ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors highlight their theoretical, historical and practice-led interest in the role of the imagination in spatial design practices. They demonstrate that an individual’s sensory and perceptual engagement with an environment or space is, in part, constructed by their powers of imagination. A number of projects looked at the use of the imagination in the operation of political power – both as a tool of oppression and of resistance. The project showed that prototyping also constructs relationships between the activities of the designer and user. First, the designer’s intentions provide an initial prototype. Second, multiple variations of the prototype are generated by the user’s own interaction with the building, space or environment. The role of the prototype is evident on a number of different levels; for example, the prototype is a kind of aesthetic structure for the production of the design drawing, text or model.
