Intuitive Architecture: Phenomenological Perception and Imagination as Constructed Experience of the Intersubjective World

Abstract

In this theoretical research, “intuitive architecture” is proposed as a design concept and methodology that intentionally engages the pre-reflective structures of human perception, shaping spatial experience of meanings through calibrated manipulation of light, material, geometry, and temporal movement. Drawing from the philosophical framework of Immanuel Kant, Edmund Husserl, and Juhani Pallasmaa, this thesis argues that architecture does not merely organize physical space as functional objects but participates in structuring how reality is apprehended for in-depth transcendental meanings. Through an examination of the works of modern architects Steven Holl, Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas, and Tadao Ando, this research explores how morphological abstraction, atmosphere, geometry, paradox, and play can activate subconscious awareness and emotional memory of the phenomenological intersubjective world. By bridging philosophical inquiry with architectural practice, intuitive architecture proposes a mode of design that prioritizes perceptual depth over purely functional or aesthetic concerns, positioning architecture as an imaginative medium through which experience of essential meanings of human life is shaped.