Over the past 20 years technology has become embedded in almost every part of our lives, and nowhere more than in
building design and construction. We are now witnessing the results of this technological shift in process within our
built environment – some good, some not; as architects utilise and become more reliant on the computer. Thoughtfully
created environments offer inhabitants comfort and security and a sense of wellbeing. The consideration and design of
experience is an essential component of good architecture, get it right and the users’ quality of life can be enhanced.
Get it wrong and there is the potential for a poor and damaging experience for the inhabitant. Has this extensive use
of the computer detached architects from the non visual experiences of their designs? Has this new technology moved
us away from issues that we once deeply valued – regionality, skill and longevity and replaced them with homogeny,
expediency and globalisation? Are we too eager and excited by the initial impact of these astonishing constructions
facilitated by the technology at the expense of the end user and their experience when inhabiting these ‘forms’?
‘Architecture has the capacity to be inspiring, engaging and life-enhancing. But why is it that architectural schemes
which look good on the drawing board or the computer screen can be so disappointing ‘in the flesh’?’ Juhani Pallasmaa
Pallasmaa’s statement is key to the direction and the formulation of studio design briefs for third year undergraduate
students at the Mackintosh School of Architecture. The ambition of the year is to provide a platform where human
experience within the spaces designed is valued equally alongside planning issues, construction and aesthetics, and
aims to embed a social dimension to the process. One of the programme’s intentions is to question the prioritisation of
visual experience in the conception and making of buildings through investigations into the multi-sensory realms of
architecture with the human at the centre. Through a series of connected briefs the students are challenged to design
buildings and environments that have been holistically considered. Technology is embraced and supports hands on
workshops and experiential recordings. Slow Architecture and its philosophies are considered alongside the pragmatics
and the poetics of the proposals. With sustainability at the core, materiality, construction and how these contribute to
an architecture where craft, sensuality, delight and contentment are also explored. Working on the premise that speed
driven architecture can result in a visually dominant architecture, one in which the spaces created are viewed rather
than felt; the projects require a ‘Slow’ haptic response.