PSYCHOLOGY OF

ARCHITECTURE
WHERE PSYCHOLOGY MEETS OUR BUILT
ENVIRONMENT
Outline
1. Introduction
2. History
3. Importance of the built environment on psychological processes
4. Psychological effects of:
a. Space
b. Light
c. Colors
5. Case study: Thinking style
6. Conclusion: Independent reflection of each student
7. Resources
“Buildings have a direct effect on
our emotions. They can be
depressing or uplifting, soothing
or surprising, welcoming or
forgiving.”
-Eberhard

“
1 Introduction
How does architecture affect our psychology?
What happens to people when
they enter a space?
Most of our lives are spent inside buildings. Our
thoughts are shaped by their walls, and the way
we perceive things is influenced by our
surroundings.
Architecture and the interior design may affect a
person's health, behavior, mood, decisions, and
interactions with others.
 Architecture affects
human psychology
The Psychology of The importance of
through certain
Architecture is also architecture as a trigger
elements such as color,
referred to as to physical,
form, shape, light,
“Psychology of The Built physiological and
space, etc.
Environment” or psychological
It is important to
“Environmental well-being is nowadays
consider these elements
Psychology”. becoming a topic of
in order to design
significant relevance.
comfortable and
healthy spaces.
2 History
The founding fathers of Environmental Psychology
Willy Hellpach (1877-1955) Egon Brunswik (1903–1955) Kurt Lewin (1890–1947)
Hellpach was one of the first scholars who He was one of the first psychologists who Lewin, like Brunswik, conceptualised
introduced the term ‘environmental argued that psychology should give as much the environment as a key determinant
psychology’ in the first half of the 20th attention to the properties of the organism’s of behaviour. He argued that behaviour
century. This term was mentioned in his environment as it does to the organism itself. is a function of the person and the
book “Geopsyche” in 1935. He studied the He believed that the physical environment environment. He mostly focused on the
impact of different environmental stimuli can affect psychological processes social or interpersonal influences
(colour, form, space, nature, etc.) on human subconsciously. He also strongly advocated instead of the physical environment, but
activities. He also studied urban phenomena. research that includes all aspects of the he inspired different students to continue
environment of the person being studied. and expand on his ideas.
Psychology for Architects by David Canter

Published in 1970s, David Canter’s book “Psychology for

Architects” spawned the whole field of environmental
psychology, as it was dedicated to understanding how
people interact with the buildings and spaces around them.

The founding fathers before him focused mainly on how the

general environment affects psychology, whereas David
Canter studied how architecture and spaces play a role on
human psychology.

After the publication of his book, psychology of architecture

became a science of its own with principles to be followed.
3 Importance
of the built environment on psychological processes
 ... ... ...
The built environment has The preferences of certain A space should be flexible
direct and indirect effects on physical environments may be enough to be personalized by
human psychology. It has an neutrally/hormonally different occupants, and the
impact on our senses, mood, underpinned, evolutionarily best way to achieve this in
emotions, motivations, driven, and/or culturally today’s complex environment is
judgments, decisions, health, modulated. Furthermore, through more participation,
and participation in physical individual differences are likely cooperation and understanding
activity and community life. to lead to diverging experiences among designers and
Having a good built of the same building or room. environmental psychologists.
environment is important To create a built environment is
because it can give better not only providing four blank
performance, less distraction, walls, but to build a space that
and occupants comfort and satisfies physical &
satisfaction. psychological needs.
4 Psychological effects of
Space, light, & color
“We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” - Winston Churchill

Architecture can control the way people live, the way they think and the way the feel. By defining the function of your space
and meeting your users’ needs, you design an effective building, for each building should be designed first and foremost
around their occupants.

How can architecture affect our moods and thoughts?

Space Light Colors

Space

Space control people’s movements, creating a

flow from element to element, telling people
where to look, what to read and what’s
important. When designing interior spaces, the
function of the space, the time people will
spend in it, and the mood you want the space
to evoke should be taken into consideration.
Generally open spaces are more positive and
inviting, on the other hand, closed or tight
spaces have a more negative impact.

