Image: erix! | Flickr

An interesting finding involving one of the ways in which people decide to take action, can be traced back to how long a person spends looking at each of the choices. As was reported in an article by Scientific American, called Buying Odds Increase for Products That Are Looked at Longer, shoppers within a store that are trying to decide between two items will ultimately choose the item which they looked at longest. By tracking their subject’s eye movements, researchers determined that items were chosen when the subject gazed upon the item they chose even just half a second longer. And this was the case 70 percent of the time.

Which Architectural Elements in Your Design are Time Sensitive?

If you think about this premise that what a subject gazes upon longest, ultimately plays a large role in how they make decisions and take action, then architecture has many places within which such a finding can provide great insight into how to leverage not only architectural design aesthetic, but also its ability to bring great value for its occupants. But one must ask…At what point does design for perception become design toward persuasion? And how can you as a designer use each to bring value to your occupants?

Think about this for such buildings as hospitals or schools, where so many decisions and choices are made everyday by people that work there, heal there or learn their. Then think for a minute about where within your designs you give occupants a design choice — like between taking an elevator, escalator or stairs. Might it be healthier for certain occupants to choose one over the other? And when?

In the end, this may be a primary purpose of an architectural feature that enhances a space, while at the same time being somewhat of a focal point. And when strung together, such architectural features make up the narrative of moments that lead to the choices that occupants make throughout their architectural journey — and hence, their decisions that make up their daily lives.

How might you incorporate such studies that give insight to your occupant’s possible eye tracking based behaviors, and the time they take to gaze at different architectural moments within your building? How might you use such findings to bring greater value to your occupants? Would you emphasize certain architectural features over others? And why?…To help them make healthier choices? To help them teach and learn better? Or to help meet your client’s overarching needs in more meaningful ways?

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: lissalou66 | Flickr

Can Desire Influence What You and Your Occupant See?

This interesting experiment might just give you, as an architect, some understanding of how you and your occupants perceive “distance” — and why this aspect of spatial reasoning might vary from person to person; thus, influencing how people perceive your built work:

Here is a Sneak Peak at What the Experiment Revealed

In an interesting experiment, researchers engaged in a series of investigations to see if they could tell whether desire has a consequential effect over a person’s ability to perceive distance. In one of a series of experiments, the researchers put a coupon on the floor and asked participants to throw a beanbag that should land on top of the coupon on the floor in front of them.

Prior to throwing their beanbag, half of the participants were told that the voucher was worth $25, while the other half of the participants were told that it was worthless. Amazingly, the half of the participants that believed the coupon was worth $25 didn’t throw their beanbag far enough. Their throws always came up short.

The resulting explanation for this, as the researchers explained, is that the participants who thought the coupon was valuable actually believed that it was closer to them than it actually was. (The participants who thought the coupon was worthless estimated that it was further away.)

To see the original article, click [here].

Is Distance in the Eye of the Beholder?

As you design a building, you are constantly thinking in terms of distance. It factors into a multitude of the design decisions you make everyday. And once your design is built, your occupants must also think in terms of distance as they travel around and through your building, from feature to feature, from space to space and from experience to experience.

So, how do you incorporate distance as you design? And how do you make sure that what you envisioned when designing, translates well for your occupants once your building is constructed? Also, are your occupant’s reactions what you expected, imagined and hoped for?

Furthermore, when designing, do you primarily think of certain key vantage points and perspectives? Or do you envision a circulation path that your occupants will likely travel through as they experience your design? If you are like most architects, you think along these terms — all of which incorporate distance.

So How Can This Help Your Architecture?

It is nice to know that as a designer there are ways to play with the illusion of space.

In addition to designing for things like texture, light and materiality — you should also incorporate “perceived value”. What do your occupants (and clients) perceive as valuable? And how will you address those things in your building design?

Then, it might help to ask this seemingly unrelated question — “How does perceived value impact distance in my design? — Thus, helping me to fine tune my building design features toward occupant experience and interactivity”.

Who knew that your architect’s scale would have such a subjective dimension to it?

