Simon, M. (2023).

Sensing Time: Temporality in the Design of Buildings and Open

Spaces. archiDOCT, 19(11 (1)).

ArchiDOCT 19, 11 (1) TEMPORALITIES ii

Sensing Time: Temporality in the Design of Buildings and Open

Spaces
a
Madlen Simon1
1 School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation, University of Maryland
Keywords: multi-sensory perception, spatialized time, buildings, open spaces, phenomenology

archiDOCT
Vol. 19, Issue 11 (1), 2023

The article proposes a framework to compare and contrast the design of buildings and
open spaces across the dimension of temporality. We consider the past, present, and
future of the designed environment as well as the temporal experiences of dwelling
therein. This exploration relates space and time through the lens of human perception,
applying phenomenology to the analysis of designed environments. The paper considers
four constructs of time: seasonal and daily cycles, one moment to the next, growth and
aging, and the historic continuum. We construct our spatialized experience of time in
terms of years and days, with seasonal and diurnal cycles characterized by distinctive
differences in sensory input. In the moment, our bodies mark time through movement,
including observation of dynamic elements of the environment and kinesthetic
perception of our own progress around and through places. We directly experience
extended time in places as a process of growth and aging. In the longer term, we consider
places to be of their time and carrying with them a cultural reference to their locus in
history. Visiting historic sites can take us back in time to vicariously experience the
memories embodied in place. We conclude with the insight that phenomena that
stimulate our experience of temporality may be present in buildings and open spaces
alike. Exposure to nature is the key factor in situating oneself in diurnal and seasonal
cycles. Designers of buildings and open spaces may intensify or diminish encounters of
materials and occupants with nature in ways that promote or deny our spatialized
experience of time. Embodied kinesthetic experience along with visual and auditory
perception is key to understanding time through movement in space. Designers of
buildings and open spaces can accentuate human awareness of marking time by selecting
materials and articulating elements that stimulate multi-sensory perception of the body’s
movement in space.

1. Introduction open spaces across the dimension of temporality. We con-

sider the past, present, and future of the designed envi-
We have a mental need to grasp that we are rooted in ronment as well as the temporal experiences of dwelling
the continuity of time and in the man-made world it is therein. This exploration relates space and time through
the task of architecture to facilitate this experience. Ar-
the lens of human perception. Or, to turn it around, we
chitecture domesticates limitless space and enables us to
could say that our experience of time is mediated through
inhabit it, but it should likewise domesticate endless time
our experience in space. We are interested in sensory in-
and enable us to inhabit the continuum of time. (Pallas-
maa, 2005, p. 32) tensification (Papale et al., 2016) of the experience of time
in space. For an analytical method we turn to phenomenol-
The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework ogy, a philosophy that deals with human sensory experi-
for comparing and contrasting the design of buildings and ence of the physical world and constructing meaning from

a Madlen Simon, AIA is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Maryland. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture and
Master of Architecture degrees from Princeton University. She is a practicing architect as well as an educator/scholar who applies
neuroscience to study human response to built environments. She researches, lectures, and publishes on environment-behavior
topics, design thinking education, and global architectural education. A Fellow of UMD’s Academy for Innovation and
Entrepreneurship, she teaches design thinking to diverse teams of undergraduate students from all around campus. She engages
cross-cultural teams of graduate students in designing a better world together in a virtual global classroom with colleagues in
Baghdad. Professor Simon believes in the power of design thinking to empower students to create their own futures and improve
the lives of people and the planet.
 Sensing Time: Temporality in the Design of Buildings and Open Spaces

