Design Apothecary of Embodied Knowledge for Inclusive Spaces

The Design Apothecary of Embodied Knowledge aims to bring together hybrid processes informed by design, movement practices and emerging technologies to examine how we can better map thinking in ways of movement in architectural design. Fusing between architecture and movement the project enquires about inclusive spaces and their (non)definition. How can we re-define designing and inhabiting inclusive spaces thinking in ways of movement? Through ethnographic methods and context-mapping experimentation with function-based design- and movement-based spatial-thinking, we will reflect on the type of spaces our bodies would design. This PhD is open to those who are keen to develop an interdisciplinary approach to architecture and movement practices and be part of a dynamic research environment. It will be crucial in order to establish a framework for understanding how embodied knowledge can inform the architectural design process and integrate information from the different senses, and how this results in a spatially inlusive experience and perception-driven activities. The PhD would also offer the opportunity to engage with diverse architectural and movement practitioners in mapping an exchange and fusion of practices. At the same time it will provide opportunities to work alongside staff and students in the School of Architecture and be part of the research community of the Urban Living Research Group at the School of Built Environment and Real Estate and Planning. In a deterministic view of space inhabitation, our body conforms to a repetition of prescribed movements dictated by average anthropometrics and ergonomics. As architects, we have learned to design for prescribed movement. We learn about the metrics of the average (in height, age, ability) body placed in a specific cultural context, describing its standing and sitting positions. This research project challenges the averages of bodies and movement in relation to architectural design and space. What spaces would we design if our bodies’ and minds’ gaze shifted to individuals and their ways of moving? What are the hybrid practices that emerge from that fusion that can create an apothecary of embodied knowledge for architectural design?