Architectural psychology can be defined as the science of human experience and behaviour in a built environment. It is a branch of environmental or ecological psychology and refers to the interaction between humans and their environment. Architectural psychology is a multidisciplinary field that bridges psychology, engineering, architecture and other branches of science to design better buildings and spaces that positively impact people’s well-being. Architectural psychology helps architects and designers build pleasing and soothing environments where people are happy to be.
Understanding the human psyche and applying that knowledge to architecture and interior design has a positive impact. For instance, research has shown that people with Alzheimer’s that have a private room with their objects around them, exhibit less aggression, anxiety and fewer psychotic symptoms. Focusing on another context, research has also shown that people can be encouraged to drive through neighbourhoods more carefully by using psychological measures applied to the design (e.g. making the roads narrower).
Understanding the human psyche and applying that knowledge can also be fundamental to establishing uniqueness in workplace design, learning environments, healthcare facilities, residential environments and also retail environments. Each of these spaces, of course, would have its own specialities reflecting the human mind, need and use.
As the use of psychological measures applied to design can impact people, also some major mechanisms of structural design can affect the human psyche. These are building form, positive and negative space, colour, opening, open space, acoustics, lighting and landscape. But also spatial properties like location, size, distance, shape, pattern and movement. By appropriately implementing these elements, people’s experiences can be profoundly impacted.
The cooperation between architecture and psychology is almost obvious. As previously said, they share a strong bond where each one of them influences the other. Nonetheless, architectural psychology is still young in its nature and not much focus is directed toward it. We believe that, nowadays, architectural psychology is becoming increasingly important and will be even more so now that the population is increasing and the awareness and need for heightened wellbeing is driving many human decisions from where to live to where to work and shop, all partially impacted by the architecture.
References:
Abel, A. (2021). What is Architectural Psychology?. Dimensions of Architectural Knowledge, 201-208
Janetius, S.T. (2016). Art, Culture & Gender: The Indian Psyche, , Mishil & Js Publishers, Thrissur, ISBN: 9781537075341, (pp 67- 73)