The Aesthetic Steps Differentiated Approaches to Spatial Aesthetics

Abstract

This article suggests applying several alternative perspectives and logics when working with spatial aesthetics in practice. The framework presented here – the Aesthetics Steps - is developed as a tool for reflection and dialogue in co-design processes with users concerning the role of aesthetics in knowledge and learning environments.

By expanding the concept of aesthetics to include social meaning and social relations more discourses are created which may further a more varied dialogue about the effects and purpose of aesthetics in the environments.

The framework consists of five segments comprising these possible discourses and logics.

Through the steps, aesthetics becomes gradually more complex and the focus on the specific user group and their social and cultural context increases.

The last step of the framework represents a relational aesthetic approach which is formulated by the art theorist Nicolas Bourriaud whose ideas about Relationel Aesthetics are applied here to a spatial design context.