Expanding Problem Framing in Architectural Design Education through the Lens of the Production of Space (Case Study of a Stair-Design Exercise)

Abstract

This study examines an educational experience in Architectural Design I, in which a stair-design exercise for a faculty courtyard was linked to observations of everyday stair use and discussions of movement, pause, view, and presence. It aims to identify indications of expanded problem framing in students’ works and to examine how the relationships recognized by students were translated into architectural organization. Because complete pre- and post-intervention records were unavailable, the findings are interpreted descriptively and exploratorily and do not establish a causal effect of the educational experience. Using a qualitative case-study approach, the final works of twelve students were analyzed through direct observation of physical models, final boards, cross-case comparison, and contextual knowledge from sustained participation in teaching. As an independent assessment layer, seven academic evaluators reviewed model images using six components of spatial transformation. Findings showed that, to varying degrees, the projects moved beyond the stair as an access element and incorporated relationships among movement, level change, ground, context, pause, view, and potential settings for presence. The generative role of level change was among the clearest transformations, whereas the conversion of functional movement into spatial sequence was less consistent. Expanded problem framing did not necessarily correspond to an equal ability to translate it into architectural organization. Through Henri Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space, this transformation is interpreted not as a rejection of form or the realization of lived space, but as contextualized form-making and a shift from an isolated element toward a broader network of spatial relations. The findings highlight the importance of developing both recognition and architectural organization of spatial relations in introductory design education.