Experiencing Human-Environment Interactions through Architectural Research Living Laboratory

Abstract

In built environment education, understanding human–environment interactions requires more than theoretical instruction; it depends on engagement with real-world settings. Aneka Walk, a canopied commercial promenade in Seksyen 7, Shah Alam, provides a complex socio-spatial setting for investigating these interactions. Architectural research methods are often taught through lectures and static exercises, leaving students underprepared to apply data-collection techniques in unpredictable environments and translate behavioural evidence into design-oriented representations. This study argues that the Architectural Research Living Laboratory (AReLL) offers an experiential approach to this gap by strengthening postgraduate students’ understanding of research methods and spatial intelligence through field-based learning. Specifically, it explores methodological justification, bespoke instrument design, living laboratory pedagogy, data-collection skills, and students’ interpretation and communication of field findings through architectural graphics. Fourteen (14) Master of Architecture students from UiTM Puncak Alam followed a structured six-phase learning framework, moving from classroom preparation to field trials at Aneka Walk. Three complementary instruments were employed: direct and digitally assisted observation to map pedestrian movement and accessibility; semi-structured intercept interviews to examine space use and dwell preferences; and QR-coded questionnaires to capture perceptions of outdoor thermal comfort beneath the canopy. The collected data were translated into space syntax graphs, behavioural mapping overlays, and three-dimensional analytical configurations. The findings indicate that pedestrian movement, lingering nodes, and accessibility correlated with canopy-shading thresholds and active retail shopfronts. The learning process shifted students from passive reception to active research as they reflected on methods, adapted instruments to site conditions, and synthesised environment–behaviour evidence into coherent graphics. These results suggest that urban promenades can serve as living laboratories for teaching environment–behaviour research methods. AReLL provides educators with a structured, transferable experiential framework that integrates research theory with the physical and social conditions of the built environment and enhances students’ ability to utilize field evidence in spatial analysis and design decision-making.