The Space in-between: designing absence as a dynamic force in design

Abstract

This paper introduces TRIDOC, a six-dimensional, practice-based framework developed through studio teaching at the University of Moratuwa to guide design students in perceiving and working with Absence as an active element of space. Rather than treating Absence as a leftover void when form is complete, TRIDOC positions it as a dynamic spatial medium shaped by six lenses: Time, Ritual, Intangible qualities, Dynamic change, Omitted form and local Context. The framework was refined in a four-day “Beyond Boundaries” workshop with seventy first-year design undergraduates. In this workshop, students used low-cost prototypes, sensory mapping and reflective journals to engage Absence as a concrete design challenge. Using TRIDOC as both a perceptual lens and an operational guide, the study distils six spatial strategies for materialising Absence in studio work: Sound Space, Dynamic Space, Layered Memory Space, Projected and Intangible Space, Negative Space and Spaces You Cannot See. These strategies demonstrate that deliberate attention to Absence can support climate-responsive and resource-conscious design decisions. They also indicate that TRIDOC is best understood as a context-specific starting point for design curricula that seek to move beyond purely object-centred paradigms by foregrounding the space in-between as a designed and dynamic condition.