Introduction

Before starting this introductory chapter, we wanted to provide a brief comment on the scope of the book: on the whole, the parts of this edited book focus on the creative design process, the realised building (or building as artefact) or the building in use and its reception by its users. For the majority of chapters, it is clear that the relationship between the user and the building is central, being discussed either implicitly or explicitly: we are researching a building in relation to its experiential qualities. It should therefore be noted that, in terms of architectural research, this book covers little in terms of architectural history, urban or master planning, or the more structural or tectonic aspects to architectural engineering (although occasionally aspects of some of these may be touched upon). In principle, this book is intended to be used as a reference book, a compendium of case studies, or an integrated course textbook.