Professional Documents
Culture Documents
FINAL DESSERTATION
Submitted By:-
Shailja kumbhalwar
Roll No. 35
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
I would like express my genuine gratitude towards all those who have shared their
valuable time and helped me directly and indirectly in the preparation of this
project.
Lastly, I would take the liberty to express my sincere feelings to all the members of
my family and all my dear friends for showering their unending support for the
completion of this project and make it come true.
SHAILJA KUMBHALWAR
CONTENTS
Acknowledgement
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Abstract ..……………..……………..……………..……………..….……
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Conclusion
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References
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Biblography
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Abstract
Does design affect our senses? This may seem a simple question and
therefore, it should have a simple answer. If really the built environment
affects the user physically and psychologically. How these senses function?
What kinds of stimulus influence each sense and what kind of reaction or
behavior should be expected accordingly?
This paper will try to address the importance of such relationship, and
highlight the process of perception and behavior in the environment. It
will discuss the main human senses, their stimuli and their influence on
the human body physically and psychologically. It will also rank these
senses from the most noticeable sense which is highly influenced by the
surrounding environment to the least one.
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
individual designer. The father of analytical psychology Carl Jung describes a building
architecture as a structural diagram of the human psyche that conceives and creates. It is
n established fact that art and architecture offers a vehicle for conveying our deepest
The needs of humans are vast and changing from one person to another so that
it is important to be informed from the relationship between people and the
environment while designing the built environments which can best afford their
needs (Lang, 1987). The understanding of this mutual relationship between
people and their surroundings is the major concern of the behavioural sciences
(Dent, 1998). This paper will compares and synthesizes from a different variety
of resources, the discoveries of exploration that has researched Psychology and
Architecture.
This paper includes a detailed explanation of the term and terminology of the
current fields of study “Psychology of Architecture” and principles about
Productivity in built environment that will lead to a better understanding of the
problem statement and the research questions seeking an answer through this
study.
The main aim of this paper is to emphasize utilizing the knowledge of human
behaviour while designing the built environments and to approach this issue
from the perspective of an interdisciplinary discourse, environmental
psychology.
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Architects who are responsible of designing the surrounding environments
for all mankind should try hard to clarify more about the human-environment
interface and thus about environmental design. They should respond to
human needs and motivations and speculate their behaviors, not only the
perceptual processes but also the emotional responses and actions. They
should also learn more about the human senses and how they function for
different stimuli. In other words, architects should design for the human
senses.
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Chapter 2: Psychology
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significant ways. All these developments will have its own influences
on interior design as the mood is often influenced by the settings.
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2.a Environmental Psychology
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2.b Psychology of Architecture
Few things affect how you feel more than your surroundings. But when people
want to create spaces, they generally turn to architects, not psychologists. But
some experts recently met in Austin to argue that both disciplines need a place
at the table when it comes to designing the spaces we inhabit.
With the cubicle “they have designed essentially caves, except you have your
back to the door and your facing inwards,” he said.
When given the choice almost anyone would prefer the opposite, a space with
walls around them but a clear view out.
Part of it, he believes, comes down to communication between one group that’s
based in the world of science and one that’s based more in the world of
aesthetics.
“Architects and psychologist, are just coming from such different places in the
world that they don’t really talk to each other,” he said. “So the purpose of this
conference is to get them to talk to each other.”
If they do, he believes, architects can learn more about how to create buildings
that nurture us, and psychologists can learn more about how the spaces we
move through can impact our inner landscape.
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Philip (1996) attempted to identify the relationship between
Architecture and Psychology. He also mentioned about Louis Hellman’s idea
which is about unfulfilling marriage between Architecture and Psychology and
introduces new idea about this connection. The intention of his research is to
focus on improvement of the marriage, to demonstrate that it is not a complete
failing, and to advice both associates new methods to create the connection
more effective and fulfilling in the future. This forms the pioneering thought of
marriage between Architecture and Psychology.
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develop the spaces based on psychological principles of human’s mind which
helps to create more comfortable lives in regard to art, lifestyle, sociology and
appearance. He also describes Architecture as a creative perception enriched
with the genuine distribution in reaction to nature, history and behavior design.
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2.1 Architecture
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pattern), Balance, Proportion, Variety, Emphasis, organization and
harmonization of accessories, etc.