Please Tell Me What You Think

I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter followers by “tweeting” it using the re-tweet button on this page.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: Yukon White Light | Flickr

Fine Tune How Your Design Communicates

Have you ever thought about the speed of human thought and how that might relate to your architectural design?

Timing is everything. Both in the brain and throughout your architectural features, timing plays a critical role between the stimuli that your building puts out and the stimuli that your occupant’s brain receives. Why is this important?

Well, as an architect, you are the one who designs what those occupants engage with as they travel through your space. As each person absorbs the “information” that you put out, you are having an affect upon them — stirring them to move, feel, behave and think.

The composition that your features take on have both individual and cumulative effects — and you can use timing as a variable to further fine tune what you communicate through your design.

The “Space” Between Your Design and Your Occupant’s Thought

Part of what makes human consciousness possible is our brain’s ability to control the speed of our thoughts; and hence, incoming stimuli. Because of this, we are able to perceive our environment at once (in real-time). For example, if someone throws your keys across the room, you will see where they fall and hear were they fall. However, signals sent out by your brain’s core region (called the thalamus) act as “pacemakers” which ensure that such stimuli coming in from your eyes and ears is perceived simultaneously. (1)

As an architect, this should help you understand how important it is to design for your occupant’s various senses. Your occupants literally form impressions of your building by gathering stimuli through all of their senses as they journey through it. And although they perceive your architectural features in a synchronized way, it still does take time for the stimuli that your building sends out to travel from their eyes and ears for processing in their brain.

Hence, those movements, feelings, behaviors and thoughts that you help to stir…take time.

What does this mean for your architecture?

You should think about how your occupants travel through your design. What will they see, hear, touch, smell or even taste? How will you orchestrate your design so that the right stimuli are “felt” at the right time? How will you space those architectural moments so that your occupants have enough time to process them, react to them and carry those impressions onto the next?

Just like the brain, architecture involves a timed synchronization of stimuli as well. The question then is this — When, where and why will you place such events…and what happens during that physical and virtual “space” in between?

Please Tell Me What You Think

I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter followers by “tweeting” it using the re-tweet button on this page.

(1) Zimmer, Carl. The Brain: What Is the Speed of Thought?. Mind and Brain. December 2009.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: woodleywonderworks | Flickr

One of the most profound and informative senses that we have is our sense of touch. This sense informs so much of the way we “see” the world around us. Some have even said that touch is the greatest of all the senses.

It is interesting to think that in some way all of our other senses engage in some form of “touch” as we experience the things which make up our environments. Thus, as we move through architectural spaces, we touch what we perceive and we perceive what we touch — we extract it, interpret it and make meaning of it in our memory and through learning. You can say that “touch” helps us to understand.

Again, touch can involve all of the senses in some way. When you touch something it has been said that you can “feel” it. One could suppose that this means that you completely take it in through the senses — to cognitively and emotionally form a perception and then an impression.

Interactivity Fosters a “Touch” Mindset

With the advancement of interactive design, architecture is becoming more responsive and ultimately adaptive. Your occupants will be paying a different kind of attention to your designs as it begins to engage your occupants in renewed ways. So, will the way your occupants “touch” your design change?

As buildings gain more sophisticated user interfaces, transient sensorial stimuli and information networked to help it make smart decisions — interactive and adaptive designs will call upon occupants to touch buildings more, less and differently (depending on the situation).

The “impressions” that your occupant will form while experiencing your architecture could potentially be more immersive, automated, controlled or even augmented. For instance, they could experience something like a virtual augmented display personalized for them as they travel through your design. Hence, their impression and understanding of you designed space is likely to change.

There are also implications involving the very notion of not only how an occupant “touches”, but also how far their “touch” can reach. With the development of adaptive architecture, be prepared to design architecture where your occupant’s “touch” can have greater consequence— not only for them, but also for your building as a whole.

