The Human Response to Physical Structure

1568 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Psychology of architecture

The Human Response to Physical Structure

Most of the world's inhabitants view space and structure through visual elements such as bricks, rock, vegetation and foliage, hallways, doors, windows, trims, and flooring. These elements combine to allow each individual's experience of a space. The German word gestalt means form or shape. Gestalt psychology attempts to investigate the human mind and how it conceives of or recognizes patterns. Scientists believe the human mind is wired to search for import and significance in sensory information input. This wiring may be the evolutionary result of hundreds of thousands of years of human development. “Human instinct for survival was based upon changes in color in the environment (to seek shelter upon lower light levels indicating the coming of night) or auditory input (the snap of a twig indicating the threat of a predator)” (Popow, 2000, p. 2). A central issue of environmental psychology is the manner in which different types of settings can trigger different emotional states in individuals; whether positive or negative reactions and behaviors.

Architecture is described as the design of a structure able to house people or objects. The visual appeal, the colors, the building materials, and the dimensions contribute either negatively or positively to human behavior. The most elementary and basic architectural tools may be adeptly manipulated to promote a positive and humane environment even under severe constrictions. Architecture operates as an essential tool in the restoration of positive and healthy human consciousness. Therefore, environmentally conscious architecture is a critical step toward a more progressive understanding of human health (Ouroussoff, 1999).

Research within psycho...

... middle of paper ...

.... Retrieved from http://www.architecture-student.com/sustainable-

design/importance-of-sustainable-architecture-in-21st-century/

Ouroussoff, N. (1999, Jan 30). Architecture review; designed to help healing; renowned architect

I.M. Pei overcomes projects restraints and creates an uplifting environment for UCLA

hospital. Los Angeles Times, pp. 1-1. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/421337523?accountid=35812

Popow, V. G. (2000, December). A report on psychology and architecture. Grand Lodge of

Manitoba. V.1. Retrieved from http://www.grandlodge.mb.ca/mrc_docs/Psychology%20of%20Architecture.pdf

Straub, R. O. (2007). Health psychology. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Worth.

Veitch, J. A. (2008). Investigating and Influencing How Buildings Affect Health:

Interdisciplinary Endeavours. Canadian Psychology, 49(4), 281-288.

doi:10.1037/a0013567

Show More
Related

  • Modern Architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    He said that the struggle with the nature, in order to explore more, had inspired his piece of architecture (Lipman and Wright 2003). This term was coined by Frank Lloyd Wright, but it was not much articulated in the style of writing over the years. Hence, the organic architecture aimed at not only knowing the design processes of the buildings but also studied the thought that went behind (Storrer and Wright 2002). In the perception of Wright, the houses in the present times, are mere examples of houses cut with scissors from a cardboard, which is the opposed to the philosophy of Curtis. Wright believes that there is no modernistic outlook in the designers of the present times and they lay more emphasis on the use of machinery and the mechanical processes for building the most powerful piece of architecture. Therefore, as opposed to this mechanistic view, Wright adopted the organic view of architecture. when the designer of the building has sympathetic approach towards the site, materials and surroundings, organic architecture is the most appropriate form of architecture as it means the philosophy in the field of architecture which encourages the combination of human habitation and natural

    Read More

  • Essay On Leon Battista Alberti

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    Architecture is such a wide thing when we talk about buildings and projects. Architecture is defined as the art or practice of designing and constructing buildings. One of the Renaissance man who not only define...

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Sustainable Interior Design

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    After several years of use and abuse of natural resources, humanity begins to awaken from its stunned by the advances of technology, to understand the magnitude of the impact caused by its presence in the environment. At present, trends in various aspects of human activity seek to achieve a harmonious relationship with nature; one of them is the practice of interior design. The main reason because the construction industry, in particular, has incorporated especially such attention, is the result that it has proved to be one of the main sources of pollution in water, air, and noise

    Read More

  • Frank Lloyd Wright

    1286 Words  | 3 Pages

    Architecture, the practice of building design and its resulting products, customary usage refers only to those designs and structures that are culturally significant. Today the architecture must satisfy its intended uses, must be technically sound, and must convey beautiful meaning. But the best buildings are often so well constructed that they outlast their original use. They then survive not only as beautiful objects, but as documents of history of cultures, achievements in architecture that testify to the nature of the society that produced them. These achievements are never wholly the work of individuals. Architecture is a social art, yet Frank Lloyd Wright single handily changed the history of architecture. How did Frank Lloyd Wright change architecture?

    Read More

  • The Falling Water House by Frank Lloyd Wright

    2553 Words  | 6 Pages

    Frank Lloyd Wright has been called “one of the greatest American architect as well as an Art dealer that produced a numerous buildings, including houses, resorts, gardens, office buildings, churches, banks and museums. Wright was the first architect that pursues a philosophy of truly organic architecture that responds to the symphonies and harmonies in human habitats to their natural world. He was the apprentice of “father of Modernism” Louis Sullivan, and he was also one of the most influential architects on 20th century in America, Wright is idealist with the use of elemental theme and nature materials (stone, wood, and water), the use of sky and prairie, as well as the use of geometrical lines in his buildings planning. He also defined a building as ‘being appropriate to place’ if it is in harmony with its natural environment, with the landscape (Larkin and Brooks, 1993).

    Read More

  • Architectures In Simon Unwin's Analysing Architecture?

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    Simon Unwin, the author of the book ‘Analysing Architecture’ says that the ‘the purpose of architecture is to design buildings’ is an unsatisfactory definition because the definition limits architecture to just the design of buildings. He feels that architecture involves more than just designing buildings. He also believes that the definition fails to explain the real purpose of architecture and transfers the problem of comprehending the word ‘architecture’ to the word ‘building’. This definition doesn’t go in-depth to analyze and understand the essence of architecture in our everyday lives. It fails to relate human life and needs to the buildings built.

