Making Leisure Work: Architecture and the Experience Economy

Contemporary architecture of theme-based design is examined in this book, leading to a new understanding of architecture's role in the increasingly diversified consumer environment. It explores the ‘Experience Economy’ to reveal how everyday environments strategically and opportunistically blur our leisure, work, and personal life experiences.

Considering scientific design research, consumer psychology, and Hollywood story-telling techniques, the book looks at how the design of theme parks, casinos, and shopping malls has influenced our more unexpectedly themed spaces, from the city to the hospital.

Widely taking architecture as a social practice, this text is of relevance to all cultural and sociological studies in the built and material environment.

Brian Lonsway is Associate Professor at the Syracuse University School of Architecture, USA. He is an architectural theorist and technology researcher whose work is invested in the evolving relationships between design technologies and spatial thought.