Reimagining space: how activity space explains human behaviour in buildings

Humans rarely engage an architectural space without having some task or activity in mind even if simply walking or talking. Tasks shape how a person perceives and conceives of their environment. They influence how someone ‘enactively’ encounters their surroundings, suggesting the world a person represents and acts in is not solely a geometric space. Drawing from the cognitive science of problem solving and task execution, I explore three levels from which to understand activity in buildings: logical, physical and cognitive. In architecture, we need a concept of an ‘activity space’ as something richer than both space and material layout to improve requirements gathering, to better appreciate design tradeoffs, and to build AI agents that can simulate how diverse humans engage space and furniture. In the social, cognitive and neuro sciences we need it to better explain the microstructure of action and cognition.