As Ayers (2007) Research facilitates the idea that components of design
and quality of surface material, the quantity and position of windows, and
Lighting will impact people. Furthermore, structural style has strong but
changeable effects on social actions and users' feelings and efficiency and, at
some level, style features also impact wellness.
Joye (2007) believes that people have practical knowledge about the
impact of design, because their minds generally tend to bring in pattern and
styles of space and framework, which impacts actions. He assumed physical
environment has an important effect on individual actions. As people invest
more time inside the buildings, it becomes more valuable to design the spatial
components with consideration of building’s function. In this connection,
architectural scenery must meet the human-mind’s demands.
Stone (2011) focused on Architecture interior and explained that interior
spaces must be matched with the overall look of place, irrespective of its real
dimension. Since place impacts individuals thought and emotions, the
connection between inside and outside of the building should be considered.
People would experience feelings of control, when their atmosphere does not
allow them to choose connections or isolation with people, inside the building.
For this reason,; it’s the architect's duty to design spaces that promote pleasure
by embodying principles. Along with elegance and beauty in design some of
the benefits a building should have: order along with complexity; stability
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between distinct elements; elegance that seems to be effortless; a consistent
connection between the parts; and self-knowledge, which requires an awareness
about human mind-set, something that designers all too often neglect.
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2.1a Architectural Elements
The challenge of interior design lies in the task of resolving a wide variety
of functional and aesthetic requirements into a consistent, satisfying design.
The attempt to solve the different requirements would make use of certain
design elements by arranging the properties of these elements into a consistent
whole. Design of interior spaces must enhance the function and quality of life
and increasing productivity.
Callari (2015) defined Elements of design as true building blocks. She
believes they never change but they help to accomplish the meaning and
quality in the room. According to her research these blocks are; line, Form,
shape, space, Light, Colour, pattern, and texture.
In the scope of three elements of design; colour, lighting and form, as
the main concern of this study.
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2.1.b Colour
Maybe one of the most powerful visual elements in a space is color.
Like David Johnson states in Psychology of Color, “Like death and taxes, there
is no escaping color.”. Color, as they say, can make or break a design project.
While color should be thought of to make a building aesthetically pleasing (or
unattractive if that may be the purpose of the design), color is much more
important than mere aesthetics. Why is it that people feel more relaxed in a
green room? Color psychology is a difficult subject to tackle a paper as small
as this one.
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and sophistication. It is also feminine and romantic. However,
because it is rare in nature, purple can appear artificial.”
The study indicates that designer must be aware of the tendencies of space
users, then they can design for betterment of all interior spaces.
Despite the years of research on the Colour, we are often not aware that
stress, tension, visible problems, and a variety of other problems may actually
be due to a badly designed atmosphere. According to this analysis Colour is
now dealing with a rebirth in design. Used properly, Colour and Lighting can
enhance efficiency at the workplace, increase the protection of commercial
facilities; enhance greater attention covers in students; create more delectable
food-service establishments; and enhance the mood of medical centre
sufferers. Developers, designers, directors, planners—anyone enthusiastic
about developing valuable, glare-free surroundings—will find all the
information, they need to advertise physical, visual, and emotional well-being
with Colour and Lighting (Mahnke, 1996).
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writing mistakes and the rate of mistakes to terms entered. They discovered no
important efficiency distinction between the categories and recommended that
this was because of the short-term period of study.
The other research was designed by Kwallek and Lewis (2003) to evaluate
the consequences of red, green and white-coloured workplace setting on
workers’ efficiency and feelings. The test results indicated that participants in
the white-coloured workplace made considerably more mistakes than the
participants in the red workplace.
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2.1.c Lighting
The earlier research on the consequences of Lighting mainly targeted on
functional aspects like exposure and visible convenience. During the 1960’s
and1970’s Lighting designers and scientists began to think that Lighting also
affected people’s subjective opinions of the environment around them.
Consequently, besides providing the appropriate classifieds of Lighting for
visible efficiency, it became important for designers considering substitute
alternatives, which may provide different ideas for very subjective reactions of
occupants (Murdoch and Caughey, 2004).
In spite of the fact that offices are mainly work-focused, other results of
Lighting on long-time occupant's satisfaction and prosperity should be regarded
in the design approach. There is a body of literary works that focuse on the very
subjective reactions to Lighting. Flynn (1977) carried out an early study about
the consequences of Lighting circumstances on very subjective opinions. Four
features of Lighting have been found to be important in the design process,
which are overhead/peripheral, bright/dim, uniform/nonuniform, and creatively
warm/visually awesome. Modifications in strength, submission and shade i.e.
overall tone of the Lighting impacts on very subjective opinions about the
surroundings such as space, pleasure, visible quality and comfort.
