Arkitema has made user consultation one of its core areas, and has developed the user-integrated design process that we call Arkitema Sensemaking.

Arkitema Sensemaking is a developmental process which aims to implement user consultation and social innovation as integrated parts of Arkitema's construction projects. Via a carefully prepared and organised process, we formulate joint goals and visions, and create insight into the potential, challenges and issues that must be considered in order to reach the stated goals. The insights that we achieve through this process provide a foundation for the development of the design framework that will best meet the needs of the future users.

Arkitema is experienced in implementing user analyses, user consultation, user-driven innovation and process facilitation, and widens the professional architectural perspective to include social and cultural dimensions. Besides its professional architectural skills, Arkitema also possesses anthropological competence.

Our method

Whereas it used to be natural for the users of architecture to leave the interpretation and creation of the architecture solely to the architect, individuals nowadays wish to shape their own lives, identity, surroundings and destiny. As a result, the users of the architecture now insist on their right to participate in the process of creation – and not just as spectators on the sidelines, admiringly regarding the architect who creates new ideas from nothing, but as active players and collaborators in the creative process which produces the meaning and content of the architecture. This has necessitated a change in the subject field of the profession, which has become increasingly process-oriented and non-material. The traditional monopoly of the architect over the process of professional architectural creation is now facing a strong challenge in the form of the wishes of various stakeholders to participate in the design process. The user has gone from being a passive recipient to an active co-creator.

Besides involving the users, we also work with methods to reveal needs that the users may not be aware of, or cannot express in advance. These are the so-called unrecognised needs. The new methods thus do not aim to ask the users directly what they want, but rather focus broadly on people's lives, in order to identify trends which can form a basis for the development of innovative ideas and architectural solutions. The result is a new kind of architecture, created on the basis of unrecognised wishes, needs and longings.