied cognition theories of mind [4,5], and Kirsh's writings on pragmatic action [6], activity spaces [7], and performance design [8].The checklist is developed and tested via three case studies that entail designing interactive buildingenvironments. This mixed methods case study research is organized and evaluated using the DesignScience Research Method [9] and the Validation Square research method [10]. Findings, lessons learned, and next steps are discussed, especially the strengths, weaknesses, and likely preferred use cases for such a method and tool.This research contributes to the fields of architecture and neuroscience by: (a) developing a designer’smethod and tool that represents possible impacts on cognition of environmental features during earlyconceptual design; (b) demonstrating a research framework for specifying, developing, and evaluating acognitive method and tool; (c) and addressing a significant, emerging set of design challenges. Theseemerging design challenges entail degrees of complexity and interactivity that make them orders ofmagnitude more difficult to represent during design than traditional static environmental designchallenges.This research primarily addresses the following aspect of the Conference Mission:-"...use of insights from neuroscience to develop new approaches to the design of intelligent buildings."This research addresses the following ANFA BridgeSynapses Conference themes:- role of action and interaction in the user's experience of buildings;- learning from animal research: key findings, translational research, research-based architecturalapplications.