Proceedings of the 11th Space Syntax Symposium
#131 INVESTIGATING CHANGES IN SPACE USAGE PREFERENCES BY CHANGING AESTHETIC ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES ANNA LOSONCZI Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary losonczi@ginkgoarchitects.com BÁLINT HALÁSZ Ginkgo Green Architects, Budapest, Hungary halbal5@gmail.com BARBARA KESZEI Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Economic and Environmental Psychology, Budapest, Hungary keszei.barbara@gmail.com DÁNIEL DOBSZAI Ginkgo Green Architects, Budapest, Hungary danidobszai.91@gmail.com ANDREA DÚLL Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Economic and Environmental Psychology, Budapest, Hungary dull.andrea@elte.ppk.hu
ABSTRACT When investigating links between the physical environment, experience and behavior, the theoretical framework of space syntax prioritizes the geometry related properties of space to explore the social function of that space. The present research aims to draw attention on other, aesthetic properties linked to materials. For this, the article explores how patterns in spatial choices of users are related to the qualities of a sub-space in a spatial system both in terms of eo etr confi uration and aterial qualit sur ace structurin Chan in the qualities o the h sical environ ent either confi urational eatures o s aces or sur ace structurin ill a ect the unctional and aesthetic ental re resentation o s ace the user and there ore in uence ehavior he a er loo s at the inter relations et een the actors a ove throu h an experiment, which is designed to map changes in user preference in space usage by changing the aesthetic aterial related varia les, hile fi in the ones related to eo etr confi urational varia les KEYWORDS spatial cognition, architectural aesthetics, design research
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1. RESEARCH TOPIC AND MAIN THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS 1.1. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPATIAL CONFIGURATION, MATERIAL QUALITY AND USER BEHAVIOR
here is a three old relationshi et een varia les related to the eo etr o s ace such as s atial confi uration involvin the structural relationshi s et een s atial units illier and anson, , illier, , varia les related to aterial qualit h sical varia les such as colors, te tures, di ensional sha es collectivel re erred as sur ace structurin varia les in the resent research and user ehavior and e erience Chan in the qualities o the h sical environ ent , a ove either confi urational eatures o s aces or sur ace structurin ill alter the e erience o a certain s ace and ill a ect s atial choices ade the users 1.2. THE FUNCTIONAL AND AESTHETIC MENTAL REPRESENTATION OF SPACE
he unctional and aesthetic ental re resentation c E senc and eane, o s ace of the user is induced by both geometry related and material related environmental features, and also dependent on the subject’s previous knowledge, experiences and other psychological conditions. The functional and aesthetic mental representation of space are concepts that the authors wish to include in theorizing links between objective environmental variables eo etr , aterial qualit and o served ehavioral e ects ivin the o ortunit to involve certain theoretical stand oints o a ective s cholo related to e otions, associations, etc in the investigation of the relationship between spatial choices and spatial/aesthetic variables. onetheless, this a er is not touchin u on s ecific theories o a ective s cholo 1.3. TWO LAYERS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES
When investigating links between the physical environment, experience and behavior, the theoretical ra e or o s ace s nta rioriti es the eo etr related confi urational ro erties that are lin ed to the social unction o s ace illier and anson, illier, , and develo ed indicators and easures to descri e those ro erties evertheless, other variables also need to be considered when exploring connections between space, experience and behavior, including some rather aesthetic features linked to material quality (Valtchanov and Ellard, , erl ne, , asar, , a na, he resent research ai s to dra attention on the latter factors. ased on this, t o a or la ers o environ ental varia les are e lored in the resent research, the unctional and aesthetic ones la els used virtue o si lification oth sets o varia les have an in uence on the ental re resentation o s ace E senc and eane, o the user, otentiall in uencin atterns o s atial choices he unctional la er includes the varia les that are in the ocus o the traditional ethods o s ace s nta Pe onis et al , urner et al , , that is the confi urational eo etr o the s atial s ste As or the aesthetic ones a na, , the research loo s at the h sical eatures o vertical and hori ontal lanes such as te ture, aterial qualit , color atterns, re ectivit , etc he research investi ates the dynamic in which one or the other layer may become dominant depending on various situations the situations in this a er are ela orated in detail in section and e lorin to hat e tent eo etr and aterial related s atial qualities in uence the unctional and aesthetic mental representation of space in the user. 1.4. SPATIAL UNITS IN THE RESEARCH
An initial assu tion is that users identi su ective su s aces ased on one hand on environmental variables, on the other hand on their motives of visit, former spatial experiences, erce tion, social ac round, etc he s cholo ical e ects o the qualities and relations o subjective spatial units can be mapped by examining behavior - in this case spatial choices of users. For methodological considerations the authors also assume that the user’s subjective su s aces are corres ondin the roo s in the o ce environ ent used as a case stud , and the participants make their spatial choices based on this division - as a result the participants choose roo s first and osition ithin that roo su sequentl INVESTIGATING CHANGES IN SPACE USAGE PREFERENCES BY CHANGING AESTHETIC ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES