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improvement can be enhanced visual comfort, biological impacts of light, or
emotional results.
According to Izsó et al. (2009), humans may prefer dynamic over fixed
Lighting because they are biologically accustomed to responding to natural
Lighting, which is inherently dynamic. Accuracy and speed of task
performance were not significantly different between the “down” (decreasing
luminance) or “up” (increasing luminance) dynamic Lighting conditions,
though speed was more variable during the “up” than the “down” condition.
Time and luminance were the most important factors in determining speed and
accuracy, indicating that biological factors associated with time (e.g.,
habituation, fatigue) may result in worse performance over time. However, the
“up” dynamic Lighting condition may offset the effects.
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and Boyce (2006) performed an study in a modern office to analyze employee’s
reaction to decreasing the normal illuminance level and brightness conception
related with Colour temperature. As research indicated office personnel were
generally pleased with the reduced level of Lighting for work environment,
after an initial variation period and they improved the use of process Lighting
at their process. Moreover, implementing 6500K light improved the conception
of Lighting, with the lower level of ambient Lighting.
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2.1.d FORM AND SPACE
Architectural space affects the psychological feelings
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architectural space will also trigger different feelings. Therefore, the
architectural space is closely related to people’s psychological feelings.
The space is infinite and shapeless, but it is also ubiquitous. All forms
adhere to the space, which transform with the time and space. The space can be
solid or virtual, which creates different psychological feelings through different
forms.
In the meantime, the space distance is also one of the elements for the
sense of security, such as the space, personal, social and public distance, the
distance directly affects the size of space, and you won’t feel safe if the space is
too big or too small.
The sense of comfort is the basic standard to measure the building quality,
and the rationality of the color and void-solid matching and comparison of
architectural space will directly affect people’s feeling of the architectural
space.
Different architectural techniques can generate different psychological
feelings. For example, the mysterious religious building requires a sense of
distance, while the kindergarten building should generate a sense of affinity. By
reducing the space aspect ratio and intensifying the space sense of closure, the
sense of affinity of the space can be increased; conversely, the sense of distance
can be increased.
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Chapter 3: The Positive Psychological Effects of
Thoughtful Architectural Design
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Architectural style has evolved over time as the preferences of the general
public have changed, and as new materials and building processes have been
discovered. Some styles have been fads that have quickly come and gone, while
others have stood the test of time and been around for centuries, even
there are three components that make for a “beautiful” building: form, use, and
humans can simply gather for some specific purpose, why then would they have
the ability to positively impact us physiologically? Again, the answer has its
basis in evolution.
patterns our brain associates with those survival attributes and why.
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Patterns, have long been a subject of human curiosity, and we have successfully
adapted them for use in our ability to plan ahead. There are several different
our ancestors were able to identify a pattern and predict what came next, their
Today, patterns in our built environment that the brain recognizes from
The human brain has used pattern recognition as a form of survival for so
conscious mind might not realize the feelings it is experiencing are due to a
pattern, or lack thereof, our physiological system does resulting in the same
have been those that have been built with patterns that mimic the natural
construction first began in 1882, but because the details of the building are so
exquisite, it is projected the building will not be fully completed until 2026.
Gaudí’s inspiration for the cathedral came from the forest, and the many trees
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that it consists of. Upon walking into the cathedral, one is greeted by hundreds
of 78-foot-tall pillars that branch off at the tops and converge into the ceiling
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms /34317112306/in/photostream/.
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The ability of architecture and design to impact our emotions is more
complicated than architecture simply simulating nature. The kinds of patterns
used in design also play a significant role in our perception. “As architects and
artists, we are in the profession of making patterns.” – Don Ruggles (2017)
This is because the Nine Square is less about the squares themselves and
more about the division of space that creates the squares. The four lines that
define the Nine Square can either be pushed closer together (see Figure 5b),
pulled farther apart (see Figure 5c), broken apart so they are not continuous, or
even removed fully. You can also create the Nine Square within a square of a
larger Nine Square.
a. b. c.