    Read More

  • Facial Recognition Essay

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    This suggests that, perception is simply not just built up from sensation, but it ultimately is a result of organisation. According to the Gestalt (German word meaning pattern) One of the Gestalt principles of grouping is similarity where human beings tend to group a series of things together depending on the similarity between the items (Gestalt,2017). For example; perceiving rows of dots that are two different colours human beings would group together the dots together, because they are the same shapes, however they would also group them separating the two different colours. (Heffner,2017) also prognanz suggests that every stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the end structure turns out to be as simple as possible. Recognition by components theory introduced by Biderman proposes the idea that objects can be identified through from their ‘geons’ (their geometrical form). A series of different shapes fall under the category of being a ‘geon’; cylinders, blocks, spheres. An object should be defined firstly through its surface, colour and texture, then how the geons should be determined. (Bartosik,2002). Ungerleifer and Mishkin presented monkeys with a task of object discrimination, showing them one object to see if they could target the object or not, if they got the right object they received food as a reward for this, however it proved that the pathway through the temporal lobe is responsible for object recognition (Goldstein,

    Read More

  • Wright and Le Corbusier

    1861 Words  | 4 Pages

    Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier are two very prominent names in the field of architecture. Both architects had different ideas concerning the relationship between humans and the environment. Their architectural styles were a reflection of how each could facilitate the person and the physical environment. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, is considered one of the most important buildings in the history of American architecture and Le Corbusier s Villa Savoye helped define the progression that modern architecture was to take in the 20th Century. Both men are very fascinating and have strongly influenced my personal taste for modern architecture. Although Wright and Corbusier each had different views on how to design a house, they also had similar beliefs. This paper is a comparison of Frank Lloyd Wright‘s and Le Corbusier ‘s viewpoints exhibited through their two prominent houses, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House and Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye.

    Read More

  • Baroque Architecture And Its Impact On Human Life And Art

    557 Words  | 2 Pages

    Architecture began to develop with human life. This development is the impact of the environment is inevitable. Different geographical conditions,climate properties are some of them .In addition different cultures,thoughts,reqyests,expectations,life style are social effects. These differences in line with consist of original thinking in architecture.

    Read More

  • Sustainable Cities

    1604 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... architectures would led to a more organic organization beneficial to the people that choose to make their lives in this city. Although this model of a sustainable city is not a perfectly closed loop, it lays the foundation for one that is. Over time, with constantly evolving and improving technology and new methods of design from the scale of products to buildings, the gaps in the loop could be closed, and a “true” sustainable city could be fully realized.

    Read More

  • Sense Perception Essay

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sense perception allows us to select and interpret the information gathered through our senses, and with this information, gain knowledge of the world around us. Our five basic senses consist of sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste, however our senses may expand to include other aspects that we as humans find difficult to gauge, such as heat, pain, hunger and balance. Sense perception however, is not flawless but rather constrained by limitations and individual biasness, which pose as a weakness. Nonetheless, since our senses are actively in play, consistently and constantly recording data from the external world, it is easily the most fundamental way of acquiring knowledge and only through our senses are we able to attain knowledge through the other various means. Therefore, with regard to the areas of the arts and natural sciences, the strengths compensate for the weaknesses of sense perception as a way of knowing and will be further examined in the following paragraphs.

    Read More

  • Green Buildings/Green Architecture

    2880 Words  | 6 Pages

    Despite the fact that novel technologies are continuously under development to complement existing practices in coming up with greener buildings, the universal intent is that such structures are designed to diminish the general effect on the built environment on health of the humans in addition to the natural environment via: Diminishing environmental degradation, pollution and waste, improving productivity of the employee and guarding occupant health, efficient usage of water, energy, in addition to other resources.

    Read More

  • The Future Of Architecture

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    However, architecture is not just the future, after all, buildings are intended to be viewed, traversed and lived by us, people. Despite this, many architects today rarely think deeply about human nature, disregarding their main subject matter in favour for efficiency and an architecture of spectacle. In this there seems to be a misconception that underlies much of architecture, that is, human’s relationship with the city, the building and nature. In much of today’s architecture, people are treated with as much concern much as we treat cars, purely mechanically. The post-modern search for the ‘new’ and ‘novel’ has come to disregard the profound affect design has on our lives, impacting our senses, shaping our psyche and disposition.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Sound And Soundscape

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    Human beings seek to create comfortable indoor environments and spaces. Architects usually consider visual aspects such as light, materials, and colors as the main elements to create comfortable spaces. Although sound is invisible, but it has the power to change the space characteristics we occupy (SCHULZ-DORNBURG, Julia, 2000). Space perception includes the sense of hearing as well when experiencing a space, and plays a determinative role in how individuals interact with their spatial environment. According to Pallasmaa, “Sight isolates whereas sound incorporates; vision is directional, whereas sound is omnidirectional. The sense of sight implies exteriority, but sound creates an experience of interiority. I regard an object, but sound approaches

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Nature In Architectural Design

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nature in architecture is critical. Laugier made this clear in the 1700s with his basic, but insightful, claims in “An Essay on Architecture.” Modern architects have taken his beliefs further than he probably ever imagined with technology and the cutting-edge idea of biomimicry. After studying natures’ artistic design, architectural stature, and overall success rate on this earth, I believe that the incorporation of nature is vital to architectural design.

    Read More

More about The Human Response to Physical Structure

Open Document