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1.5. THE GENERATION OF CREATIVE IDEAS AS A SOCIAL FUNCTION OF A WORKING ENVIRONMENT
he research investi ates environ ents that are eneficial or the eneration o creative ideas ur ocus is the o ce environ ent ith or ani ations here creative ideas u , , Pe onis et al , are i ortant or the roductivit o the or ani ation, hich can e re arded as one o the social unctions o a or in environ ent Creative ideas need a special inner psychological state, and beyond this a particular type of social interaction, which is “the casual, non-threatening encounter that makes it easy for relative strangers to talk to each other lad ell, ased on the or o Pe onis , Pe onis et al , and lad ell e assu e that the s cholo ical state o ind needed in the conte t o creative ideas is - among others - an openness for encounter, which is the degree of presumed openness of the user to have physical encounter that is either coincidental or initiated by the other users in a moment that is not entirely controlled by the subject. In the present research we call this the “degree for openness for coincidental encounter”. In the present study we assume that the non-space related psychological conditions linked to openness for encounter in the context of creative o ce or are ti e ressure and the level o ocus needed to er or a certain tas eside others Accordin to illier , s aces ith di erent s ntactic qualities are rovidin di erent t es o social e eriences Patterns o certain er ea ilities are o erin a definite set o otential relations the dis osition and nu er o entrances o a su s ace in a s atial s ste is critical in ter s o rivac , the level o control o ered that su s ace aces ith hi h er ea ilit such as assa es, shallo s aces illier and anson, are a i i in the nu er o encounters A s ace ith etter visi ilit and accessi ilit a enerate ore ace to ace interactions ashid, n the resent research e investi ate the ehavioral e ects e ects on s atial choice o a certain t e o social e erience, hich is the one o the creative workplace. The relevant syntactic variables investigated in this research are presented later in section 2. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS he research e lores ho atterns o s atial choices ade users o a creative o ce environment are related to the qualities of the sub-spaces in terms of spatial geometry confi uration and aterial qualit sur ace structurin n the e eri ent the ro ra o the building is represented with experimental social scenarios and users need to make spatial choices in the context of this program. The initial research hypothesis is that when users are ut in scenarios social situations o ened or encounter to a hi her de ree, the are ore li el to choose ore inte rated locations eo etr related easure ee and a le or eo etr confi urational related easures used in the research , hile in scenarios ith a lo er degree of openness for encounter participants are less likely to choose integrated locations due to the erce tual and unctional a ordances i son, o the confi uration eo etr o s ace evertheless, aterial related environ ental varia les can eco e do inant in the subjective process of creating a mental representation of space and alter patterns of spatial choices that would exist if only geometry-related variables were considered. 3. METHODOLOGY 3.1. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE EXPERIMENT
he o ce environ ent used as a case stud is a s atial s ste co osed o su s aces roo s and a corridor, as sho n on i ure he case stud environ ent is ased on a real li e ro ect the reconstruction o a herita e uildin in uda est, un ar , hich is at the time of writing in the design development phase, and will give space for a creative research or ani ation Certain architectural characteristics o the case stud virtual environ ent ere derived from the features of the historical building and its actual architectural program - these characteristics have not een odified or the sa e o the e eri ent hen desi nin the
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moods based on material-related considerations, the designer team aimed to deliver designs that can be applied to a certain extent in reality. Experimenting with a realistic design, on one hand, meant a wide range of given environmental features that were creating experimental stimuli, posing a challenge in the controllability of environmental variables. On the other hand these conditions ere eneficial to a e the research ecolo icall valid and re ect on its results in the design process (ecological validity refers to the degree the results of a research ill actuall a ear in real li e conditions, c ha i, ert i and o ra e, he su s ace are visuall ell distin uisha le ecause o the vaults in et een the , thou h ove ent is not o structed an doors i ure he division o the environ ent into the sub-spaces in the experiment matches the division that the designers were working with in the actual project. The participants need to navigate visually through the virtual model o the uildin and choose a seat in di erent iven e eri ental social scenarios hile the participants are asked to choose a seat, the research examines room preferences for the reasons a ove and the assu tions resented in section ue to technical li itations navi ation ha ens on a fi ed route sho in a slidesho ecause o the fi ed route and the slidesho ein re la ed until the su ission o the filled questionnaire, the participants can make their choices by get acquainted to all parts of the spatial system. The participants are receiving exclusively visual information.
