Experiential Visualization in Architectural Design Media: How It Actually Works

Experimental Visualization in Architectural Design Media: How It Actually Works is a theoretical, practical, and interdisciplinary account of the tools used by architects and designers. The book focuses on the how these tools influence their ability to envision and craft the future experiential reality of buildings and environments. The book is structured around two parallel sets of questions. The first, concerns the effects of various media on the designer’s understanding of their work in experiential terms. The media considered include the process of design-build, standard media such as scale model building, hand drawing, drafting, and extends into the now dominant digitally based design media of BIM, digital modeling, and emerging VR technologies, such as Enscape. The second line of questioning seeks patterns of use and other attributes designers deploy in practice to achieve an experiential and meaningful understanding of their work, with and through each medium.

To answer these questions, the author provides a detailed assessment of the pros and cons (affordance and constraint) of each form of mediation, and a set of recommendations documenting how experienced designers enhance their visualization skills to support such experiential design. This work is interwoven with interdisciplinary consideration of technology, perception, media studies, history and bolstered by the direct experiences of design professionals.

This book will be of interest to researchers working in the field of architecture and design, as well as practising architects, designers and students who are seeking guidance on how to effectively design and consider the experience of their future built environments.

Vincent B. Canizaro is an Associate Professor at The University of Texas at San Antonio, USA whose overall focus is design in connection to place. He teaches in the graduate program and publishes on the issues of regionalism and environmental architecture, sustainability, community-oriented design, design media, and site-specific design theory. His writing and research have been published in regional, national, and international venues and have led to local and international symposia. As an editor with the Journal of Architectural Education, he co-edited two special issues on ＂Architecture and Landscape＂ and ＂Sustainable Architecture＂. He has published Architectural Regionalism and contributed chapters to Pragmatic Sustainability, the Routledge Companion to Architectural History, and the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World. He has co-curated art and architectural exhibits and won awards for both design and publications. He is a registered architect in Massachusetts and has practiced in Austin, Boston, Rhode Island, and California.