Kinds of seeing and spatial reasoning: Examining user participation at an architectural design event

The ways that we see and acknowledge design in the interactions between architects and resident users is examined, to recover the interactional practices through which mundane reasoning concerning the spatial properties of a housing scheme were articulated and organised at a design event. Informed by ethnomethodological studies of mundane reasoning in sequential, practical actions, the residents’ formulation of a design problem and engagement in problem-solving demonstrate accomplished spatial reasoning skills. Their spatial reasoning was seen to be far from mundane. The ways that these actions were acknowledged as contributing to the design of the scheme were also remarkable. This study develops practical understanding of the ways we appreciate and in acknowledgements can facilitate active user-participation in design interactions.

► Develops an appreciation of users mundane reasoning in architectural design. ► Shows accomplished user spatial reasoning and design problem-solving skills. ► User participation was contingent on the facilitator’s interactional practices. ► The design reasoning skills of users are not to be underestimated.