Figure 1 - Room labels and seating diagram
he various confi urational eatures o the s atial s ste and the su s aces are li el to a ect user choices as e lored ith the ethodolo o s ace s nta urner et al , , a na, , Pe onis et al , , as resented later in section he confi urational varia les o the s atial s ste and the su s aces are fi ed in all the cases social situations and environ ent t es he virtual odel is altered in the actors lin ed to the a ective aesthetic varia les are ased on desi ner intuition, ut onl ith chan in ell defined sur ace structurin varia les An online questionnaire is used or collectin data i erent su ects are iven di erent e eri ental tas sequences sequences o scenarios in di erent environ ental settin s he questionnaire contains de o ra hic data ender, a e, occu ation , urther ore a iliarit ith virtual environ ents and the de ree o i ersion Convenience sa lin as a lied 3.2. DESCRIPTION OF THE EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL SCENARIOS
The experimental social scenarios are representing the program of the building (research and creative institute unctions he artici ants need to i a ine the a the loun e unctions, which is based on the situations. Other potential clues such as unique function-related elements or other agents are not coming into play for methodological reasons. The same furniture is used in all o the roo s, so that onl the s ntactic relations et een the roo s eo etr and the chan es in the aterial qualities are su osed to e in uential he desi ner tea had to consider these li itations hile creatin the t o di erent oods used in the stud see section Also, other a ents are not odelled or included User choice sittin re erence in the
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e eri ent is re resentin the e ectation o other eo le to co e and on the situations.
ove around ased
he situations see in A endi are desi ned ased on a de ree o resu ed o enness o the user to have physical encounter that are either coincidental or initiated by the other users in a moment that is not entirely controlled by the subject. The situations had been formulated to be lifelike and aiming involvement of the participants for the sake of ecological validity. This implies elements in the text that contain information/variables potentially distorting the results. This possible inaccuracy is compensated by the multiplication of the situations (a set of situations are based on a higher and a set on a lower degree of presumed openness, and similar results are e ected to each set o situations he si ilarit et een the situations is ased on variables of time pressure and the degree of required focused work with control dimensions of solitar rou situation and i the su ect is centered rather on or in or consu in a le n situations and artici ants are e ected to e o en or encounter to a hi her de ree, hile in situations and artici ants are e ected to e less o ened or encounter a le gives an overview of the logic of setting up the scenarios. Primary Dimension Presumed degree of openness for coincident encounters
Control Dimension
Time pressure
Focused work
Scenario 1 (S1)
i her
Lower
Lower
Scenario 3 (S3)
i her
Lower
Lower
Scenario 5 (S5)
Lower
i her
i her
Scenario 7 (S7)
Lower
i her
i her
a le
Solitary / Group of 2 S/G G G
cenario desi n1
Accordin to the theoretical assu tions resented a ove, the ro ra o the uildin is in uencin s atial choices de endin oth on the confi urational eo etr related and aterial related sur ace structurin environ ental varia les 3.3. DESCRIPTION OF THE ENVIRONMENTS USED AS A CASE STUDY 3.3.1. GEOMETRY - SPATIAL CONFIGURATION
he ro a ilistic atterns o ove ents and other unctional atterns are a ected the to olo ical relationshi et een s atial co onents o a s atial s ste a na, Accordin to illier, confi urational eatures are related to the de ree o er ea ilit , accessi ilit and visi ilit in s ace ace s nta research has develo ed several anal tical methods to describe spatial relationships, methods on which the present research is building upon. Notions and measures introduced to describe spaces within a system include the depth o a s ace in a s atial s ste and s atial inte ration illier and anson, , illier, ta s is usin the notion o er ea ilit the de ree o ossi le ove ent throu h s ace as a actor in uential in ove ent atterns throu h s ace isi ilit qualities o subspaces of a spatial structure are unraveled by means of isovists, inter-visibility graphs, axial lines and other methods. he su s aces o the s atial s ste i ure in the e eri ent have ar edl di erent s atial qualities the de th o s aces relative to each other are di erent a le , ra h , roo A and E are dead ends ith onl one entrance uni er ea le s ace , roo , C and are assa es ith ulti le access oints i er ea le s aces oo A and E are less 1
