From Sketch to Site: Designing for Human Behaviour Every Step of the Way

In architecture, the journey from the first pencil stroke to a completed building is often romanticised as a purely creative process. But the truth is far more layered—and far more human. Behind every successful building lies a choreography of intention, behaviour, and iteration. While technical precision and regulation compliance matter immensely, what separates a good building from a truly great one is how well it understands and supports the people who use it.

Form follows function - Louis Sullivan

In this post, we’ll explore the stages of an architectural project—not just in terms of deliverables, but in terms of how we react and integrate human behaviour into every design decision along the way.

1. Briefing – Understanding Behaviour Before Drawing Anything

The process always begins with listening. Whether you’re designing a home, a school, or a workplace, your first job isn’t to design—it’s to understand people. What are they trying to achieve in this space? How do they live, work, relax, and interact in their current homes? And crucially: what frustrates them in their current environment?

Good briefing isn’t just a tick-box exercise of asking how many bedrooms or desks are needed. It’s a behavioural audit. For example, if you're designing a new office, asking “How do your team meetings happen?” might reveal a need for informal breakout spaces rather than one large boardroom.

If it’s a home, a question like “Where do you normally have your morning coffee?” can change the location of a kitchen window or even the orientation of the house.

In many ways, the brief is the most underrated stage of the entire project. It sets the tone for whether the building will serve people’s true behaviours, or simply accommodate a list of technical needs.

2. Concept Design – Behaviour as Form Generator

This is the stage where ideas take shape. Moodboards, sketchbooks, and quick 3D massing models come out. It’s easy to get carried away with aesthetics here—but this is precisely when behavioural insights should shape the bones of the design.

Concept design is where we test the flow of people through a space. We ask: Where do people pause, linger, or avoid? Where do they need daylight, or a sense of enclosure? This is the phase where architecture stops being art and starts becoming experience.

Understanding the conceptual flow of human movement will give a clearer idea of direction.

An example of this is with the use of window position in art galleries or larger public buildings. If you enter a building and there's a controlled route which the architect or building operator will want you to follow, then placing a window at the end of a corridor or room will subconsciously draw people towards it.

Understanding these conceptual human behaviours then allows the designer to explore a range of early ideas around these traits.

3. Developed Design – Resolving Space, Not Just Detail

By now, the layout is largely fixed, and we start to develop materials, structure, and systems. But crucially, this isn’t just about engineering the solution—it’s about refining how people will feel in each part of the building.

This is seen no clearer than in airport design, where travellers are constantly moving through a building, and you want the user experience to relax and calm them. You need large open spaces with natural light, and you want to make people feel like there is space; otherwise, you'll have thousands of passengers feeling cramped. When looking at security controls, you also see clear design ideas which show a clean, sanitised environment, but one that is very minimal and simple. There's high-tech equipment, but the journey for passengers is very direct and efficient.

At this stage, our focus sharpens on behaviour in context. Not just how people behave in general, but how they behave in this specific kind of place. The knowledge might come from experience, from post-occupancy evaluations of similar buildings, or from direct user engagement.

4. Technical Design – Don’t Let Details Erase Intention

This is the phase where the architect works with consultants, suppliers, and contractors to finalise all specifications. It’s easy for human-centred intentions to fall away here. A beautifully designed threshold can become a clunky fire door; a calming timber wall might get swapped for white plasterboard to save costs. This is where we need to fight for the behavioural outcomes we designed for.

For instance, if natural light is a key part of supporting mental health in a care facility, and a contractor wants to reduce glazing to cut budget, the architect must defend that design choice not as “a nice-to-have,” but as fundamental to the building’s purpose. It’s a test of your ability to communicate why every element exists.

Here, the original behavioural intentions become part of the specification. That means writing “low-glare surface to support concentration” instead of just “white laminate,” or noting that “bench to promote informal rest and social interaction” so it’s clear it’s not a surplus item.

5. Construction – The Site as a Behavioural Testbed

During construction, things come to life—and change. Despite best-laid plans, conditions on-site might lead to last-minute decisions. Being present and engaged means you can adapt without compromising on what matters most to users.

If a particular sightline is blocked unexpectedly due to a structural clash, how will that affect the sense of openness or supervision? If the ground levels change slightly, how will that alter accessibility or flow?

Many architects treat site visits as technical inspections. But they’re also an opportunity to test assumptions: does the corridor feel too narrow? Is the threshold moment still clear and welcoming? You’re not just building a structure—you’re shaping a future user’s experience.

6. Post-Occupancy – Learning from Lived Experience

Sadly, this stage is often skipped. Once the building is open and the photos are taken, the project is “complete.” But the real insights only begin once people start living in the space.

Post-occupancy evaluations—whether formal or informal—can be transformative. They teach us where assumptions are held up and where behaviour surprises us. Maybe the social seating isn’t used because it’s too exposed. Or a meeting room is booked constantly because its acoustic treatment makes it the only truly comfortable one.

By studying behaviour after handover, we not only improve future projects but also demonstrate to clients the long-term value of thoughtful, human-centred design.

Final Thoughts: Building for People, Not Just Programmes

At every stage—from first sketch to final sign-off—architecture is fundamentally about people. Not in a vague, abstract way, but in a deeply observable, researchable, and emotional way.

Understanding human behaviour shouldn’t be an add-on or afterthought. It should sit at the core of how we brief, design, test, and deliver every project. When we do that, we don’t just build buildings—we shape daily rituals, encourage connection, support wellbeing, and sometimes, even transform lives.

Because in the end, it’s not the building that matters most—it’s what people do inside it.