Architectural Psychology Explained
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Image: Royal Ontario Museum | wvs | Flickr
Architectural psychology can be described as a branch of environmental or ecological psychology. This deals with the psychological processes of the interaction between man and his environment, as for example spatial perception, spatial thinking, orientation behaviour, or spatial experience, territorial behaviour, living requirements and satisfaction, local identity. (1)
When an occupant experiences a building, they immediately become involved in an array of overlapping processes that all contribute to their experience — architectural psychology focuses on such connections and can be applied to all building types.
A GOOD PLACE TO START
After my last post entitled Environmental Psychology: What Every Architect Should Ask Themselves, I received various questions from readers wanting to learn more. So, I began to look in the “not-so-usual” places. And then I came across this site at http://leoncolor.com, belonging to a firm specializing in color and light, trend monitoring, product development and architectural design.
Within this site, you will find excellent brief explanations of design psychology and architectural psychology. (I do believe that if you explore the site you will find collections of actual papers — like this one on color and vision)
THE BIG PICTURE
Architectural psychology is an important field where findings reveal how we can design buildings better for occupants. By understanding more about how occupants experience built form, you will take on a more occupant-centered approach. It is this type of approach that will lead you to more truly innovative architectural designs.
(1) Oberascher, Leonhard. http://leoncolor.com
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I think you’ve touched on a very interesting subject here. I’ve done my master thesis on architecture and emotion – the experience of the user, and I’m still looking for more sources and ideas on this subject. New ideas to broaden my horizon. Your blog has given me a few new things to consider. Thanks!
I’m developing a new experimental design process (still work in progress) with my research partner for designing architectural atmospheres attuned to the concerns of the user. If you’re interested, I could tell you a little bit about it. Maybe we could exchange ideas on this subject… just let me know.
Looking forward to reading more on your blog
Yes, finding the links between architectural design and user experience by way of emotion is a vast, deep and important study — I’m very glad that my site is of help to you.
Also, your current research project sounds very interesting and I would love to hear more about it. Perhaps you can send me a description of what you’re up to. Please feel free to email me at any time: mll(AT)sensingarchitecture.com.
ummm…can you give other examples of a psychological architecture??
we have an assignment right now and i dont know what to research on.
i mean buildings..
Hi Jeremy,
Well, I’d say that all architecture has a psychological effect upon those occupants that experience them. The question then becomes, what kind of effect do they have? If you are designing a building project I might start by asking yourself more about the qualities and consequential effects your architecture needs to convey to its occupants according to institution type (i.e. hospital, school, museum, office building, etc).
Additionally, you could look at a building you find “successful” (or “unsuccessful”) and ask yourself why it elicits a certain human response. For example, is it the way the architect used color or spatial placement of features from one another? The acoustical design? Or even the lighting?
For example, a hospital is a place where architectural psychology can be used effectively. If you were designing this building type you could ask questions like: What effects should this hospital have upon its patients? How can these effects influence (hurt or help) their healing and recovery? etc. For example, it has been found that patients in rooms with views of a tree out of their window actually recover faster than patients in rooms with no views of nature.
oohh..thank you very much…
but aside from the hospitals, why is Royal Ontario Museum a psychological architecture??
can you give me other building examples?? i mean, the famous ones…
Jeremy,
Try doing some research on the Salk Institute by Luis Kahn. You’ll see how Jonas Salk teamed up with Luis Kahn to create a place for scientists to work — whereby the architecture impacts and fosters creative thinking and behavior (and much more). In fact, Jonas Salk profoundly believed that architecture (specifically a monastery he visited) helped him foster a mindset to come up with the idea that ultimately helped him find the cure for Polio.
Needless to say, architecture can have a profound effect upon those that experience it.
I like the discussion very much, but could you please explain more about a spa center. How could I convey a healing and total sensory experience to visitors?
thx
excuse me, i forgot to check the notification for following up.
thx!
mariam — For a spa center, you could begin by examining the “narrative” of what it would be like for a visitor to experience a spa. Walk yourself through the spa experience by delving into their perspective. You must learn about and “know” your visitor. For example, might they need a place for stress-reduction? Might the spa be part of a treatment for a particular health problem? Or might they need some type of other benefit? Then, consider how you can incorporate their particular needs by using architectural materials, cutting-edge technologies and so on — but never forget the power of nature in this application.
The key is to know your future occupant extremely well. Perhaps you can not only relax your visitors (elimate stress) while they experience your spa, but you can also teach them how to relax once they’re away from the spa. (biofeedback, for example). Also, if your spa is all-inclusive, you can provide a variety of ways to treat your visitor’s senses. Environments to enjoy food, massages, facials and so on.
There is a lot you can do to build a feast for the senses when considering a spa design. Just, use your imagination and know your occupant well.
I am busy doing soe research for one of my projects, and i am design a shelter but raather then designing a physical shelter to protect you from the weather, i am designing a psychological shelter.
Just wondering if you know of any books or websites that would be able to offer some valuable information on this topic.
Many thanks
Jason
Hi Jason,
Great question. Why don’t you try looking at religious institutions or hospitals as each strives to psychologically “shelter” in some similar and quite unique ways. For example, sound and light might be treated differently in each case to promote either peaceful contemplative spaces for meditation and prayer or body/mind health and healing from illness. In either case, both of these examples could be considered forms of psychological shelter. Simply seek some architectural examples of each (looking at where other projects were both successful and not so successful) to learn and extrapolate why such architectural features lend themselves toward “psychological shelters”. Hope that helps! Let me know how it goes.
I have wondered for years why architectural design has thought so little about the people who occupy its space and what they are trying to accomplish within that space. I have found myself redesigning spaces in my head and have over the years redesigned spaces for small businesses and acquaintances personal homes, as a sort of hobby, for aesthetics and human performance optimization. These two aspects are really part of the same package.
A friend of mine also started a business redesigning homes for people with disabilities or special circumstances that I offer insights into as well. I am a human systems integrator who has worked mostly in the aerospace defense industry. This requires a lot of work space design and often habitation design (be it for a space stations, submarine, ship or aircraft). As a human engineer I do total systems design and this often requires extensive knowledge of the environment and architecture that you are trying to accommodate and integrate with or create. Your website is the first I have come across that states this and is refreshing.
Ever thought about addressing such topics at the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society Conferences?
Hi Laura — What you do as a human systems integrator sounds fascinating! It’s true, there are times when spaces that are supposed to be designed for occupants, simply look and feel a bit “painful”, and as a result don’t accomplish much of what they were supposed to be designed to do. And at times, they might even hinder what an occupant might most need.
I’m so glad that from your perspective you find this site “refreshing”, and thanks for mentioning the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. I’ll check them out.