PRIORITIZING HUMAN EXPERIENCE IN DESIGN Index 1.0 Introduction 32.0 Heidegger, Norberg-Shultz and Merleau-Ponty 43.0 The application of phenomenological principles in the work of Steven Holl 6 Thoughts 9 Glossary 10 Websites 10 References Images 10Bibliography 11Notes 12Phenomenology of architecturePhilosophical movementLiving spacesDesign experienceTheoryKEY WORDS1.0 IntroductionNow is the time for the gods to emergeFrom the things we inhabit…Rainer Maria Rilke (Insel ed., II, 185)Architects design spaces intended to be inhabited, places intended to be inhabited. to interact with. Humans need shelter from the elements, protection from nature's worst deprivations, and a place to feel safe. But why can structures built with inanimate parts arouse such strong emotional responses in us? Responses that can range from a sense of home to one of dread and foreboding! Juhani Pallasmaa asks: "Why do so few modern buildings appeal to our feelings, when almost every anonymous house... or the most unpretentious agricultural outbuilding gives us a sense of familiarity and pleasure?" While Pallasmaa's question assumes that there is a clear distinction between past and present in built form. It therefore follows that if we want to create spaces that evoke desirable feelings and are fit to be inhabited, we must first ask ourselves how we derive our understanding of the world around us. How do we begin to understand the things we see and interact with our five senses? .. middle of paper......Pallasmaa, Juhani. The embodied image: imagination and imagery in architecture. John Wiley & Sons: Chichester, 2011. Pallasmaa, Juhani. The eyes of the skin – Architecture and senses. John Wiley & Sons: Etobicoke, ON, 2005. Pallasmaa, Juhani. The thinking hand: existential and embodied wisdom in architecture. John Wiley & Sons: Chichester, 2009. Zumthor, Peter. Atmospheres. Birkhauser: Boston, 2005. Dreyfus & Dreyfus Sense and Nonsense, trans., Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1964 Holl, S., 1996. Intertwining (NY: Princeton Architectural Press). Holl, S., 2000. Parallax (Basel: Birkhäuser). Moran, D., 2000. Introduction to Phenomenology (London: Routledge). Moran, D., 2005. Edmund Husserl: Founder of Phenomenology (Cambridge: Polity Press). Norberg-Schulz, C ., 2000. Architecture: Presence, Language, Place (Milan: Akir).