he scenarios not resented in the current a er as a second control di ension
,
,
,
are centered on consu in instead o
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inte rated, hile roo s , C and are ore inte rated elected confi urational easures o the su s aces are sho n in a le he selection as ased on their relevance in the conte t of the social situations presented to the participants, and on their suitability for the spatial t olo ies ound in that s ecific s atial s ste No. of access points A
1
Total Depths
Permeability
Avg. visibility Visual Depth from from tables Integration entrance
Average degree of spatial integration
low
low
low
B
medium
high
medium
C
high
high
high
D E a le
1
high
high
low
medium
1
high medium
Confi urational varia les o the roo s
Graph 1 - J-Graph of the spatial system
3.3.2. MATERIAL QUALITIES - SURFACE STRUCTURING
The previous section explored those physical features of the environment which were given and fi ed his section resents ho aterial qualit varia les are defined and the sort o challen es, questions relate to their definition hile the lon ter oal o the research is to define a s ste atic cate ori ation o aterial related variables which can be applied for a wider variety of situations (and to map their relationshi s ith confi urational varia les , the oods defined in the e eri ent have een created without that sort of systematization. We call “mood” the sum of the material-related environmental elements that are controlled by the designer and that are relevant in the su ective rocess o the unctional and ental re resentation o s ace o the user i ure and i ure sho the sa e s ace ith di erent oods While researches that are categorizing and discussing variables related to material quality exist c adalla and heets, , c ta s and rishnan, , c asar, , c oli an, , these categorizations couldn’t be applied for the case study and assumptions of the present research A desi ner tea co osed o architects ot the tas to desi n oods ood and ood that are ver di erent ro each other, enerate stron oods that have ositive a ective e ects on the users, that are credi le and to desi n chan in aterial qualities varia les that can e controlled in the e eri ent o e ethodolo ical issues and o servations related to the desi n rocess are descri ed in detail in the A endi he geometry and position of the furniture was kept the same in all rooms in all environments, not to a ect an confi urational eo etr related eatures, so oth oods ood and ood had to e ad usted to that s ecific urniture
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i ure
ood
in roo C and
and
ood
in the distance in roo
E
i ure
ood
in roo C and
and
ood
in the distance in roo
E
3.4. QUESTIONNAIRE TYPES
i erent cases questionnaire t es, see the online questionnaire lin s in the A endi are generated by changing the surface structuring qualities of the rooms and the order of the scenarios a le he confi urational varia les a le o the s atial s ste are the sa e in all o the cases o sets o desi ns ood and ood , see in i ure and i ure are used to di erentiate the cases in ter s o aterial qualit n the ho o eneous cases all roo s have the sa e sur ace ro erties E all the roo s use the first set o desi n ood E all the roo s use the second set o desi n ood n the hetero eneous cases one roo o the s atial s ste has di erent aterial qualities than all the others E roo E uses the first set o desi n ood , hile all the other roo s the second ood E roo E uses the second set o desi n ood , all the other the first ood he confi urational eo etr related as ects o s ace are fi ed ee i ure a out the overvie o the co inations o the oods a lied to the roo s he article resents results o tained or E and E INVESTIGATING CHANGES IN SPACE USAGE PREFERENCES BY CHANGING AESTHETIC ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES
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Questionnaire Type A
E1
ro i her de ree o o enness to coincidental encounter to a lower degree
B C
E E1
From a lower degree of openness to coincidental encounter to a higher degree
D a le