Please Tell Me What You Think

I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter followers by “tweeting” it using the re-tweet button on this page.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: Wolfgang Staudt | Flickr

How do you design the peak of your building? That moment when your building meets the sky? When it reaches the sky, what perspective do passer-bys experience? Are they awed? Do they look again? Or are they just upset because they strained their neck for nothing?

Looking Up at Your Design…From the Drawing Board

It might be interesting as an architect to consciously design so approaching occupants look up at a certain moment. Perhaps what you do with the sky becomes equally as important as what you do with the ground.

To help illustrate this point is Lisa Rienemann. She actually created a font (see it here) by taking photographs of buildings as they pierce the sky. Looking up, she found that exact moment where buildings cluster to form shapes which she photographed as letters — creating her own unique type-face.

Rienemann’s work spread virally last week. I think this is because she is doing something that most people take for granted. Looking up seems so obvious, yet so few really do it and actually “see”.

There is a lot of beauty that can be created with architecture — in the sky. So, what do you write in the sky with your buildings?

Please Tell Me What You Think

I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter followers by “tweeting” it using the re-tweet button on this page.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie Woogie
Image: wallyg | Flickr

An amazing artist is Piet Mondrian, who is known for painting Broadway Boogie Woogie. This painting is quite remarkable and one of its defining qualities is its ability to convey motion to its viewers. As if to deconstruct music, this painting makes use of color, pattern, geometry and sizing.

Consequently, Piet Mondrian has made an excellent and tangible example for us to better understand why we perceive motion when looking at his work. Much can be explained by delving into neuroscience.

Why We Perceive Motion in the Painting

In her book, Vision and Art (affiliate link), Harvard neurobiologist Margaret Livingstone explains why this painting appears to “move or jitter”. She explains that the yellow and gray squares are “close to equiluminant” and they are set against an off-white background.” (1)

You see, the luminance in color plays a special role in human perception. As Livingstone notes, the part of our visual process responsible for determining the location and motion of an object cannot perceive objects where their colors have “the same luminance” — they are equiluminant. (1)

Color present showing that you can see yellow and gray squares

Image: profzucker | Flickr

Color removed in photoshop, showing that you cannot see yellow and gray squares

Image: profzucker | Flickr

Since the gray and yellow squares in Broadway Boogie Woogie have the same luminance, our visual system cannot distinguish their location or motion. Hence, they seem to move about. This concept was first illustrated in the book Vision and Art, but I have manipulated some photographs to convey this concept to you. (1)

As you can see, great artists’ paintings often “work” because they tap into certain aspects of the way we interpret information. By understanding such explanations, we can better interpret what works in existing masterpieces. In turn, we can learn a lot about how to design better for our future.

As architects we should be concerned with how and why occupants perceive as they move through our spaces. Delving deeper, and scientifically into what guides them and stops them, what they remember and later forget and what they want to see again.

Such probing questions will help you to understand how to design better because you will get to the root of why an architecture “works” — functionally and aesthetically.

Big questions with focused answers impact our understanding of how a culture and an individual uses space. Ultimately, we will also better comprehend why and how our architecture will be explained to others.

These are all keys to building for function and beauty.

Just for Fun

Just for fun, you can see a more modern interpretation of the impact Mondrian has with this painting. Take a look at the following video and see how someone just had to create an animation to bring what they perceive as motion into another form.

Please Tell Me What You Think

I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter followers by “tweeting” it using the re-tweet button on this page.

(1) Livingstone, Margaret.Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing. New York: Harry N. Abrahams, Inc. 2002

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: Maxialfaro | Dreamstime

Architecture usually tries to achieve some sort of design balance, whether asymmetrical or symmetrical. In the midst of the design process, do architects consider certain laws or theories as relating to how humans perceive? Yes, architecture must take into account all of the senses – but can theories, like the Gestalt Principles, highlight why design works the way it does?

For instance, when viewing a building from almost all distances and perspectives, the observer may be pulling from one of the Gestalt Principles of visual perception. Such theories pick up on combinations of elements reflecting patterns like similarity, continuation, closure, proximity, and figure/ground. (Click here to see a great introduction on how such Gestalt Principles work.) When designing or viewing a building façade, for instance, I do think certain relationships surface between Gestalt Laws and architectural design.

