Architecture with aesthetics: measuring psychological and neural responses to curved architectural boundaries

This interdisciplinary study, covering neuroscience and architecture, conducted a systematic, empirically-directed qualification of human aesthetic experience and explored the effects of architectural spatial characteristics on human aesthetic experience. The first phase of the study was a comprehensive framework for studying and characterizing the aesthetic experience of spaces with curvilinear boundaries (horizontal and vertical) and specific properties (different levels of size, light, texture, and color) in virtual reality environments. A wide list of scales widely used in literature was then compiled, where participants evaluated the spaces and identified the core components of the aesthetic judgments. The findings showed that human aesthetic judgments consist of three primary components: ‘familiarity,’ ‘excitement,’ and ‘fascination.’ Each of these components is influenced by various architectural features that reveal their differences. In the second phase of the study, spaces with inclined architectural boundaries and specific properties, known as architecture variables, were designed as a whole, and the three primary aesthetic judgments in both immersive virtual environment and desktop-based virtual environment were studied. In two virtual environments, the subjects assessed how much they felt inside the space present. At this stage, the objective is to test the basic components of aesthetic judgments in spaces designed as a whole, such as places perceived in real life, and to reference to the third research stage. In the third and final phase of the study, the three primary aesthetic judgments in space with architectural variables by electrical monitoring of brain wave activity (EEG) and brain neural relationships were investigated. The results show that alpha and beta waves distinguish space with architectural variables, but do not distinguish theta waves. The study is a collaborative study in the fields of architecture and neuroscience, which provides a new contribution to the literature regarding the methods used and the research questions it tries to answer.