Application of spatial design ability in a postgraduate course

Spatial Design Ability (SDA) has been defined by the author (1983) as the capacity to anticipate the effects (psychological impressions) that architectural spaces or its components produce in observers or users. This concept, which requires the evaluation of spaces by the people that uses it, was proposed as a guideline to a Masters Degree Course in Architectural Design at the Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes in Mexico. The theory and the exercises required for the experience needed a model that could simulate spaces in terms of all the variables involved. Full-scale modelling as has been tested in previous research, offered the most effective mean to experiment with space. A simple, primitive model was designed and built: an articulated ceiling that allows variation in height and shape, and a series of wooden panels for the walls and structure. Several exercises were carried out, mainly to experience cause-effect relationships between space and the psychological impressions they produce. Students researched into spatial taxonomy, intentional sequences of space and spatial character. Results showed that students achieved the expected anticipation of space and that full-scale modelling, even with a simple model, proved to be an effective tool for this purpose. The low cost of the model and the short time it took to be built, opens an important possibility for Institutions involved in architectural studies, both as a research and as a learning tool