Abstract: To achieve sense of place in the cybernetic spatial domains that can be seamlessly inhabited remotely and that provide presence, embodiment, and social interaction, is the long-term goal of researchers in the field of digital design. Such spaces may be used for education, collaborative work, business, socialization, entertainment, etc. There are many precedents of virtual places, and there are many discussions about the design for them. However, so far none of the virtual worlds offers the satisfactory place quality for 'inhabitation' as the physical environment offers. At the same time, the research about design methodology is still at its beginning stage, unsystematic, far away from being applicable in practice. In contrast to previous efforts, this research bases itself on the argument that cyberspace should be viewed as an environment, a place rather than merely a means of communication because it is place that supports the rich social and cultural activities and grounds the social inhabitation. Thus, this dissertation starts from the question 'what is a place?' and 'what a place offers to people?', systematically examines place model and place-making rules from both architectural and media perspective. The major contribution of this dissertation is a model that construes place to be the interrelationship of context, activity and embodiment. The interaction between the three components causes a series of emotional, cognitive and practical place products to be engendered, resulting a sense of place. Furthermore, a sense of place can be achieved in a non-physical setting. Perception barriers, not physical partitions, define or bound a place . Discussion of the interrelationship between virtual context, activity and embodiment shows the feasibility of extending my place model from the physical to the virtual. Based on the discussion, further exploration of relevant design methodology for virtual environment is supplied. These discussions, may serve as a foundation for developing a sophisticated design language for virtual environment.