The diagrams in the following slides show the

negative and positive impact a space creates
psychologically.
 Views
The view a space
overlooks.

High Positive Spaces Improve Focus

ceiling
effects Natural settings
improve focus

Thinking Freely
High, open spaces
helps us think
freely and Arrangements
abstractly.
Organization of
elements and tidiness.
 Views
The view a space
overlooks.

Tight Negative spaces Distract attention

space effects Urban settings are too
stimulating and
distracting.

Limits Thinking
Tight spaces limit
thinking and cause Arrangements
anxiety
Overlapping elements
and lack of
organization.
 Light

“Without light we see nothing, without light

we are nothing”.

Light offers everything apparent, defines its

meaning and proves its existence. Light
plays a great role in architecture and our
psychological behaviours. This is why
designers need to study where they should
LIGHT COLOR
open more windows and use more light.

Four affected elements are explained in the

Always put in mind that light and color are related
i.e. if one puts red glass and green glass together in
following slide.
front of an electrical light, it appears black and dark.
1- Our moods. 2- Our productivity and 3- Our sleep cycles. 4- Our decision making.
Natural lighting provides concentration Studies show that The more intense the
a sense of calmness and As functions and places exposure to bright light in lighting, the greater is a
peacefulness helping in differ, their need of light is the late evenings cause a person’s emotions.
relaxation and reducing different too. In schools and delay to the sleep cycle That is why detectives
tension, moreover offices, buildings need to be and lead us to prefer interrogate suspects under
increasing positive brightly lit to keep our sleeping at later times. bright, harsh lighting, to
energy. That is why most brains stimulated and Therefore, dim lights in get to the truth.
people feel relieved enhance our performance. bedrooms should be When designing a space
while taking a walk On the contrary, libraries used for the drowsy for a flower shop or
outdoors in the morning. tend to use "warmer" bulbs effect it creates, engagement ring stores
Poor lighting and lack of to build a more comfortable preparing you to sleep. always use bright lights for
sun exposure might reading environment. such spaces are filled with
cause depression and Generally dim lights are emotions. While when
indolence. used when we are trying to designing for example a
be creative, while bright court, light should be
lights when we are trying to reduced for there is no
focus. place for emotions and it
allows us to make more
rational decisions and
settle negotiations in a
better way.
Colors

Colors, similar to other things in the world, create

vibrations. Hence, our body organs, skin cells and
nerves get affected by them. In addition, Colors
not only influence our moods but also change
architectural perspectives; making us feel that a
space is widened or expanded. Depending on the
emotions you want to bring, you choose your
color paints. For example, in hospitals the color
green is often used, for which it is the most
comfortable color to the eye and helps healing
mentally. Another example is, restaurants choose
colors and designs that either encourage
customers to stay and enjoy the evening ( dark
colors and low lighting) or eat quickly and move
on like fast food restaurants (bright colors and
hard seats).
5 A case study
Thinking style
“The Influence of Ceiling Height: The Effect of
Priming on the Type of Processing that People
Use”
By: Joan Meyers-Levy
The initial theory focuses on the type of thinking that is
affected by a variable being the height of the ceiling. Levy
linked high ceilings to freedom related thoughts, whereas,
lower ceilings were associated with confinement. She then
suggested that these concepts may have direct effect on
how consumers process information (relational or
item-specific processing).

To further study and prove her thesis, Levy conducted three

experiments to understand whether, when, and how ceiling
height may affect how people process information, and how
they respond to products in turn.

People showed different results when asked to perform

multiple requirements while being in a high versus low-
ceilinged room. Methods and results will be further
discussed in the following slides.
Ceiling Height and Type of Processing:

There is a reason that leads researchers to believe that high

versus low ceilings may be linked to concepts of freedom
and confinement. As Hall (1966) proposed, chapels which
are characterised by being small and contained are likely to
convey feelings of confinement and restrictedness, whereas,
awe-inspiring cathedrals convey feelings of freedom and
openness.

