Enhancing Spatial Configurations in Informal Learning Spaces: an Early-Phase Design Decision-Making Framework

Traditional design decision-making is usually a process of adapting and reusing the paradigm at the architect’s disposal based on intuition and experience, which helps to provide acceptable solutions to known design problems quickly but makes it challenging to generate new spatial types beyond the existing paradigm. The emergence of informal learning behaviors has caused changes in public learning spaces, and traditional design decision-making processes have struggled to provide better solutions. Based on 620 questionnaires, this study combines statistical and space syntax analysis to obtain the relationship between user preferences and space. It uses multi-agent simulation to interpret preferences into spatial forms to assist design in obtaining a more suitable spatial layout pattern for informal learning scenarios. Proposing a design decision-making method to solve complex behavior-driven problems effectively, this research will help to integrate research and design effectively, improve the efficiency and accuracy of design decision-making.