that experience. We are concerned with the relationship of In the longer term, we consider places to be of their time,
people to place, as Heidegger (1996) termed it dasein, or existing on a historic continuum, and carrying with them a
being-in-the-world, a richly complex concept of existence cultural reference to their era. This experience is typically
which we might, for our present purpose, translate directly constructed through our understanding of style as a marker
from the German as being there. Christian Norberg-Schulz for time. Visiting historic sites can take us back in time to
(1979) applied Heidegger’s concepts to place in Genius Loci: vicariously experience the memories embodied in place. For
towards a phenomenology of architecture. We seek to provide example, a visit to an historic prison affords an experience
a framework for considering the phenomena of spatialized in a constricted cell evoking the horrors of incarceration.
time. Norberg-Schulz considers the spirit of a place over Historic preservation, conservation, and adaptive reuse are
time in terms of constancy or loss. Kevin Lynch (1976) de- all processes that require careful consideration of how peo-
veloped aspects of this relationship between place and time ple experience time and change over time in place.
in What Time is This Place? In the classic text, Space, Time, We directly experience extended time in places as a
and Architecture, Siegfried Giedeon (1941) situated archi- process of growth and aging. We experience growth through
tecture in an historic continuum. In this brief paper we ex- the life cycles of the plant materials of our open spaces,
amine spatialized time more broadly, exploring the variety processes typically related to seasonal cycles. For example,
of ways in which people do and do not sense and experi- trees grow over years and sometimes centuries, marking
ence time in the constructed environments of buildings and their age with annual rings. Other plants emerge from the
open spaces. We ask in what ways people perceive and un- earth in Spring, grow and flower in Summer, die back in Au-
derstand spaces as static or dynamic places. David Seamon tumn, and hide under earth and snow in winter. We expe-
(2000) offers a valuable overview of scholarship develop- rience the aging of places through the processes of use and
ing the phenomenological approach to environmental and weathering. For example, we see and feel changes due to
architectural questions. We rely upon the work of scholars human use over time in stone steps that acquire the im-
who built the case for multi-sensory perception as key to print of generations of feet moving up and down. We see
our experience of space and place (Bachelard, 1964; Mer- an example of weathering in the houses of Nantucket, clad
leau-Ponty, 2013; Norberg-Schulz, 1979; Pallasmaa, 2005; in cedar shingles whose initial golden glow deepens to grey
Rasmussen, 1964). A full consideration of this topic would over time. We can view maintenance of buildings and open
require considerably more time and space than we have spaces as a form of resistance to the effects of time.
here. Our aim is merely to illuminate the questions by sit-
uating them in two different but related types of designed 3. Cyclical time
environments - buildings and open spaces.
Open spaces necessarily afford direct experience of sea-
2. Frames of reference sonality and the dynamic of seasonal change. A visit to an
open space stimulates multi-sensory perceptions including
We construct our spatialized experience of time in terms sights, smells, sounds, and haptic touch of seasonal mark-
of years and days, with seasonal and diurnal cycles charac- ers including ambient temperatures, wind, breezes, sun-
terized by distinctive differences in sensory input. For ex- shine, moonlight, shade and shadow, humidity, rainfall,
ample, in climates marked by seasonal variation, we ex- snow, ice, flowing water, thawing earth, decomposing
perience autumn visually in the changing hues of leaves, leaves, blooming flowers, newly mown grass, falling leaves,
aurally and haptically in the crunch of leaves underfoot, in migrating birds, etc. Successive visits over the course of
the smell of decaying leaves, in the feeling of cool breezes a year reveal the seasonal cycle of the place. The design
tempered by warm sunlight. Over the course of a day, we process offers opportunities to accentuate our experiences
perceive the visual change from darkness to light and back of seasonality or defy our expectations. For example, the
to darkness, often accompanied by thermal change from Herbaceous Border at Beatrice Farrand’s Dumbarton Oaks
cooler to warmer to cooler. Changing sun direction and an- Garden is designed with plants that bloom sequentially
gle provide a richly varying experience of place as differ- from Spring through Autumn, deepening our experience of
ent spaces are sequentially characterized by light, shadow, change across those seasons. The Pebble Garden, on the
warming, and cooling. other hand, mitigates the day-to-day changes with more
In the moment, our bodies mark time through move- hardscape than plant materials, walls to shelter from wind,
ment, including observation of dynamic elements of the and masonry to store sunshine for radiant warmth on chilly
environment and kinesthetic perception of our own days.
progress around and through places. For example, we watch Buildings span the spectrum from affording rich expe-
and listen as the sōzu fountain in a Japanese garden marks riences of seasonal change to shielding occupants from
time visually and aurally with the clack of dropping bamboo awareness of seasonality. The glazed corridor of Glenstone
tube and gush of water. In a rhythmically designed environ- Museum, designed by Thomas Pfifer, wraps around a water
ment, such as an arcade, we hear and feel our own footfalls garden, immersing visitors in a vivid display of seasonal
on the pavement, hear and feel the constriction of space change as the water plants grow, flower, change color, and
under the arches, see the change from light to dark as we die back throughout the year.
pass behind columns, feel the thermal change as we move A typical office building, however, denies seasonality, re-
from sunlight into shadow and back again. stricting temperature and humidity variations within strict
parameters and suffusing the interior with constant levels

