Environmental Access in Architecture: A Conceptual Framework for Analysis

Aims: Research on architecture and the environment has primarily focused on environmental control, indoor environmental quality, and user experience, while the ways in which architecture organizes relationships between users and environmental phenomena have rarely been examined as an independent subject of inquiry. Consequently, the literature still lacks a conceptual framework for describing and analyzing this relationship regardless of the type of environmental phenomenon. This study develops the concept of Environmental Access as a framework for describing and analyzing different ways of organizing access to environmental phenomena within architectural spaces.
Methods: This theoretical study is based on a narrative review and critical analysis of the literature. Through a critical analysis of literature on environmental design, architecture, environmental perception, and environmental control, the concept of Environmental Access is formulated and its analytical framework is developed around two complementary dimensions: Spatial Scope and Richness of Environmental Phenomena.
Findings: The findings indicate that Environmental Access enables the organization of the relationship between architecture and the environment to be analyzed independently of users’ experience, perception, and behavior. Combining the two dimensions reveals distinct configurations of Environmental Access, each of which can support different design objectives and provide a basis for describing and comparing architectural approaches.
Conclusion: As a theoretical framework, Environmental Access offers a novel interpretation of the role of architecture in structuring human–environment relationships. It provides a conceptual basis for connecting environmental control-oriented and experience-oriented approaches while establishing a common analytical language for future research on architecture–environment relationships.