Understanding how humans understand pattern and balance is quite an intriguing subject. Simply digging into why our brains are wired for symmetry can provide profound information for designers. How and why our brains consider all of the elements in a scene at once can help us understand why architecture is often “better than the sum of its parts”.

For architecture to achieve a certain kind of balance, designers must synchronize elements so each interacts with the other – eventually composing a kind of system. It is interesting to think that our brains can deconstruct such visual systems quite rapidly – although, at times, this may be a subconscious act. At its core, architecture is often made up of a rhythmic language that achieves balance through its use of elements. As architectural patterns fill the masses and voids of a spatial construction, some type of balance is usually an end-goal.

Because architecture is a composition of all the human senses, achieving a true design balance is a simple, yet complex, endeavor. By truly making such laws (like the Gestalt Principles) your own, architectural design success can become a groundbreaking and instinctive creative act.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: Mypokcik | Dreamstime

Smart environments are currently being developed — such an example is the EasyLiving project at Microsoft Research. In these spaces both occupants and objects are sensed by ubiquitous computing devices embedded within the environment. So, as occupants strive to communicate with their surroundings, interface design becomes critical.

Within the smart environment there may exist a multitude of sensor types. In the EasyLiving paper entitled How a Smart Environment Can Use Perception, cameras, microphones, active badges and pressure sensing floors are all listed as sensing devices. Of course, the list goes on and on as new technology evolves; however, the main overarching goal for all devices is to develop the smart environment to detect both people and objects in “context”.(1)

This idea of sensing “context” means that a given environment can sense what goes on within it to determine an occupant’s given state over time. The smart environment reacts automatically to assist the occupant as certain objectives are targeted. Features like person recognition, person location, person activity and person expression may all be sensed by smart architecture trying to read its occupant’s needs.(1) Additionally, to help with this, objects may be sensed within a given environment as well. Again, objects are sensed in “context” – two methods are object tracking and object recognition.

So, what happens to architectural design as environments become smarter? How will the user interface design of architectural features look and feel? What will happen to interior design and architecture as ubiquitous computing becomes more widespread?

Well, for starters, occupants will begin to communicate with their environments more and more. Occupants will gesture, for example, sending signals to their surroundings. And if occupant expression, gaze and speech can direct environmental features, then architectural design will have more transient states.(1) Thus, the advent of smart architecture brings with it greater potential for a more comprehensive composition of architectural space – including targeting all of an occupant’s senses.

Already, certain new technologies are emerging – such as new objects that can help occupants communicate with their smart environment. The “XWand”, for instance, can be held in different orientations that signal the environment to take action.(1) We are headed toward environments where everyday objects will ultimately take part in the world of ubiquitous computing. Embedded devices will be everywhere and most objects will take part by integrating more subtle and sophisticated design interfaces.

Perception will be two-way — not just from occupant to architecture, but also from architecture to occupant.

(1) Krumm, John, et al. How a Smart Environment Can Use Perception. Microsoft Corporation.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: Jchambers | Dreamstime

Have you ever felt time speed up or slow down? Estimating the passage of time is not exactly a precise endeavor for us humans. Sitting through a long and boring film, for instance, can seem to take an eternity, while having fun at a party could make time fly. In the Discover article entitled How Your Brain Can Control Time, our brains are thought to manage time like a tool. Even down to split milliseconds, the brain utilizes time to understand things like distance. Timing is important for such functions as determining how far away someone is when speaking.(1)

The interesting factor explained in the Discover article is that humans become less precise in their estimate of time, the longer the time period. Thus, timing how to say the word “banana” is far more precise than estimating how long a lecture lasted — without using a watch, of course. Also, timing is something a human can, to some extent, be trained to do. A person can become quite good at determining how long 10 minutes actually is, if they repeatedly do the same thing in 10 minute intervals.(1)

Given all of this, it is fair to say that timing can be relative. Architecturally, timing within a space can be stretched or shortened. How is it that waiting for the doctor in the waiting room makes time go by slowly while sitting in you favorite café ambience makes time move quickly? Of course, a journey through architectural space can expand or contract time dependent upon the experiences encountered. Still, architects can and should use time as a tool to communicate and guide occupant journeys. Mental timing is an important factor to how architecture is perceived.