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 Sensing Time: Temporality in the Design of Buildings and Open Spaces

Figure 1. A glass-walled corridor wraps the water courtyard at Thomas Phifer’s Glenstone Museum in Maryland,
making seasonal change part of the visitor experience. Photo by author.

of ambient light. The only information about season comes gate to the primary level marks a daily cycle as rising and
from views out the perimeter windows; tightly controlled falling tides advance and recede on the steps.
interior spaces lack seasonal indicators. We are attuned to cycles of the seasons and days through
Office buildings’ environmental controls also mask sen- our perceptions of nature. Outdoor spaces necessarily sit-
sations of the diurnal cycle such as chilly mornings, warm- uate us in nature; by their design they may intensify our
ing afternoons, and cooling evenings. Window views afford experience of time by providing rich multisensory informa-
the only information about time of day. While buildings tion to mark seasonal and diurnal cycles. Buildings may be
require light, artificial sources can do the work of illumi- designed to afford or deny experience of passing time. De-
nation without incurring the warming effects of sunlight. signers of buildings and open spaces alike can create spaces
Constant lighting levels deny occupants the understanding to connect their occupants to aspects of nature that sit-
of time that comes from viewing sunrise, observing and uate us in time, mark the passage of time, and celebrate
feeling changes in sun angle and direction throughout the moments in time. Windows, thresholds, indoor/outdoor
day, viewing sunset, moonrise, and moonset. spaces, seasonal elements such as inglenook, grotto, porch,
Open spaces, on the other hand, require sunlight for terrace, pergola, planting bed, green wall and roof, pool,
photosynthesis, the process that converts light, oxygen, and fountain are examples of designers’ tools for leveraging
and water into energy required for growth and blooming. multi-sensory perceptions of nature to powerfully connect
Open spaces necessarily attune visitors to the diurnal cycle, people to the flow of days and seasons.
where sunrise, sunset, changing position of the sun in the
sky, and shifting light quality signal time of day. 4. Movement and time
Water, too, can be a marker for diurnal cycles, when tide
plays a role in the environment. While the tide is generally Buildings and open spaces embody time and afford us
a phenomenon of open spaces, we can experience it indoors embodied experiences of time through the kinesthetic
at the Querini Stampalia Foundation in Venice, renovated sense that tracks body position and movement. Our bodies
by Carlo Scarpa. A stone stairway leading from the water respond to rhythmic design of buildings and places (paving,
steps, colonnades, allées of trees, lighting, etc.) that mark

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 Sensing Time: Temporality in the Design of Buildings and Open Spaces

