In this article, we present the rationale, development and preliminary evaluation of a novel set of materials to encourage and improve the consideration of users and their needs during the process of architectural design. Our focus is specifically on two areas: user-centred design principles and spatial cognition research. To this end, we developed two decks of flash-cards, termed the Architectural Strategies Cards (72 cards) and the Spatial Cognition Cards (111 cards). We conducted preliminary evaluations of the cards in the design studio and in design thinking workshops with multidisciplinary groups of students and with architectural practitioners. Our results suggest that the cards improve designers’ immersion into the perspective of building-users in a playful way and introduce scientific concepts effectively. In conclusion, we argue that serious-games and card-based methods should be part of the multiple approaches necessary to encourage and improve user-centred thinking, and integrate research findings into evidence-based design at large.

在本文中，我们介绍了一套新材料的基本原理、开发和初步评估，以鼓励和改进在建筑设计过程中对用户及其需求的考虑。我们专注于两个领域：以用户为中心的设计原则和空间认知研究。为此，我们开发了两副卡片，称为建筑策略卡片（72 张卡片）和空间认知卡片（111 张卡片）。我们在设计工作室和设计思维研讨会中与多学科学生群体和建筑从业者一起对卡片进行了初步评估。我们的结果表明，这些卡片以一种有趣的方式提高了设计师对建筑用户视角的沉浸感，并有效地引入了科学概念。综上所述，