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The pattern can be applied to everything from city plans, to exteriors of
buildings, and to floor plans. The center of the Nine Square has been utilized in
Barcelona’s block plan as well as the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome which
uses the center of the Nine Square as well as the corner four squares. The Greek
Parthenon, Roman Pantheon, and the Taj Mahal in India are also examples of
the Nine Square
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These buildings are important references due both to their universally
recognized beauty and to their standing the test of time, both physically and
metaphoricallyThe Pantheon in Rome, Italy is believed to have been built
around 120 A.D., and consists of both a height and diameter of 142 feet. It
utilizes the Nine Square at the entrance of the building, as well as in the main
plan of the building which is viewable from an aerial perspective. Today, it
remains one of the largest unsupported domes in the world.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal
More likely, the frequency of its use is a result of the beneficial psychological
impact of the pattern being encoded in the human brain, and therefore, in the
minds of the architects who conceived these buildings.
It’s also essential to note here that the upright “T” pattern of the human
face, among the others shown to the infants, very closely resembles the Nine
Square (see Figure 7). The human face consists of two symmetrical eyes, a
centered nose, and a centered mouth. When laying the Nine Square over the
face, the left eye lies in the to left square, the right eye in the top right square,
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the nose in the most center square, and the mouth in the center square on the
bottom row.
(left). The similarities between the basic facial structure and the Nine Square.
(right). Example of the human facial structure and the Nine Square. Background
Image from 2643525, https://pixabay.com/en/portrait-child-face-boy-
human-2643525/. Copyright 2015 by Tiluria.
Note: Reference lines for the Nine Square in Figure 8 are not part of the original
photograph. They were added to emphasize the similarity of the human
face and the Nine Square pattern.
The close resemblance of the Nine Square to the human face raises the
distinct possibility that humans subconsciously see faces when observing
certain forms of architecture and in the patterns of that architecture, providing
another explanation for the physiological reactions and feeling pleasure that
certain architecture can evoke.
So far, we have focused on the positive effects of architecture. It is as
important to observe the negative influence that poorly designed or constructed
buildings and spaces have on human psychology and physiology.
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Chapter 4: The Negative Psychological Effects
of Poorly Designed Architecture
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This trend of simple, architecturally unoriginal buildings was not unique
to houses; it also greatly influenced the industrial side of the built environment
at the time. Due to an increase in material production capability from the war,
there was access to new building products which were easy produced in the
factories that previously had been dedicated to the war. These materials set in
motion the Modernism aesthetic that characterized many of the industrial
buildings in the 1950s-1990s.
It comes as no surprise then that the style of this period was soon
replaced, and a new desire for individualistic and creative architectural freedom
emerged as the high demand for houses began to die down. Once again, the
ancient principles of beauty that characterized Classical period began to re-
emerge. There was a newfound emphasis on structure, geometry (the use of
patterns such as the Nine Square), and the uniform grid.
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We already know that these feelings activate our survival mechanisms and
kick our sympathetic nervous system into action. In their book Cognitive
Architecture: Designing for How We Respond to the Built Environment,
Sussman and Hollander (2015) explore the negative psychological impact urban
cities have on humans.
They argue that humans are generally healthier when their built environment
contains a variety of independent shops, unique spaces and buildings rather than
generic, cement buildings and repetitive chain stores.
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Chapter 5: The Importance of Human
Interaction with the Environment
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It is important to note that because each human being is unique, each
preference theory which suggests that because humans are natural born
nature. The stress reducing capabilities of those deigns are a direct result of
well-being though.
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CONCLUSION
• It can be concluded, that what a user does and why, and the thoughts
and feelings that accompany those actions, are linked somehow to
interactions with the designed environment.
• Architects must deal with their designs with a great concern; they
must not limit their concern on one sense and neglect all the other
senses. They have to deal with all the senses equally.
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REFERENCES:
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BIBLOGRAPHY
https://www.bdcnetwork.com/where-psychology-meets-architecture
http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/10/chronic-stress.aspx
http://www.brucemunro.co.uk/exhibitions/eden-project-st-austell-
cornwall-uk/
https://www.designbuild-network.com/features/featurea-design-for-life-
the-psychology-of-architecture-4925462/
https://www.payette.com/research-innovation/why-does-psychological-
research-in-architectural-practice-matter/
http://www.tojdac.org/tojdac/VOLUME6-
JLYSPCL_files/tojdac_v060JSE149.pdf
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13602365.2012.678645?
src=recsys&journalCode=rjar20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX1hDP1vJmI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvAQw7pI858