Environment Types
Order of scenarios
uestionnaire t
i ure
E
Mood o o enous etero enous o o enous etero enous
es and orders o the scenarios
vervie o desi n arran e ents Current stud ocuses on E and E
4. RESULTS res ondents have co leted the e eri ent . The convenience sampling aimed to reach respondents who can easily relate to the given situations. The number of architects and non-professional respondents were balanced. The present study does not investigate the di erences in results user rou s he artici ants evaluated their i ersion into the virtual environ ent on an avera e o , on a i ert scale he research h othesis see section as the ollo in hen su s aces in a s atial s ste are di erent in ter s o their confi urational easures and hetero enous in their sur ace structurin aterial qualities , there ill e cases hen the latter varia les are do inant in the su ective rocess o the unctional and ental re resentation o s ace, hich is in uencin patterns in spatial choices. In these cases spatial choices are altering relative to those which ould e ist in the sa e settin o s atial confi uration ut ith ho o enous aterial qualities e have used an o ce environ ent co osed o su s aces to test this, ith eneratin di erent cases questionnaire t es as descri ed in section n the hetero eneous cases roo E has di erent aterial qualities than all the other roo s, there ore as in the research h othesis e e ect to et di erent atterns in s atial choices co ared to the ho o eneous cases. The rooms do not have precisely the same physical features (angles of the walls, number o seats etc as the are ased on the actual herita e uildin , there ore the roo s are not comparable with each other in only homogenous or in only heterogenous cases, however, changes in seating pattern between the homogenous and heterogenous can be examined. e ales
,
ales
a e
ear
,
ear,
in
ear
a
ear architects
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, other ro essions
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Chart Co arin seatin atterns et een de ault and ho o eneous seatin ho o enous and hetero enous environ ents in cenario
attern and et een the
Chart Co arin seatin atterns et een de ault and ho o eneous seatin ho o enous and hetero enous environ ents in cenario
attern and et een the
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Chart Co arin seatin atterns et een de ault and ho o eneous seatin ho o enous and hetero enous environ ents in cenario
attern and et een the
Chart Co arin seatin atterns et een de ault and ho o eneous seatin ho o enous and hetero enous environ ents in cenario
attern and et een the
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4.1. COMPARISON OF SUB-SPACES IN SEATING PATTERNS IN HOMOGENOUS ENVIRONMENTS
oo in at seatin attern in ho o enous cases ives the o ortunit re ect on the e ects o certain confi urational eatures and to co are the social situations ith each other n ter s o confi uration oo A is a dead end, a dee s ace, it has lo visual inte ration, it is located ar ro entrance it has little er ea ilit and lo s atial inte ration oo is a passage, medium in terms of depth, it is relatively far from the entrance and has a high visual inte ration oo C is a assa e, shallo s ace, er ea le, it has hi h overall visual inte ration ut containin ta les ith lo visi ilit , near to the entrance oo is a assa e, a shallow space, the closest to the entrance of the lounge, it has a high integration visually as ell oo E is also a dead end, it s a dee s ace, ut located near to the entrance and it has hi her visual inte ration than roo A see a le n the ho o eneous cases all roo have the sa e aterial qualities, there ore onl confi uration is e ected to in uence s atial choices depending on the social situation. hile the roo s can t e directl co ared to each other due to the di erent nu er o seats, the seatin attern in the di erent situations can e co ared ith a de ault seatin attern Chart . The default seating pattern is a seating pattern that is assumed when all the rooms are si ilar in the selected confi urational varia les e the roo s are isolated ro each other and as a result total depth is zero, the number of access points is zero, visual and spatial inte ration is lo , etc and there is no social situation resented he results sho si nificant di erences in overall roo choice atterns in the cases o (Chi²=20,370; df=4; p=0,000**) and (Chi²=20,964; df=4; p=0,000**), in comparison with a de ault seatin attern, hile in the case o (Chi²=6,333; df=4; p=0,176) and (Chi²=3,370; df=4; p=0,498) no si nificant di erences ere ound hen loo in at the individual roo s, urther o servations can e ade see Chart •
In situations in which the participants are expected to be more open for coincident encounter and , lo er re erence is e ected or dee s aces urther a a from the entrance and with low visibility (compared to the default seating pattern and compared to situations in which there is a presumably lower degree of openness for coincident encounter he e ectation a ove is confir ed in the case o roo A st res Also, oo in is ore re erred than in the de ault settin his i ht e explained by taking into account that spaces with a high level of movement can result in lo er levels o un lanned interaction Penn, es llas and au han, , hich could result in the artici ants choosin roo E or a e ediu s atial inte ration over C or hi h s atial inte ration , as E or is less o a s ace o ove ent, ut it still has a hi h visual inte ration a le
•
n situations in hich artici ants are less o ened or coincident encounter and , co ared to and , the artici ants are e ected to choose roo s urther a a ro the entrance, they are expected to have less preference for passages and shallow spaces and more preference for sitting in deep spaces. When comparing the number of users choosin a certain roo , these resu tions are in eneral confir ed onl in , in the case o roo A Chart
4.2. COMPARISON OF HOMOGENEOUS AND HETEROGENEOUS ENVIRONMENTS
hile in the revious section e ects o one environ ent t e has een investi ated, this section co ares t o di erent environ ent t es one has the sa e aterial qualities ood in all o the roo s ho o eneous environ ent , in the other one oo E has ar edl di erent aterial qualities than all the other roo s hetero eneous environ ent Chan in aterial qualities in roo E as e ected to in uence user choices co ared to the ho o eneous cases. First overall seating patterns in homogenous and heterogenous cases are compared, then the sin le roo s are co ared in the di erent environ ents t es he de ault attern is enerated ith the distri ution ased onl on the nu er o chairs in each roo A seats , seats , C seats , seats , E seats ased on the nu er o seats in each room.
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When comparing overall seating patterns in the spatial system between the homogenous and hetero enous environ ents situations, there is si nificant di erence onl in the case o isher s E act est , d , , here si nificant chan es are caused the hi her seatin re erence or roo , and lo er seatin re erence or roo E , n cases (Fisher’s Exact Test=7,316; df=4; p=0,116), in heterogenous environment Chart (Fisher’s Exact Test=1,599; df=4; p=0,824), (Fisher’s Exact Test=1,931; df=4; p=0,807) there is no si nificant di erence et een hetero enous and ho o enous cases in ter s o overall seating pattern. In order to understand the role of single rooms, the comparison of every pair of rooms has been ade nitiall the airs includin oo E ere in ocus, so the otentiall direct e ects o chan in the ood in oo E could e investi ated econdl all other relations have een loo ed into to see i chan in the ood o E can enerate di erences in roo re erences in the relation o other airs as ell a le . ases it significant ten enc e e i e ence
S1
S3
S5
S7
A-E
,
,
,
,
B-E
,
,
,
C-E
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NO
D-E
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NO
B-A
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B-C
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A-C
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A-D
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NO cases
NO cases
cases a le
,
,
cases
eviation ro ho o eneous cases hen sho s di erence at a tendenc level
aterials in roo
E are altered,
NO
is statisticall si nificant,
Althou h, hen usin the strict ad usted on erroni corrected values in this case , , there ere no si nificant di erences et een the ho o eneous and hetero eneous environ ents in roo choices in Althou h the di erence in the case o roo as ver close to the strict level o si nificance in this case the value is , The conservative two sided Fisher’s Exact Test was run on the data because the low frequencies in certain categories.
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5. INTERPRETATION OF THE RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS 1.
he roo s in the s atial s ste o the loun e are di erent in ter s o their confi urational eatures ased on the eo etr related indicators chosen he di erences in confi uration a ects atterns o s ace usa e de endin on the social situations, confir in the i ortance o confi uration in choosin seatin corres ondin to a certain de ree o o enness or coincident encounter ut not in all the cases e a ined Chan in aterial related environ ental varia les the a descri ed in the ethodolo and results section o this article a ected atterns o roo choices in certain cases, hile in other relations no si nificant di erence could e o served The fact that there were cases with shifting spatial choices draws attention on the i ortance o rather aesthetic eatures lin ed to aterial qualit sur ace structurin As a consequence, urther investi ation in aterial related environ ental varia les is needed. hile the e ect o chan in the oods is a arent in certain cases, the reasons need urther investi ation o ossi le e lanations are the certain aterial qualities used to create ood have such e ects, the ro ortion and dis osition o the oods relative to each other is the reason or the di erences in s atial choices hen co arin heterogenous and homogenous environments. The next phase of the present research ill test E and E environ ents ith ood and ood s a ed i ure A lon ter oal o the research is the conscious non intuitive desi n o oods alon the theme of openness for coincident encounter, based on further research into relevant aterial related environ ental varia les and a s ste atic cate ori ation o those An i ortant ethodolo ical ai as to carr out an e eri ent that is ecolo icall valid see in and the results can e otentiall used desi ners as ell he participants found the experiment credible and real life-like based on the results of the control question regarding immersion, showing that the designer and researcher team succeeded in creating moods and situations that are immersive and the participants could relate to. Nevertheless, favouring an ecologically valid experiment (based on a real-life ro ect in the desi n hase over an e eri ent ith all varia les ti htl controlled i ht explain certain controversies in the results.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This article would not have been possible without the valuable critiques and advices of John Pe onis chool o Architecture, eor ia nstitute o echnolo he authors ould also li e to than the desi ner architects Anna elcs ti, illa uri, Attila uruc assistin in the creation o the case stud environ ents and the ana e ent o in o reen Architects colla oratin in the design-research project.
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APPENDIX METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES RELATED TO THE DESIGN PROCESS
•
The designers found hard to design environments that provide a strong spatial experience without being able to work with variables that are linked to the geometry of the subs aces and the urniture, as accordin to the desi ners the e ects are de endent on a certain s nchroni ation o aterials and eo etr efinin hat can e re arded as aterial qualit as also allotted to the desi ners, as a ore accurate definition has et to e develo ed An e a le or the occasionall ine act definitions and selection o desi n ele ents is the vertical oo shel te ture on the alls in ood n case the oo shelves have rather aesthetic and associative e ects such as association to cal ness, isdo , etc it can fit in the iven ethodolo ical conce t, ut it can raise ethodolo ical concerns i the shelves also have stron unctional connotations Pe onis et al ,
•
A desi n challen e as to set u a alance et een the si lification o the h sical features to control variables and real life complexity of the heritage building and program used as a case study. Researches on environmental preferences show that a certain de ree o co le it is needed de endin on the conte t or a hi her de ree o re erence a lan, , erl ne, A a or desi n challen e to reach su cient complexity despite the homogeneity/standardization needed between the sub-spaces and moods. The design team and the researchers based their decisions with a regard on these contradictions he urniture had to e e t ho o enous the si e and eo etr o the ta les, nu er and hei ht o the la s etc are the sa e in each roo s and oth oods A ove these eatures the colour and the aterial ere the sa e in each ood in all sub-spaces.
•
An a ro riate desi n tool or creatin a stron ood is the a lication o unique ele ents ith stron a ective e ects such as lants a lan and a lan, Each roo contains a unique ele ent that is lin ed to either ood , or ood , so no sin le room is prioritized.
QUESTIONNAIRE LINKS
uestionnaire A uestionnaire uestionnaire C uestionnaire TEXT OF THE SCENARIOS USED IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE S1 - SCENARIO 1
ou have ust finished your morning wor ing session at your des which is on the first floor, as you needed all your notes that you left on your table yesterday. Some change in the environment could be beneficial, so you decide to have a coffee in the researchers living room and to dive into your new topic on what you will be working on the rest of the week. S3 - SCENARIO 3
You were very happy to learn that a young colleague from the States is going to spend a semester in Budapest, and going to use the library of your organization. You have contacted him and invited for a meeting, to find a common research topic. ou choose a table for both in the lounge, hoping that your colleague will get a good impression of your workplace.
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S5 - SCENARIO 5
ou have plenty of wor to do, you have been sitting at your des on the first floor for days buried in wor . ou really need to concentrate on your ob, but you feel you need a different environment to go on, so you go down to the lounge to continue wor ing there. ou are ordering a coffee. S7 - SCENARIO 7
You will have an important meeting to discuss a research with a fellow colleague of your age. The deadlines are very tight and you are stuck in solving a problem that needs urgent answer. Usually you wor in the library but now you re sitting down in the lounge. ou are ordering a coffee, papers are all around the table.
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