Theoretical study of the environmental design context

This article examines the influence of various socio-economic and cultural realities on the practice of environmental design through the prism of the “context” concept. In other words, the work is aimed to study the process of forming the “practical context” of environmental design. The paper studies the place of environmental design as an academic discipline in the bachelor system of leading universities in various countries of the world. The author comes to the conclusion that only in Russia and China this major is referred to the field of art and is considered as an “artistic” discipline, which is due to the close methodological interconnection. Attention is paid on the question of components that make up the “practical context” of environmental design. The paper dwells on the classification of “context” idea. The author considers the possibilities of using linguistic concepts “linguistic context”, “socio-communicative context” and “cognitive context” in environmental design. “Linguistic context” includes aims, methods and content of environmental design and forms its internal factor. The “socio-communicative context” as an external factor can be divided into two types: a “situational context” (functions of main phenomena in concrete time), and “cultural context”, which is reflected in cultural needs of society. The “cognitive context” of environmental design is responsible for the designer's understanding of the processes occurring in the surrounding space. It is indicated that the Internet as part of the “situational context”, is one of the most important phenomena of the modern era, a key channel for transmitting information, and has the following properties: “accessibility”, “interactivity”, “openness”, “universality”. On the issue of “cultural context”, it is noted that environmental design pays special attention to the “spiritual” component of human culture and at the same time can not be considered in isolation from the cultural needs of society, which in the modern world can be characterized by the concepts of “complexity”, “diversity”, “practical nature” and “territoriality”. Within the “cognitive context” of environmental design, it is introduced the category of “aesthetic trends in design”, which symbolizes designer's perception of aesthetic issues. By establishing a balance between internal and external factors, the environment designer sets a “cognitive context” based on the relationship between “characteristics of cultural consumption”, “aesthetic trends in design” and “functionality of phenomena of time periods”. All the described types of context constitute the “practical context” of environmental design. The text and graphic materials of this work can be useful in the research, systematization, and creation of practical projects of environment design, as well as in teaching.