If we accept that all built environments consist of multiple arrays of media ecologies (books, smartphones, laptops, lighting, hvac, etc.) and that such ecologies enable us to extend our own psychophysical potential, it follows that all environments are essentially networked extensions of the body. Thus, before challenging the separatist methods of architectural praxis, concepts of active externalism and the extended mind thesis (EMT) need to be examined if we are to more accuately define how environments shape cognition.

The extended mind thesis simply questions where the mind stops and the world begins. Most of us would answer the skin or the skull. However, Clark and Chalmers suggest cognition is inextricably looped throughout the environment. Citing the behaviour of garden spiders who build intricate webs despite their blindness, a recent paper further supports Clark’s thesis, stating ‘it is easy to be misled into thinking that intelligent action is always the sole product of neural mechanism… always something that must reside in the ‘head’ of an agent… what the case of web construction teaches us is that agents may often co-opt a variety of far flung forces and factors into a problem-solving routine, and not all of these forces and factors need to be biological in nature.’

Realizing environments as extended cognitive networks presents a great challenge for the traditional schizm between design and facility management. A good example of this can be seen at Arup who operate over 10 specialist divisions including Advanced Technology, Lighting, Acoustics, Product and Theatre design. Despite a plethora of design and engineering expertise (incl. communications), no department currently facilitates the necesssary integration fundamental to servicing the interactive demands of media environments. A disappointing but not surprising revelation. Such effects have been recognized for decades, as John Dewey noted in his seminal book on aesthetics - Art as Experience:

‘Comparmentalization of occupations and interests bring about a separation of that mode of activity commonly called “practice” from insight, of imagination from executive doing. Each of these activities is then assigned its own place in which it must abide. Those who write the anatomy of experience then supppose that these divisions inhere in the very constitution of human nature.‘ Dewey, J., Art as Experience (1934) p.21

Countering the communications fallout between design and engineering, Munro’s model for Integral Architecture (right) extends traditional linear production (left) in favor of a more integrated approach, whereby five motivational specialisms operate within one non-hierachical framework. The role of human needs and how media ecosystems and user-experience are cultivated and nurtured can not be understated, indeed many crossmodal applications have already begun to emerge, within retail and leisure sectors, with financial, education and health sectors not far behind.