Wash Ivanovic, G., Miyazaki, S., 2024.

Vizualizing Architectural Proxemics

Developed by Edward T. Hall in the 1950s and 1960s, proxemics studies the way in which people use and perceive space in relation to others in different social contexts. While the origin of proxemics was mainly defined by social science theories of spatial behaviour, in this paper, we introduce the idea of Architectural Proxemics, investigating how spaces, bodies and human behav-iour affect each other. We propose an approach for drawing and visualizing proxemics in different public settings by introducing a methodology for gen-erating maps of people's personal spaces interacting in and with the built en-vironment.
Through a series of case studies in two streets in Shanghai and the traditional Shadow Garden in Suzhou, China, we tested the proposed methodology, cre-ating visualizations of both mapped real-life situations and fictional scenarios. By using a tool called Activity Counter Maps (ACM), we were able to ex-plore and analyze the relationship between the organization of the studied spaces and human behaviour and the interactions which they generate. The re-sultant images proved themselves fruitful in depicting and revealing some of these engagements.
Additionally, we present alternative representation techniques for the generat-ed maps, exploring their potential as a quantitative starting point for qualita-tive, expressive, and exploratory analysis, resulting in images and models that reveal a variety of complexities about the relationship between body and space.
Finally, based on the findings of these case studies, we discuss the potential of the introduced methodology and its possible applications for advancing architectural research and design.