How can we introduce emotional conditions in architecture that would allow for the design and expression of existential space? Architects do not currently have the appropriate methods or the right tools of representation for articulating such subjective information during their design process. This article addresses this issue by evaluating a didactic approach and alternative means of representation in the architectural studio. This studio experience aimed at articulating people’s life stories in audiovisual narratives, which later inspired a number of students’ designs. First, the students conducted interviews with local people, and later worked with two tools – storyboarding and animatics – to analyze how space was signified through these...