An empirical approach to the experience of architectural space in VR - Exploring relations between features and affective appraisals of rectangular interiors

While it is well known that the built environment influences our emotional state, it is often difficult to attribute these experiences to particular properties. In fact, a systematic investigation of the relation between physical structure and emotional experience of architecture has not yet been done. Now virtual reality simulations facilitate a completely controlled variation of spatial properties and thus allow to empirically evaluate architectural hypothesises. The aim of the presented study was to investigate which factors from a component-based description of rooms significantly correlate with cardinal dimensions of experience. In a perceptual experiment experiental qualities of 16 virtual vacant rectangular interiors were rated in eight principal categories by 16 participants using the semantic differential scaling technique. The scenes were generated by a custom made graphics tool that also automatically generated the component-based scene descriptions. The data analysis revealed several interesting correlations between scene features and rated experience: For example, a preference for ratios near to the golden section could be observed for spatial proportions, which are not directly perceivable. Altogether, a set of five independent factors (openness, two room proportions, room area and balustrade height) appeared to be effective for widely describing the observed variance of the averaged attributed experiental qualities. Our combination of realistic virtual reality simulations and psychophysical data raising methods proved to be effective for basic architectural research. It allowed us to demonstrate quantitative relations between physical properties from a component-based description of architectural space and its emotional experience.