Beyond specification: A study of architect and client interaction

•A study of design from conceptual stage to commissioning and use of a building.•How experiential expectations are shared during design and afterwards.•Analysis of discourse between architect and client relating to experience.•Contrasts between talk before and after building is realized.•Conclusions are related to components of Schon's ‘design worlds’.

This paper examines a successful architectural design process, taking place over a period of seven years, which resulted in the delivery of a complex building meeting the aspirations of the client. Our analysis focuses on the mechanisms by which expectations about how a building will be experienced are created, shared, and resolved during the process of design. We find differences in the ways designer and client talk to each other about experience and differences in the talk before the construction of the building and after it has been built and occupied. We discuss these differences and why the ‘design concept’ manifests in distinctive ways. We suggest that the phenomena we have noticed are linked intrinsically to expert design performance.