The main hypothesis investigated in this paper is based upon the suggestion that the discursive reasoning in architecture supported by an explicit knowledge of spatial configurations can enhance both design productivity and the intelligibility of design solutions. The study consists of an examination of an architect's performance while solving intuitively a well-defined problem followed by an analysis of the spatial structure of their design solutions. One group of architects will attempt to solve the design problem logically, rationalizing their design decisions by implementing their explicit knowledge of spatial configurations. The other group will use an implicit form of such knowledge arising from their architectural education to reason about their design acts. An integrated model of protocol analysis combining linkography and macroscopic coding is used to analyze the design processes. The resulting design outcomes will be evaluated quantitatively in terms of their spatial configurations. The analysis appears to show that an explicit knowledge of the rules of spatial configurations, as possessed by the first group of architects can partially enhance their function-driven judgment producing permeable and well-structured spaces. These findings are particularly significant as they imply that an explicit rather than an implicit knowledge of the fundamental rules that make a layout possible can lead to a considerable improvement in both the design process and product. This suggests that by externalizing the design knowledge and restructuring it in a design model, creative thought can efficiently be evolved and stimulated.

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Abstract:This research study investigates the hypothesis that Space Syntax plays a role in enhancing architectural design as a knowledge-based process by bringing the nondiscursive design process onto a discursive level, and by making explicit the logic of processing, evaluating, and reasoning about design. In order to establish an evidencebased argument for this hypothesis the study will scrutinize the performances and outcomes of architects solving a well-defined problem. The paper constructs the study on a literature background exploring the different theories which were concerned with the analysis and evaluation of design processes and outcomes. The analysis of design processes was investigated on micro and macro scales and the evaluation of solutions was considered in terms of spatial configurations and the social organization embodied in space. The research then goes on to apply some of these analytical studies to a set of design tasks made by architects who have a background in Space Syntax theory, and architects with other architectural backgrounds. The question then turns to the influence of Space Syntax theory on the strategies and cognitive actions of the design processes and the observational study will attempt to prove whether the knowledge of Space Syntax can have a positive effect on architects during their design process, taking into consideration that Space Syntax, as a morphic language, can render the non-discursive discursive of architecture. In the following step the design solutions are evaluated in terms of qualities regarding social organization, and in terms of quantities measuring the values of their spatial configurations. The analysis of the design processes and outcomes will show differences between the two groups of architects, in addition to some individual differences between the architects. Thus this research proves that the knowledge of space syntax may partially enhance the productivity of design process by making it more explicit.

Ideally, legibility of the built environment is an issue where the interests of users and designers coincide: designers should care about users' positive experiences, and users' experiences are influenced by spatial stimuli. This Special Issue examines the spatial cognition of the built environment from the perspective of the user and the designer. It showcases current research examining how people behave in the built environment.The design and cognition of the built environment is an area that spans a number of disciplines, including architecture, psychology, geography, computer science, linguistics, complexity, and artificial intelligence. The interchange between these different domains of knowledge has led to the rise of various techniques, methodologies and tools; a key cross-over point is between architecture and psychology (Dalton, Hölscher, & Turner, 2012). This Issue examines approaches dedicated to the analysis and simulation of how individuals interact with their environment, through linking the structure of the environment with user behaviour.This Special Issue was born out of the "Design Cognition and Behavior: Usability in the Built Environment" workshop (Emo, Al-Sayed, & Varoudis, 2014) hosted during the Spatial Cognition 2014 conference in Bremen, Germany. Forty scientists and practitioners including architects, psychologists, cognitive scientists, and computer scientists came together to discuss the latest research on the behavioural aspects of human spatial cognition. The workshop highlighted the need for spatial cognition research to address its potential for innovation in the design of the built environment.One way of approaching this is through evidence-based design, which brings together the standpoint of the designer and the end-user. A designer is trained to anticipate the usage of a building or urban space, by considering how the end user will perceive and behave in the environment. Thus perceptual, cognitive and behavioural processes come together in the proposed design. The analysis of how individuals and groups interact with the built environment feeds directly into evidence-based design. The use of virtual experiments has been used extensively in the context of built environment modelling (see for example an early study by Dalton, 2001), and in the context of design using agent-based models (Maher & Gero, 2002), but there remains the need to extend the scope of these experiments and explore the use of hybrid worlds, where elements of both real and virtual worlds might be combined.Innovation in the design of the built environment can be supported with technical tools, analyses, and empirical models. These should not be alienated from users' experiences; the interaction between people and the built environment should be at the very essence of any modelling or design approach. Such an approach was theoretically articulated in the man-environment paradigm (Hillier & Leaman, 1973), and is embedded in the representational schemes and theoretical propositions of space syntax (Hillier, 1996(H...

In this paper, we argue for the case that cities are self-organised complex systems by presenting evidence on positive and reinforcing feedback mechanisms and robust global trends that characterise historical growth patterns. In two case studies; Manhattan and Barcelona, historical stages of urban growth were mapped and analysed. The analyses revealed regularities that may help define the local and global processes that characterise urban growth marked by alternating periods of expansion and pruning in street networks. The global trend marked by a lognormal distribution of segmental integration (closeness) in street networks was consistently restored following planning interventions. The overall street network growth trend appeared to fit an exponential or power law distribution, along with a linear change in fractal dimension. Underlying these global trends, we found evidence for local positive and reinforcing feedback mechanisms; explained by preferential attachment to well-connected street structures, and pruning of weakly integrated local street structures. The findings are likely to improve our understanding of urban growth.