Boundaries, rhythms, and signs: An exploration of brokering a built environment

The buildings we inhabit and the thresholds that we cross between spaces within buildings are formed by preconceived notions and expectations of and for the built environment. Our expectations include how we wish to work, learn, and connect with our socio-spatial surroundings. This thesis makes two significant contributions to knowledge of our perceptions of the built environment. Firstly, through the exploration of working and learning environments within the structure of higher educations, this thesis extends current discourse regarding the boundaries, rhythms, and signs of built environments that explicitly and implicitly communicate inhabitation. Secondly, it is demonstrated that working and learning built environments are brokers of numerous and diverse ‘landscapes of practice’ which are continuously (re)defined, (re)analysed, and (re)negotiated by the individuals who inhabit these built environments.