3.1 Environment and Emotions

Fig 10. Mazuch's Biophilic Design (Mazuch, 2017) Humanistic Architecture (Mazuch, Rona 2005), Therapeutic Design (Connellan et al, 2013), Evidence Based Design (Lawson 2010) and Sense Sensitive Design (Mazuch & Stephen, 2005) all refer to an approach to architecture that “draws on international research in the fields of psychology and sociology, biology and physiology into the effects of the environment on health” (Mazuch & Stephen, 2005). The logic follows that “environmental characteristics can have powerful healing and therapeutic benefits for their users” (Ulrich, 1991a; Scher1996, Lewy et al, 1980; Murgia &San Martin, 2002 as cited by Mazuch, 2005.) Such characteristics include color, natural lighting, views to the outdoors, physical sensations like smells, furniture arrangement and sense of scale and way-finding (Mazuch, 2005). These approaches are concerned with how an individual person takes in their environment through their sensory receptors and how this is relayed as data to the brain, which affects both physiology and psychology of that individual (Marzuch, 2005). One particularly well known study documents that “students who are fortunate to be in a school classroom with large windows and skylights perform better on tests than those in rooms with very little natural light — between 7 percent and 18 percent better” (Whitemyer, 2010). Evidence Based Design exists most prominently in healthcare design because of “the existing evidence-based medicine culture” (Watkins, 2008, as cited in Whitemyer, 2010 p. 10). This wealth of research reinforces that “evidence can be a powerful tool used to inform designers’ and architects’ decisions” (Whitemyer, 2010, p.10). In Lessons From Neuroscience: Form Follows Function, Emotions Follow Form, Upali Nanda takes a neuroscience approach by examining the impact of visual stimuli in environments on emotions (Nanda, 2013). Referencing Gibson (1979) she describes that the interactions between an organism and their environment are what’s called its ‘affordance.’ She continues that as designers and architects who “seek to sculpt not just spaces, but human experience and behaviour, we are designing more than environments, we are designing affordances” (Nanda, 2013, p.2). This language of emotional affordance is a clear way to encompass the idea of emotional interactivity

in environments. By defining the architect's role as someone who designs affordances that are then linked with brain response testing, the way in which architects deal with something as subjective as emotions can be formalized (Nanda, 2017). Natural Imagery is particularly well documented in reducing stress, pain perception and anxiety. Experimental studies have been conducted using various mediums including wall mounted images, videos, backlit displays and VR (Hathorn and Nanda 2008). In one study physiological data was collected via skin conductance and other indicators on participants. Those that viewed realistic simulations of nature settings had a faster recovery time than those who viewed urban ones (Nanda, 2017). Nanda, who has closely examined affordance in the built environment from a scientific and analysis perspective also reminds us that there are many cases where designers “implicitly employ formal tools to elicit immediate emotional responses, across setting types” (Nanda, 2017, p.13). She points especially to the aforementioned Healthcare sector and also Justice Architecture as primary examples of architecture that has targeted emotional response. Especially in healthcare design, emphasis has been placed not only on the interior functional spaces but especially on the main public lobby and how it is perceived from the outside (Nanda, 2017). In another study, Nanda and her research partners compared Amygdala activation in the brain based on exposure to

Fig. 11 Mazuch's Biophilic Design (Mazuch, 2017)

curved edge contours vs. sharp corner contours using MRI technology. Part of the limbic system, the Amygdala “mediates the processing of negative emotions such as fear” (Bota et al., 2019). This examination of contour conditions in interior spaces was tested against 36 individuals across three age groups and of both sexes. Participants were shown a randomized set of 312 photographs of interiors, objects, landscapes and a set of controls. It was found that images with curves had a larger proportion of being liked than sharper images, and the percentage disliked for sharper images was significantly higher than liked images. The researchers emphasized that the potential link between the shape of contours and its influence on our fear response has “greater significance in the context of healthcare design, since patients and family members (as well as staff) encounter a high-stress environment (Pati et al., 2016). Fear, stress, anxiety and pain, all emotions present in acute care settings have a substantial effect on outcomes in healthcare settings. Considering this critical condition, Nanda and her research partners put forth that “it is imperative to create a better understanding of the association between ‘‘formal’’ design decisions and human emotional response” (p. 163). While this is especially true for health-care settings, Nanda’s research findings are relevant to all designed spaces. As contours are an environmental attribute of form which designers manipulate, and it has been proven that contours in environments affect the brain’s amygdala’s

Fig. 13 . Instances of balance images used in the study Can Hospital Form Trigger Fear Response? (Pati et al., 2016)

Fig. 14 Reading Emotions of Color Environments (Yoon & Wise, 2014) response to visual stimuli, “environmental design decisions related to the built form must bear a systematic association with human emotional response to the built environment” (p.163). What other spatial aspects are responsible for having an effect on emotional well being? In Kathleen Connellan’s comprehensive overview of the research literature, Stressed Spaces: Mental Health and Architecture she references Nightingale Associates who have done substantial work in the healthcare field that has led to an understanding of materialistic and sensory aspects related to mental health. She Cites Mazuch and Stephen as combining psychotherapeutic methods with architectural practice to create healing. These architects created an ‘Emotional Mapping’ system which incorporates mapping emotional qualities of sensory information to spaces according to their intended use. They underscore the role of colors, citing that blues have been indicated to subdue aggressive individuals and that “visual monotony” can add to emotional and physiological stress. In the foundational study Relationship Between Color and Emotion: A Study of College Students, Kaya and Epps found that the color red is often considered exciting, orange as stressful, purple is dignified and that blue is associated with comfort. The researchers recognized that while some colors have been preferred regardless of age, ethnicity or culture, there is also some evidence that color preference is culturally

based. Green was found to be one of the most liked colors because of its associations with nature. Gray was found to be associated with negative emotions like depression, sadness, loneliness and fear because of its similarities to the colors of bad weather. Kaya and Epps point out that Saito found that vivid blue was the preferred color for Asian study groups who found the color “refreshing, beautiful, and bright” and had none of the associations with sadness that Western study groups perceived. The researchers acknowledge that it cannot be confirmed whether associations with color are innate or cultural (Kaya & Epps, 2004, p. 400). Yoon and Wise developed a research framework to “explore the mind and body interaction to explain and further study the psychological and emotional effects of a color environment on people in the environment” by simulating several different colored rooms using high quality graphics renderings and then exposing them to college students (Yoon & Wise, 2014, p. 220). The students indicated their emotional state via two measures of self report and also physiological sensors. The researchers’ findings supported the previously developed Color Image Scale which relates colors to image words using semantics by Kobayashi of Nippon Color & Design Research Institute. Though there is a wealth of existing literature on the effects of color on emotion and psychology, “little has been proven through empirical testing of what different color environments mean to people,” spurring this study. Yoon and Wise reiterate that there are amplified challenges when addressing colors in real-world environments (Yoon and Wise, 2014, p.220). Materiality and touch also affect patient well being in health care settings. According to Mazuch and Stephen surfaces can play a role in the recovery of patients as they aid patients to “re-engage with the materiality of the world.” An interesting point to note is that “perceptual confusion should be avoided,” such as a faux wood grain texture on a metal door as the metal would be heavier and colder than the given perception of wood. Regarding sound, excessive noise has negative effects such as increased blood pressure, cholesterol and heart rate, and it should be considered that harder materials absorb less noise when specifying materials (Mazuch as cited by Connellan, 2013, p. 139).