This proves the relationship between this architectural

element and the psychology of the occupants.
High ceiling room Low ceiling room

Experiments:

All experiments are performed on 100 Rice University

students. The students participated individually. Participants
were escorted to a room that is adjusted each time with a
seamless false ceiling to amplify height (10 feet = high / 8 feet =
low). They were then left alone in the room for a few minutes
with the excuse of bringing approvals, this was done to give
the participants time to observe their surroundings (height of
ceiling, product relation to room dimensions, scale,
decoration). After that, they were asked to perform a number
of confinement versus freedom related tasks, and other tasks
that are unrelated to either concepts.
Results:

Individuals in the high-ceilinged rooms versus low-ceilinged rooms:

A. Experienced higher levels of freedom related body state, but lower levels of confinement related body state.
B. Exhibited faster response time when solving freedom related anagrams, slower response time when solving
confinement related anagrams, but equal response time when solving unrelated anagrams

Associations to Type of Processing

Ceiling height Outcome
Activated Concept Induced

An emphasis on
High Freedom-related Relational data integration &
abstraction

An emphasis on
separately analyzed and
Low Confinement-related Item specific
specific, relatively concrete
data

Model of the mechanism by which ceiling height can affect type of processing
 General discussion
This case study adds to the field of architectural psychology by
showing the effects of an architectural element (ceiling height) on
the psychology of people and how it can change the way they
respond to certain variables.
6 Conclusion
The independent reflection of each student
Sara Ghani Shahd AlAmri Tala Hadhrawi
“As an architecture student, I learned a “Designing for the people should “I have come to understand that
lot about how our built environment accommodate their psychological psychology and architecture are
plays a huge role on human psychology. well-being. As architects, we should inseparably bound together . They are
The study of psychology is a broad study how we can achieve this goal by involved in everything and affect
science that is related to nearly designing positive architecture that everything . Now, Walking around I
everything around us. It is interesting to can lead to happier, more stable notice how everything surrounding us
see how certain elements and details communities.” affects our thoughts and feelings, and
can affect how people feel and perceive how our thoughts and feelings build
things. I suggest that all our surroundings.”
architects/designers study the field of
architectural psychology in order to
properly design comfortable and healthy
spaces.”

Hana AlSarhani Nouf AlOmran

“The art which combines utilitas , “Architecture schools need to teach
firmitas and venustas .’Vitruvius’. student how they might predict
Architecture is the art, which combines psychological, emotional, healing and
expression, technology and the functional effect of a space. Anyone
satisfaction of human needs. Its can design a space or the combination
purpose is to make places where of spaces but only an architect is
capable of designing an architectural
people feel more human, more alive
space. An architectural space is to
and mostly more filled.” provide both psychological and
physical needs.”
 In conclusion...
The study of Architectural Psychology is still in its early stages.
By understanding the background and importance of this relationship, both
architects and psychologists can work side by side to investigate methods and
techniques to create better buildings. Case studies and research can enrich this
field to make solid basis for design solutions with tangible results.
Resources
◉ https://www.wired.com/2011/04/the-psychology-of-architecture/
◉ https://www.psychologyofarchitecture.org/
◉ https://is.muni.cz/el/1423/podzim2015/HEN627/um/60715039/Steg__van_den_Berg__de_Groot__2012
__Environmental_Psychology.pdf
◉ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3456225/
◉ http://article.sapub.org/pdf/10.5923.j.ijpbs.20130304.04.pdf
◉ http://www.via-architecture.com/how-design-can-affect-your-mood/
◉ https://www.emberlight.co/blogs/glow/182021319-5-ways-light-affects-you
◉ http://assets.csom.umn.edu/assets/71190.pdf
◉ https://www.wired.com/2011/04/the-psychology-of-architecture/
◉ https://sip30l9le5-flywheel.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/The-anatomy-of-behaviora
l-health-therapy-appointments-1000x774.jpg
◉ https://priyafengshuisolutions.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/the-effect-of-ceiling-heights-on-us/
◉ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
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