APPROACHING A DESIGN | PLACE ATTACHMENT

If you are a student of architecture, approach to a design must be one of the most stressful things you deal with, and I might have something to help you with it. During the extensive research for my thesis, I came across a module which made my design approach a lot more organized, less complicated and helped provide an outlook on how to move forward with the design. It’s called-

“The Tripartite Model of Place Attachment.”

Now, what is the tripartite model of Place attachment? It is a framework composed of/split into three parts, developed by Scannell and Gifford, which proposes that Place Attachment is a multidimensional concept defined by variables, the three P’s: Person, Process, and Place.

The best approach to designing any place is started by understanding the user, the people, and the bond they have with the place. Place attachment explains the basics of creating a bond between a person and a place.

Let’s try and understand how this module works.

The three P’s: Person, who is attached? What is the extend of attachment? Is it individual or collective? It helps us understand the ‘experience in place’ and create meaning. It can be personal, symbolic, or meaningful.

Process, how is the person relating to the place? There are three psychological aspects to consider in terms of understanding how. Affect, cognition and behavior. Affect involves an emotional connection to a place, from love and contentment to fear, hatred, and ambivalence. Cognition is the way individuals relate to the place through memories, beliefs, meaning, and knowledge. And the third aspect, behavior is expressed through actions, personalization, aggression, and territorial defense.

Place. The most important aspect is, of course, the place itself. Attachment to the place can be social or physical in terms of a home, neighborhood, or city. The importance the place has, socially or symbolically. The physical nature of the place, natural or built, the climate, complexity, and what relations one has with the place helps in determining the overall approach to the problem.

The three aspects when studied and understood in depth give us a design solution to our particular problem. For example, while designing a residence, we take into consideration, who will live in it, the person, the family, we learn about their needs and wants. How will the person feel at home psychologically, will they feel loved? Make memories? We take into account the personalization and defensiveness of the project and most importantly, the Place, a home symbolically represents the people living in it, the built environment will be affected by the needs of the person, the climate, the neighborhood, and the relationship one develops with their place of living.

Now, try applying those three aspects to your design problem. Create a flow chart considering all these elements. Did the project simplify? Is your understanding of the problem better? Do you have a solution, an approach for the design? If yes, I am glad this helped you. If not, you can read more about this model, conduct an in-depth research on the subject and then try again with a better understanding.

All the Best!!