Embodiment in haptic architectural diagrams

Abstract

This article focuses on the possibilities afforded by haptic and three-dimensional materials in architectural diagrams created in the design process. These materials can inspire designers and enhance their creativity. Haptic diagrams incorporate the designer’s experience into the design problem, and therefore improve design processes through embodied efficiency. The first section of the article enumerates and briefly explains architectural diagrams and their types. In the second section, analog or digitally made architectural diagrams with tactile qualities are appraised. Haptic diagrams are classified based on their content and the setting in which they are created, with three types of visual acuity, including whether they are linear or fragmentary, complex or transparent, and whether they are geometrically distorted. The article argues that haptic architectural diagrams can improve the embodiment of design thinking in architecture. Haptic diagrams, whether analog, digital, or 3D, can help architects to communicate and collaborate more effectively with people perceiving architecture, by providing a tangible, haptic representation of design. This is because haptic diagrams are objects which convey materiality of form and embody knowledge, conveying design methodology experientially.

Keywords

• architectural diagram
• haptic diagrams
• haptic perception
• embodiment