SOME CONCEPTS IN ARCHITECTURE PSYCHOLOGY

Following are some concepts in architectural or environmental psychology which form the crux of many theories for building according to human wellbeing and needs.

Geographical determinism is the idea that all human activities are determined by the geographical location of the people. The foundation and lifespan of entire civilizations are dependent on environmental factors, like topography, climate, vegetation, and the availability of water.

Ecological Biology

Ecological biology considers theories of biological and sociological interdependence between organisms and their environment. According to this theory, organisms are an integral part of their environment rather than as separate entities.

Behaviorism, also known as behavioral psychology, is based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Both environmental context and personal context are important determinants of the behavioral psychology approach.

Gestalt psychology looks at the human mind and behavioural as a whole. Gestalt psychology suggests that humans do not simply focus on every small component. Rather, the human mind is said to perceive objects as part of a greater whole and as elements of more complex and interconnected systems.

noun per·​cep·​tion \ pər-ˈsep-shən \

1. a mental image : concept

2. awareness of the elements of environment through physical sensation, such as colour perception

3. physical sensation interpreted in the light of experience

4. quick, acute, and intuitive cognition : appreciation

The different ways humans experience spaces and environments

COGNITIVE Thoughts

Architectural And Spatial Perception

Perception is the ability to capture, process, and actively make sense of the information that our senses receive. It is the cognitive process that makes it possible to interpret our surroundings with the stimuli that we receive throughout sensory organs.

Architectural Perception

The Architectural Perception of an environment almost always differs qualitatively from person to person.

Cognitive Perception refers to a person’s thoughts and beliefs about a space.

Affective Perception refers to a person’s emotional response to the space.

Behavioural Perception refers to the behaviour exhibited by a person in response to the space.

Spatial Perception

Spatial perception contributes significantly to the desired “quality” or “essence” of a space.

The level of simplicity or complexity in which a space or built environment can be accessed and navigated helps trigger respective desired emotions.

These are some factors which affect the desired perception of space.

“Although architecture is often defined in terms of abstractions such as space, light and volume, buildings are above all physical artifacts. The experience of architecture is palpable: the grain of wood, the veined surface of marble, the cold precision of steel, the textured pattern of brick.”

The Hierarchy of Attentional Capture

Sensory Perceptions Of Architecture

Morton Heilig, the inventor of the Sensorama, the world’s first multisensory virtual reality apparatus ranked the order in which he believed our attention to be captured by the various senses. According to Heilig’s rankings: vision, 70%; audition, 20%; olfaction, 5%; touch, 4%; and taste, 1%. Does the same hierarchy (and weighting) apply to our appreciation of architecture? And is attentional capture the most relevant metric?

Design For The Human Mind And Sensory Systems

Le Corbusier (1948) made the intriguing suggestion that architectural forms “work physiologically upon our senses.”

Majority of the people living in urban environments, spend more than 95% of their lives indoors (Ott & Roberts, 1998).

It thus becomes a design necessity to ensure that the multisensory attributes of the built environment work together to deliver an experience that positively stimulates the senses, and, by doing so, facilitates human wellbeing, rather than hinder it.

Sensory Congruency

In their book, Spaces speak, are you listening?, Blesser and Salter reflect upon the importance of audiovisual congruency in architectural design:

“Aural architecture, with its own beauty, aesthetics, and symbolism, parallels visual architecture. Visual and aural meanings often align and reinforce each other. For example, the visual vastness of a cathedral communicates through the eyes, while its enveloping reverberation communicates through the ears.”

They also talk about the incongruency that a person may experience:

“Consider dining at an expensive restaurant whose decorations evoke a sense of relaxed and pampered elegance, but whose reverberating clatter produces stress, anxiety, isolation, and psychological tension, undermining the possibility of easy social exchange. The visual and aural attributes produce a conflicting response.”