I Carry Home With Me: Exploring Meaning in Built Environments Through Salutogenic Design

Abstract

This thesis seeks to understand how to incorporate the salutogenic model in the design of spaces for teens in Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in the state of Washington. This design model focuses on people’s perceived capacity to comprehend, manage, and make meaning of their environments. Design workshops are used to explore best practices in community engagements with JBLM-affiliated teens. Their meaningful personal stories and preferences are depicted in written words, insightful dialogues, and physical design. By engaging teens as co-authors and co-designers of their built environments within the military base, architecture becomes a means for their personal stories about their unique culture and transient lifestyle to be expressed. This thesis is an exploration of the process in which JBLM-affiliated teens’ inclusion in the initial phases of design is vital to creating meaning in their future spaces.