The role of architectural boundaries on visitors’ aesthetic experience in virtual exhibition spaces

Abstract

There is ever-growing research into exhibition spaces specifically engaged and focused on visitors’ aesthetic experiences. This research explores how the architectural boundaries of virtual exhibition spaces relate to visitors’ aesthetic experiences. The core of this research is based on the visitor’s experience, and different exhibition space features are correlated with the aesthetic experience. For this purpose, 12 virtual exhibition environments were developed in which the architectural boundaries defining the exhibition space, entailing ceiling height and curvature, were manipulated using virtual reality. Participants rated the three dimensions of aesthetic experience (familiarity, excitement, and fascination) in each environment. Participants’ emotional state, education type, and level of presence were also measured. The findings showed that curvature is negatively related to familiarity, while ceiling height and curvature positively correlated with excitement and fascination. However, emotional state, education type, and level of presence did not interact with familiarity, excitement, and fascination. This research is a pioneering effort to link aesthetic experience dimensions with architectural boundaries in virtual exhibition environments, enhancing our understanding of how visitors perceive these virtual exhibition environments differently.