Certain focal points, alignments, materials and other features can all contribute to how occupants experience, and subsequently remember a built environment. Architecture can utilize time in many instances. Such instances are reverberation time, travel time, textural rhythm and visual timing. Buildings are largely experienced through mental time – and the senses are key.

Thinking of architecture as a timed composition may help to unleash its aesthetic and function. The architectural narrative weaves events toward more meaningful experiences and mental time can be said to be at its heart.

(1) How Your Brain Can Control Time.Discover Magazine. 2009.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: A Perspective of 3-D Visual Illusions | Scientific American Mind

The way humans perceive the world is through their senses that use certain rules by which they navigate. For instance, the use of perspective, stereopsis, occlusion, shading and sfumato are all listed in Scientific American Mind’s article A Perspective on 3-D Visual Illusions as rules that “create a 3D formation about our world”. The human brain and nervous system sees this 3-dimensional world on 2-dimensional eye retinas. Thus, rules are used to constantly interpret between the 2-D world and the 3-D world.(1)

One example proving this inference between the 3-dimensional and the 2-dimensional is the visual illusion of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. When two images of the receding tower are placed next to one another, the tower to the right seems to lean at a greater angle than the image to the left. This is because the human eyes want to see the tower image to the right as parallel to the tower image to the left. This cannot happen because both images are receding; the brain reconfigures the images to diverge. In other words, the brain reconstructs a third dimension.(1)

Illusions like the Tower of Pisa illusion give us proof that our brains use rules to navigate the world. When 3-D is placed on 2-D this often tricks the mind into “seeing” differently. So, what does this mean for architecture? How is the 2-D within architectural design evolving? Why is the use of surface so important? What new illusions might we uncover in the future as the use of surface in architecture continues to advance?

Since early times, 2-D surface has been used to create illusions and representations of our 3-D world. At times, our eyes navigate 2-D surface using 3-D navigation rules. This is most evident when we see perspective drawings on a canvas or building surface. Artists and architects alike make the most of our visual sensory system to use surface to create space. Within architecture, for example, the use of perspective on actual building surface can greatly modify spatial character.

Now, with the digital revolution, architectural space can be manipulated evermore by using surface. Architects are going beyond merely painting or applying a surface coating or facing. Architectural surface can literally become space that our eyes move through. With digital media, motion can also be applied to such surfaces, giving space more depths and varying dynamic movements. On very thin screens, humans are now able to navigate 3-D virtual space. At the same time, since this is virtual space – designers may challenge the rules that we humans have come to understand in the real world. (Rules of physics like gravity, friction and inertia can be altered to create certain environmental constructs.)

Nanotechnology is also changing the way architects and designers think of surface. As materials are constructed at the atomic and molecular level, nanotechnology has the power to alter material behavior. Such materials may be used to construct architecture and may transform the way occupants expect materials to perform. As materials become stronger, lighter and cleaner, surface applications will fundamentally change. Just imagine a surface that is perceived as strong and durable as opposed to vulnerable and delicate. The possibilities are immense.

Surfaces are becoming increasingly transient. As we advance further into the future, smart materials will continue to advance and alter the way building materials function. Now, we have glass that can change transparencies and sensors that can actuate LED surface lighting. In effect, the notion of “surface” is changing, and our perception of what we think 2-D space can do is expanding. We have come a long way from discovering the rules of perspective; yet, we are just beginning to understand the brain, its systems and the illusions that define them. Still, it is with the advancement of “surface” that 3-dimensional space continues to evolve – a direct influence from the human sensory system and how it navigates the world.

(1) Macknik, Stephen L. & Martinez-Conde, Susana. A Perspective on 3-D Visual Illusions. Scientific American Mind Magazine. October/November 2008.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman