Photo credit: Florian Göpfert on Unsplash
Event Description
Architects today are increasingly asked to shape places that are not only efficient and sustainable, but also culturally meaningful, emotionally engaging, and socially inclusive. As cities face climate pressure, cultural homogenization, and fragmented community identity, architectural practice must move beyond form-making toward integrated place-shaping systems.
This presentation introduces Narrative Architecture as a practical framework through which architects translate cultural identity, ecological logic, and human experience into spatial systems with measurable performance. Using a built, large-scale case study—Beijing Happy Valley, a 100-hectare cultural destination—the session demonstrates how storytelling can function as soft place-shaping infrastructure, influencing behavior, environmental comfort, and long-term value.
Rather than treating narrative as symbolism or theming, the project embeds storytelling logic directly into spatial sequencing, circulation networks, landscape systems, and climate-responsive design strategies. Nature-based solutions—such as passive cooling corridors, landscape-driven microclimate regulation, and ecological zoning—are orchestrated alongside narrative pathways to enhance thermal comfort, environmental resilience, and user engagement.
The project delivers measurable outcomes, including over 90% green coverage, localized temperature reductions of 2–3°C, increased dwell time and repeat visitation, and sustained economic performance supported by shared governance mechanisms with surrounding communities. These results position narrative-driven design not as an abstract concept, but as a replicable architectural methodology applicable to cultural, civic, and mixed-use developments.
Participants will gain transferable tools for shaping place through narrative logic, integrating culture, experience, and nature-based sustainability into contemporary architectural practice.
Speaker
Yan Chen, PhD, Doctor of Design, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Speaker Bios