time for us. Regular rhythms make our footfalls function evoke African patterns. Returning from their time travels
like a metronome beating out a tempo that we can expe- across the site, visitors are brought back to present time
rience with our eyes, ears, and bodies. Changes in rhythm as they observe how the shadows’ positions changed over
slow us down or speed us up, heightening our awareness of the duration of their visit. The new building, too, has be-
time in space. The elements of buildings and open spaces come part of the history of the site, with its wooden exterior
can work like choreography, directing us to enter, move di- weathering over its nine-year life span to a quiet grey that
rectionally and rhythmically through space, change tempo, takes a supporting role to the painted historic structure. At
reorient, ascend, descend, move individually, come to- the Weeksville Heritage Center, the architects told stories
gether, and finally exit, experiencing the journey through of change in context, use, and inhabitants over time as they
space in a kinesthetic sense. Acoustic properties of paving engaged questions of conservation, preservation, and adap-
and enclosures can stimulate our sense of sound as we tive reuse.
hear our movement through space and time. Buildings and
open spaces can be designed to intensify our experience of 6. Growth and aging
time through visual, auditory, haptic, and kinesthetic per-
ception. This is easier in the design of built environments, A building, the ultimate result of architectural design, is
where a higher degree of enclosure offers greater control completed at a discrete point in time. It opens fully formed,
of human experience within. In open spaces, it is necessary ready for its work to begin. A designed open space, on the
to accentuate in order to achieve a high level of multi-sen- other hand, embodies the promise of its future. From its
sory input. Pallasmaa (2005) argues against ocularcentrism, opening day onwards, a designed landscape is characterized
making the case for richer experience through multi-sen- by growth and change, in response to human use, nurture,
sory perception of places. It is important to stress here that and natural processes over time. Both building and land-
the design of buildings and open spaces alike can stimulate scape are complex systems with interrelated parts. Build-
kinesthetic perception to afford the experience of time to ing systems tend towards stasis, with movement of building
occupants without vision or hearing. parts occurring within tightly controlled boundaries, often
hidden from view in locations such as mechanical rooms.
5. History and memory Landscape systems tend towards dynamism, characterized
by active processes such as plant growth, water movement,
Buildings and open spaces can take us on time travels. weathering, and habitation by humans and other species.
For example, sensory perceptions of descent, constricted Buildings are typically designed to resist the impacts of
space, material coldness, and darkness in Daniel Liebe- use and environmental processes. An exception is the use
skind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin evoke physical feelings of of building materials such as copper or cedar that weather
terror experienced by holocaust victims, thrusting visitors over time, developing a blue patina (copper) or darkening
back to the time of World War II. The architecture em- to grey (cedar). Building maintenance is typically directed
bodies the experience of the people it memorializes and towards resisting and reversing effects of use and weather-
transfers understanding of that historic experience through ing. Open spaces also require constant maintenance, which
sight, sound, smell, touch, and kinesthetic perceptions of may foster our understanding of change over time by re-
the space. While other parts of the museum function as vealing processes of growth, maturation, aging, and death
containers of historic objects and contexts for understand- or, on the other hand, may seek to minimize effects of time
ing the meaning of those pieces, this area communicates by maintaining the place in a state of arrested develop-
history through embodied experience. ment. For example, mowing grass produces a constant ap-
At Caples Jefferson Architects’ Weeksville Heritage Cen- pearance over seasons and years. Trees, however, defy hu-
ter in Brooklyn, New York, crossing the open space between man attempts at control.
old and new building gives visitors the experience of time When buildings are designed to emulate open spaces,
travel from the contemporary city back to the African they, too, can offer visual cues to passing time. For exam-
American community founded along a Native American ple, Dominique Perrault’s Ewha Womans University blurs
road. In the ghost landscape of the site, road emerges from the boundaries between architecture and landscape, tuck-
plant growth, vanishes, and reappears, intensifying the ex- ing built form underneath campus open spaces and ren-
perience of moving between present and past with the dering open space as built form through the use of archi-
heightened awareness of the changing feel of the land as tectonic materials. As a result, the building participates
layers of roadbuilding and agriculture reveal themselves in seasonal cycles and the longer-term natural cycle of
over time. When you leave behind the modern city streets growth, maturation, aging, and death.
to enter Weeksville Heritage Center, you feel the atmos-
phere change. The noise of cars recedes, and birdsong rises, 7. Comparing and contrasting human perception
the smell of pavement gives way to scents of plants and and experience in buildings and open spaces
earth, and the unyielding surfaces of concrete and asphalt
change to dirt and plants, transporting the visitor back to We began by considering buildings and open spaces as
the area’s agricultural past. For city kids, this is a place to essentially different settings for human activity, but it is
immerse in the unfamiliar sights, sounds, smells, and feel more useful to consider a continuum between exteriority
of a way of life experienced onsite by long-ago children. and interiority (Bartorila & Loredo-Cansino, 2021). With
Visitors enter along a passageway marked by shadows that phenomenology as our lens, we have proposed a framework

