Abstract
Sensemaking is the process of constructing and refining new understandings from the chaos of information surrounding us; during sensemaking cues are extracted from an otherwise overwhelming body of varied information and attended to such that action is possible. Sensemaking is inherent to design praxis, but there are substantial gaps in the literature describing the sensemaking processes which are relevant to design. This paper makes the case that a particular, novel sensemaking praxis, termed spatial-data sensemaking, occurs in architectural design but is heretofore undescribed; this process occurs when constructing an understanding of climate emergency data whilst developing a spatial proposal. This paper first reviews the literature on epistemologies of data in architecture, demarcating the provisional logics of data-practical, data-essential, data-paradigmatic, and data-wary which underlie data-sensemaking. Subsequently the pragmatic roots of design scholarship and contemporary sensemaking scholarship are examined to provide a theoretical groundwork for spatial-data sensemaking as a design praxis. The paper argues that recognition of this particular, blended design sensemaking is critical for architectural pedagogical innovation in the climate emergency, and describes next steps in this research agenda.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.031
Citation
Bohm, M.(2025) Spatial-Data Sensemaking: Learning Architecture in the Climate Emergency, in Clemente, V., Gomes, G., Reis, M., Félix, S., Ala, S., Jones, D. (eds.), Learn X Design 2025, 22-24 September 2025, Aveiro, Portugal. https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.031
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Full Paper
Spatial-Data Sensemaking: Learning Architecture in the Climate Emergency
Sensemaking is the process of constructing and refining new understandings from the chaos of information surrounding us; during sensemaking cues are extracted from an otherwise overwhelming body of varied information and attended to such that action is possible. Sensemaking is inherent to design praxis, but there are substantial gaps in the literature describing the sensemaking processes which are relevant to design. This paper makes the case that a particular, novel sensemaking praxis, termed spatial-data sensemaking, occurs in architectural design but is heretofore undescribed; this process occurs when constructing an understanding of climate emergency data whilst developing a spatial proposal. This paper first reviews the literature on epistemologies of data in architecture, demarcating the provisional logics of data-practical, data-essential, data-paradigmatic, and data-wary which underlie data-sensemaking. Subsequently the pragmatic roots of design scholarship and contemporary sensemaking scholarship are examined to provide a theoretical groundwork for spatial-data sensemaking as a design praxis. The paper argues that recognition of this particular, blended design sensemaking is critical for architectural pedagogical innovation in the climate emergency, and describes next steps in this research agenda.