2# ARCHITECTURAL PSYCHOLOGY: The Influence of Architecture on our Psyche
“Understanding the way in which environment affect people could enable the design and construction of work, recreation and living space that has the ability to influence people’s behavior.” (Shivangi Vats)
Research findings are increasingly being used by architects and psychologists to create new design tools and approaches for planning our building spaces. Those spaces should be created in such a way that architectural outcomes can be achieved along with having a positive effect on our behavior, health, and wellbeing. Creating the “perfect” space is an impossible, and subjective, balancing act. We won’t be able to create the perfect hospital, workplace or home but at least we can try to get the best out of it. More and more data analytics are being used to help us with that.
Research is increasingly exploring how the built environment affects us. In the following I will present some studies exploring the understanding of how buildings and spaces can influence behavior and mental processes and subconsciously can also cause changes in the psyche.
Hospital and Healthcare Architecture
Dr Tanja Vollmer, of Kopvol, examines how sick people react to buildings and spaces. She found out that in the majority of German hospitals, the built environment does not support the healing process. Waiting in the sterile corridors without any privacy enhances the feeling of stress and lowers one’s attention — making you more likely to miss important information from a doctor. Spaces of retreat, security and security are missing. Noise and neon lights disrupt the day-night rhythm and hinder the recovery of patients.
Therefore, Vollmer advocates a so-called “healing architecture” in which the needs of the patient come to the fore and the usefulness of the clinic construction becomes secondary. The decisive factor for the healing architecture is a new self-conception of the architects. Scientific data such as that of Tanja Vollmer is being used accordingly for the architecture of hospitals. In the intensive care unit of the Berlin Charité those findings were put into practice. Architects recreated two rooms to suit the needs of the patients. The rooms are designed with warm colors, wooden materials, lots of light and medical devices are hidden from the patients’ field of view. At night time, the noise of the medical machines is redirected into surveillance rooms, allowing patients to sleep without disturbing noises.
From another study Vollmer derived four recommendations for cancer patients accelerating the healing processes. She suggests to separate speaking and examination rooms, so that patients can create intimacy. In addition, meeting corners should be designed so that a three-way conversation between the doctor, patient and relatives can take place on the same level — without the “protective desk wall” and light conditions should neither blind patient nor doctor. Furthermore, Vollmer recommends spaces that look into nature, as this is said to have a healing effect on the patient. Nature and the outer world help the patients to quickly regain control over a situation and reduce stress.
For a new building of the psychiatric clinic of the University Hospital Tübingen, the theory of healing architecture was also applied. For the new building, wooden floors were laid throughout the space. All spaces were designed to be wide and spacious with a lot of daylight. The spatial allocation should counteract the “locked-in feeling” patients can feel. The concept of the healing architecture worked out. Comparing the new building to the old building showed that in the period after the move to the new building, the coercive measures declined to eighty percent (e.g. fixation of the body, the compulsory medication in crisis situations).
The architecture firm Perkins+Will has also used the healing architecture approach for the design of the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. The facade has been designed so that cylindrical light wells allow a lot of sunlight into the building. A rooftop garden and green indoor planting zones can be used as recreational oases. In the design process, the architects incorporated studies on how clinicians and patients use the building to best adapt the building to user needs.
Workplace Architecture
There has also been a lot of research in the field of workplace analysis in recent years. Neil Usher worked as a workplace consultant for many years and identified 12 factors that are key to increasing effectiveness, productivity and well-being. He suggests that every workplace should have access to as much daylight as possible but should provide the choice to shut it away when needed. Bright office lighting, Sarah Chellappa et al. state, improves the performance of adults in the work environment. Usher also states that offices should provide enough space, more precisely, the amount of space divided by the amount of occupiers should not fall under 6 square meters/per person. It makes sense that a good workplace should fulfill the physiological and social need, thus providing a welcoming and well-positioned refreshing space.
More and more architects use analytical data to study the impacts of spatial structures on office occupiers. They use software that is able to evaluate daylight, visibility, and connectivity conditions. The Analytics and Insight Unit at Zaha Hadid Architects for example developed a software for space planning workplaces in order to optimise areas that accommodate the whole range of space and personal preferences. The aim is to make the most of the workplace. The architecture firm Perkins+Will applies research findings by using artificial lighting that imitates sunlight to support the natural biorhythm in dark or windowless office space. Thus work environments can support creative skills and reduce employee turnover.
Housing Architecture
A large-scale study by Danny Friedman showed that
“poor quality, overcrowded, and temporary accommodation have an impact on health, well-being, and the likelihood of criminality and educational attainment.”
A good example for failing architecture is the Pruitt-Igoe public housing building of St. Louis which was built in 1954. Pruitt-Igoe’s was praised by architectural experts for wasting no space by semi-private areas. Thus it soon attracted substantial crime and vandalism. The structure hindered residents to interact. The whole complex was demolished 18 years later. A study by Leon Festinger proved that housing designed to encourage casual encounters with neighbours makes people interact better with one another.
Scientist like Joan Meyers-Levy found out that there is a correlation between ceiling height and thinking style. In low-ceiling rooms people tend to be better in tasks where they have to focus on the details of an object or problem. In contrast to that, airy spaces support a feeling of freedom and thus facilitates more abstract thinking styles.. When looking to support creative solutions we should probably go to more expansive spaces.
This research fits well to the findings of Dr Dak Kopec, director of design of human health at Boston Architectural College, who found out that “micro-apartments” are linked to psychological problems, domestic violence and drug abuse. They are especially critical for people in their 30s or 40s, as this group is often facing various stress factors (e.g. demanding job situations). Living arrangements with very little space apparently fosters alcohol use, which was shown by a research conducted among college students. It was also shown that children growing up and living in small apartments have trouble concentrating.
Scientists at the Lighting Research Center, for example, have found out that architecture that allows access to as much daylight as possible can increase occupant productivity and comfort as well as provide the mental and visual stimulation necessary to regulate human’s natural biorhythm.
General Findings
All in all the effects of light on cognitive function have been well documented. Spaces with brighter illumination (e.g. large windows) improve cognitive performance in school children, healthy adults, and patients in early stages of dementia. Environmental lighting conditions influence a vast array of physiological and behavioral processes in humans, i.e. circadian rhythms, arousal, as well as mood and cognition.
Furthermore, the design of buildings that allow lots of sunlight supports cognitive performance, human health and activities, and reduces energy demand.
Current findings prove that architecture that is clean, easy to orientate in, offers nice ornamentation, provides an open view, and has good illumination supports the well-being of it’s occupants.
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What studies do you know that support the influence of Architecture on us? Leave me a comment below if you have any suggestions. If you are interested in learning about your own living conditions, Archilyse offers software for apartment analyses based on the floor plan. Get in touch here.
Stay tuned for further articles of our new series “Architecture–Waking the Sleeping Giant”.