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 Sensing Time: Temporality in the Design of Buildings and Open Spaces

Figure 2. The journey across the rooftop of Antonio Gaudi’s Casa Milà is choreographed to involve visitors’ eyes,
ears, and bodies in marking time as they progress through space. Photo by author.

for understanding how designers of buildings and open ception of change, heightening awareness of time in place
spaces can stimulate the senses to situate people in time as and one’s place within time. The design of buildings re-
they move through space and over days, seasons, and years, quires even more intentionality to connect those who dwell
making experience of the designed environment richer and within to the cycles of days and seasons that situate them
accessible to differently abled participants. within the flow of time because enclosure and mechanical
Diurnal and seasonal cycles, important indicators of environmental controls and lighting systems tend to sup-
temporal flow, are experienced through multi-sensory per- press building dwellers’ awareness of natural phenomena.
ceptions of natural phenomena. Open spaces offer easy ac- A variety of design strategies can counteract these tenden-
cess to aspects of nature that signal seasonal and daily cies. Opening to nature with elements such as windows,
cycles. Designers can accentuate these phenomena in the skylights, clerestories, doors, porches, terraces, courtyards
planning of outdoor places to deepen human experience and bringing nature in with elements such as green walls,
of temporality. Selection of elements and juxtapositions pools, fountains, and fireplaces can connect occupants with
can intensify visual, auditory, olfactory, and haptic per- sights, sounds, smells, and feelings of seasonality. Incorpo-

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 Sensing Time: Temporality in the Design of Buildings and Open Spaces

Figure 3. The passageway with its spatial compression, descent into darkness, and cold, rough materiality evokes
terror and foreboding, transporting visitors back to the time of the Holocaust.

rating passive environmental systems for lighting, shading, through rhythm and tempo of footfalls. Whether walking or
heating, cooling, and ventilating can provide sensory expe- wheeling through a space, rhythmic markers such as colon-
rience of time of day and season; involving occupants in nades, pergolas, allées of trees, paving patterns, and al-
opening or closing shades and windows for natural light- ternating swathes of light and shade can address senses
ing, shading, warming, or cooling, the haptic experience of sight, sound, and touch to connect time to movement
of touching and manipulating elements of building enclo- through space. When designers consider how occupants ex-
sure add to the changing appearance and sensations of perience the journey through a building or open space, with
light, warmth, coolness, and breeze to intensify awareness its side trips along the way, opportunities open to heighten
of change over the course of the day. awareness of time as well as space in indoor and outdoor
Buildings and open spaces alike can be designed to in- environments.
tensify or suppress our experience of passing time in the Historic time can be understood by conservation, preser-
moment. Whether in buildings or open spaces, spatialized vation, and adaptive reuse of buildings and open spaces
time can be understood by analogy to music and dance, and the design of memorials in ways that evoke past times

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 Sensing Time: Temporality in the Design of Buildings and Open Spaces

Figure 4. Passageway at Caples Jefferson Architects’ Weeksville Heritage Center. Photo by Nic Lehoux for Caples
Jefferson Architects.

through all the senses, transporting us through sights, weather. Designers of open spaces must make a choice be-
sounds, smells, touch, and embodied experience of place tween maintaining spaces in a manner that denies change
in other times. It is important to consider that we may be or embracing changes as an intrinsic aspect that situates
transformed into different personas as we travel through place in time.
time to experience multiple simultaneous realities. The author hopes that this framework will be useful to
The category of growth and aging is where we note the designers of buildings and open spaces as well as to critics
greatest difference between the expression of time in build- of the designed environment as they consider how multi-
ings and open spaces. Where buildings are typically de- sensory experience of time can enrich place for people of
signed to resist destructive processes such as rain, wind, cy- varying ages and abilities.
cles of expansion and contraction, effects of these natural
processes on open spaces are inevitable. Designers of build- Submitted: February 15, 2023 GMT, Accepted: February 20,
ings may elect to express some of these phenomena, for 2023 GMT
example by selecting materials that change color as they

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 Sensing Time: Temporality in the Design of Buildings and Open Spaces

References

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