PROPORTIONS

Humans ability to avoid discomfort is remarkable and the idea of ‘being away’ (Lindal and Hartig, 2013, p. 30) often referred to in diagrams such as the Mediation Model (See Figure 6) (Lindal and Hartig, 2013, p. 30) portrays our physical behavior and outcomes to certain stimuli. Studies by Epstein & Ward (2010) support Holden’s (2000) theory that our ‘sensitivity to enclosing features of environment may be a product of natural selection’ (Lindal and Hartig, 2013a, p. 28). In this case it is suggested that our mental and physical reaction to change in proportions in our surrounding environment is connected to our evolution. Where skyscraper structures have become the ‘norm’ in cities like London, it is suggested that our primitive minds and cognitive development associates this vertical configuration (especially buildings 4-6 storys high buildings (Stamps, 2005)) with ones’ preference to discover shelter. On the other hand, the ‘relationship was not linear’ (Lindal and Hartig, 2013a, p. 28) resulting in the visual and locomotive permeability (Stamps, 2005, p. 606) to determine the users comfort and sense of safety in a space of extreme or unusual proportions. This means as humans feel uncomfortable within a certain scale, other elements i.e. visibility or perceived beauty within a space persuade otherwise.

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Research on the alliance between ‘beauty judgement and approach-avoidance’ in architecture by Ritterfeld and Cupchik (1997), suggests these elements do correspond with each other however acknowledging Berridge (1995) (Lindal and Hartig, 2013a, p. 28), who stated that brain distinctly recognizes the difference between liking and wanting, it is considered that there is not a simplistic direct connection between the aesthetics of space and our reactions.

 

Overall the concept derived by Lindal (2013) is that even though we are not susceptible to large interior proportions often, the census suggests that high ceilings (vertical) or atriums (e.g. Figure 7) are perceived to take longer to process psychologically as ‘beautiful’, therefore we want to move through the space to explore further. This however does not express exact correlation between the two, moreover the presence of familiarity of spaces we have as individuals. As with open linear spaces (e.g. Figure 8), of which people are more familiar with, when exposed to actually activates both hemispheres of the brain (See Figure 10)(Vartanian et al., 2015), associating smaller proportions with fear, more often causing an avoidance decision.

 

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The proportions of an overall building or the interior spaces do appear to have an effect. Sometimes this can be down to the individual person, however psychologically a process does occur making connections to our past to make approach or avoidance decisions. Therefore, by actively targeting the ‘majority’, it seems that changes in proportions or scale in architecture can contribute to emotion as well as the users’ compliance of the space.

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