Apsychologicalapproachtoevidencebasedarchitecturaldesignindomes7c

spaces
ColinEllard1,DeltchoValtchanov1,ThomasSeebohm1,Jus;nPerdue2,SarahSusanka3,MarkZanna1
1UniversityofWaterloo,Waterloo,OntarioCanada,2StantecArchitecture,Toronto,3SusankaStudios,Raleigh,NC
Introduc7on
Results
Inthisexperiment,wedemonstrateaprincipled
methodforassessingthecomfort,usability,and
aec;veproper;esofaseriesofdomes;c
spaces.Wecombinehighlevelvisualiza;on
withimmersivevirtualreality,mo;ontracking
andstructuredinterviewstoassessthequali;es
ofavarietyofstylesofdomes;cspaces.This
ini;alstudyismeantasaproofofconceptfor
futurestudiesinavarietyofbuiltseVngs
rangingfromins;tu;onalandhealthcare
environmentstotheurbanscale.

Par;cipantswereaskedabouttheiroverall
preferencesforcertainaspectsofeachof
themodels.Resultssuggestedthat
designersinten;onswere,tosomeextent,
manifestintheopinionsofpar;cipants.For
example,theMilsteinHouse,whichwas
designedtoenhancebothopportuni;esfor
socializingandprivacy[1],appearstohave
metbothoftheseobjec;ves.

Par;cipantswereaskedtoindicatetheir
preferredloca;onsinthespacesforpar;cular
ac;vi;es(surveyingaparty,undertakingquiet
conversa;onorthought,etc.)inordertoassess
theirimpressionsoftheaec;veproper;esof
spaces.Preliminaryndingssuggestthat
preferencescorrelatewithspa;alproper;es
havingtodowithvisiblesizesandshapesof
spaces.

Method

3dvisualiza;onsofthreeexis;ngdomes;c
structureswereconstructedusing3dStudioMax
andVray.ThestructureswereFrankLloyd
WrightsJacobsHouse,SarahSusankasMilstein
House,andatypicalNorthAmericansuburban
house.Par;cipantswereprovidedwith
immersiveexperiencesofthemodelsusing
headmounteddisplays,infraredmo;on
tracking,andmobilecompu;ng.Themodels
wererealizedatactualsizeinagymnasium.
Par;cipantsexploredthespacesun;ltheyfelt
familiarwiththem,andthentheywereaskeda
seriesofques;onsabouttheirpreferencesfor
par;cularloca;ons.

Table1.Meanresponsesofpar7cipantstogeneralques7ons
pertainingtoaec7veproper7esofthethreeVRmodels.
Par7cipantswereaskedtorankeachofthethreemodelsonascale
of15fortheparameterslistedinthetable.Thenalques7on
askedpar7cipantshowlikelytheywouldbetopurchaseeachofthe
homesiftheyhadtheopportunitytodoso.

UsingAjanacharaso^ware[2]thespa;al
proper;esofthehomedesignswere
analyzedtodeterminesuchproper;esas
isovistsize(areaofspaceobservablefroma
givenloca;on),andotherhigherorder
proper;esofspa;alshape.Analyseswere
convertedtocontourplotstovisualizehow
spa;alproper;esvariedbetweenloca;ons
inthespace.Thegurebelowshowsan
exampleofsuchacontourplotfromthe
JacobsHouse.

Figure3.Par7cipantswereasked:Ifthiswereyourhouseandyouwere
havingaparty,wherewouldyougotooversee

Conclusions

Thendingsdescribedhere,althoughvery
preliminaryinnaturesuggesttheviabilityofa
methodforassessingtheaec;veproper;esof
architecturalspacesusingacombina;onof
immersivevirtualreality,mo;ontracking,and
tradi;onalstructuredinterviewmethodsof
experimentalpsychology.Infuturework,we
hopetoaddtothesendingsbyincluding
measurementsofphysiologicalreac;onsduring
explora;onofsuchspaces,includingeye
movements,heartrate,skinconductanceand
EEG.

References
[1]Susanka,S.(1998).Thenotsobighouse:A
blueprintforthewaywereallylive.Taunton
Press:NewtonCT.

Figure2.Spa7alanalysisofJacobsHouse.Colourcoding
correspondstosizeofvisibleregionofspacefromeachloca7onin
thespace.Lightcoloursindicatelargevisibleregionsofspaceand
darkcoloursindicatesmallvisibleregionsofspace.
Figure1.AscreenshotoftheMilstein
Housevisualiza7on

[2]Wiener,J.M.,Franz,G.,RossmanithN.,
ReicheltA.,MallotH.A.,&BulthoH.H.(2007).
Isovistanalysiscapturesproper;esofspace
relevantforlocomo;onandexperience.
Percep:on,36(7),10661083.
ThisworkwassupportedbyfundingfromtheSocialSciencesand
Humani:esResearchCouncilofCanada.Theauthorsgratefully
acknowledgetheassistanceofGloriaSicuro.ElaMalkovsky,Hannah
Masterman,LeanneQuigley,andJeBruceincollec:onofdataand
contribu:onofideastothisexperiment.