London College of Communication’s Valerie Mace, Joint Course Leader on BA (Hons) Spatial Design, was invited earlier this month to speak at the Royal College of Art about her research interests in spatial experience. This was Valerie’s second visit to students at the RCA following a successful talk in 2013.
Valerie introduced students to environmental perceptions in three stages: the scale of perceptions, background knowledge, and tools and methodologies. Although the RCA does not offer courses on spatial design or architecture, many of its students work on projects that introduce a level of interaction between people and space.
Entitled ‘Spatial experience: an insight into environmental perceptions’, the lecture proposed that life itself is a performance and considered the notion of space not simply as a physical entity but as an event. The proposal went on to discuss identity, cultural ideologies, communication and environmental perceptions, including examples of projects designed to develop awareness of spatial experiences.
Watch the talk in full: