The Best Spaces Approach
The Best Spaces approach connects two frameworks: a four-phase process that guides project teams from community engagement to post-occupancy evaluation, and six Experience Goals that define what a space should support — from safety and inclusion to civic activation. Together, they turn community priorities into design decisions that can be traced, verified, and measured in the finished environment.
A Four-Phase Process
Best Spaces is organized into four connected phases, each building on the last, to ensure what stakeholders share at the start is documented, translated into design decisions, and measured in the finished space.
The Best Spaces Experience Framework
While sustainability frameworks focus on aspects of the built environment such as energy use, indoor air quality, and resilience, Best Spaces focuses on the experiences people have within buildings.
The Experience Framework defines six goals that help project teams gather stakeholder insights, shape responsive design strategies, and measure how finished spaces perform.
The Experience Goals are carried through every phase of Best Spaces, providing a throughline from engagement to post-occupancy evaluation.
100 Flexible Design Pathways
Best Spaces™ is a design-centered framework without prescriptive requirements .
Best Spaces™ includes an extensive library of Design Pathways: flexible, research-informed strategies for turning stakeholder insights into design decisions. Each Pathway connects to one or more Experience Goals, so the resulting design reflects the priorities of a specific community and project context rather than a one-size-fits-all template.
Measurable Differences
One Experience Goal. Two unique design solutions.
By following the Best Spaces approach, community priorities become measurable experiential outcomes.
real world outcomes
The Memorial at Harvey Milk Plaza, image courtesy of SWA Group
These two projects met the Experience Goal of Expression through responsive design strategies that reflect their project context and stakeholders. On the left, the Memorial at Harvey Milk Plaza includes a beacon that raises the visibility of the site and the issues important to LGBTQIA+ communities. On the right, Norman-Sims Elementary features the word "DISCOVER" against vibrant orange, signaling a commitment to learning to the greater community.
Norman-Sims Elementary, image courtesy of Kirksey Architecture