Space syntax as a design support system : evaluating alternative layouts for shopping centres

For designers it is often difficult to translate knowledge from the social sciences into the design process. It is not easy for them to incorporate knowledge about people's behavior and attitudes in the design process. This paper takes as its perspective that there is not always a need for designers to make this translation themselves. It is possible to develop design support systems that contain implicit knowledge about people's behavior and attitudes in a language designers can relate to. In this paper the use of a Space Syntax technique as design support system is demonstrated by two cases. The first case is the design of a layout for a suburban shopping centre in the city of Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The second is about the influence of a planned shopping arcade on the shopping district of downtown Roermond, another Dutch city. Space Syntax analyzes the impact of alternative layouts on the use consumers make of public space in the shopping centres. The results of the analyses facilitate the choice process for a particular layout. They enable one to make inferences regarding the relation between the morphological structure of a layout and its functional organization.