Interior Architecture Exam 2

Supportive environments address user needs, capabilities, and desires

Physiological – physical health & wellness needs

Informational - processing info about the environment

Social – appropriate amounts of social interaction

Perception

Initial gathering of information through the 5 senses and the

subsequent organization of that sensory input

Gestalt Laws

Structure, configuration, or pattern of physical, biological, or psychological phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional unit with properties not derivable by summation of its parts

Cognition

the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses

How to create conceptual spaces by utilizing the law of closure.

we utilize this when creating sub-spaces (to break up large spaces into human scale size spaces which are more desirable)

Tension

When you apply more than one Gestalt Law in the same composition

Architectural Differentiation

Architectural differentiation is important because it helps the

development of mental images.

Articulation

using design to give emphasis to particular elements. Divides building into smaller sections and creates rhythm.

Visual Mass

the optical weight of an object

Lateral inhibition

is when the edges between two tones are enhanced so we can distinctly see the difference

Mental Image

Mental image is created when we experience an environment.

Law of Closure

People tend to enclose a space/figure by ignoring or filling in the gaps in the figure.

Law of Similarity

Items that look similar will be perceived as part of the same form.

Kaplan’s Preference Framework and all its components

Understanding, Exploration, Immediate Env, Coherence, Complexity, Inferred Env, Legibility, Mystery

Law of Simplicity

We tend to group items as simply as possible.

Law of Continuity

People tend to continue contours whenever the elements of the pattern establish an implied direction.

Law of Figure-Ground

We perceive only one aspect of an image when the image can be viewed in both positive and negative perspectives.

Hard Gestalts

Smooth, Straight, Geometric, Consistent

Soft Gestalts

Organic, Rough, Inconsistent

Street experience

how buildings are experienced on foot at street level. Impacts the perception of a building’s scale

Lynch’s Imageability Attributes

Paths, Districts, Edges, Nodes, Landmarks

Appleyard’s (1969) environmental characteristics that improve imageability

Distinctiveness, Visibility, Significance

Landmark Knowledge

the most basic form of environmental knowledge which serves as the base for organizing other spatial information

Route Knowledge

when landmarks are interconnected to form linear routes through an environment.

Survey Knowledge

a more complete understanding of the overall configuration.

Conceptual spaces

A conceptual space is a geometric structure that represents a number of quality dimensions, which denote basic features by which concepts and objects can be compared,

Preference including both content and process information

Content = What’s in a scene

Process = How we are able to process information about the

scene

Process information that is a predictor of preference

Understandable, Novel, Offer Choice

Perceptual Access

a philosophical/psychological concept linking perceptual consciousness to cognitive access

Mental Fatigue

the decline in the ability to focus attention and concentrate

voluntary attention

attention (which

requires effort) towards one’s goal.

Restorative Environments

Purpose of restorative environments are to

combat mental fatigue.

Indoor air pollution & its causes

Outgassing is the slow release of potentially harmful chemicals from materials into the air from common products such as paints, carpet & carpet padding, insulation, and many others.

What each of the 14 patterns of biophilic design are and what types of design strategies are used to create them

Visual and non-visual connection to nature, non-rhythmic sensory stimuli, thermal and airflow variability, prescence of water, biomorphic forms and patterns, material connection with nature, complexity and order, Prospect, refuge, mystery, risk/peril

Interpenetration of form

Forms appear to penetrate or continue into

another form

Golden Proportion

1:1.6

Eden Alternative

person‑directed eldercare philosophy that aims to transform long‑term care environments into communities where older adults experience purpose

Piaget’s Theory of Children’s Cognitive Development and what spatial understanding children have at various ages

1) Infancy – Sensorimotor stage Age: birth – 2 years

2) Preschool years – Preoperational period Age: 2 – 7 years

3) Middle Childhood – Concrete operational

period Age: 7 – 12 years

4) Adolescence / Adulthood – Formal

operational period Age: older than 12 years

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Seasonal Affective Disorder is a form of depression that follows a seasonal pattern, most commonly beginning in late fall or winter and improving in spring or summer

Plants

Maximize indoor air quality and reduce indoor air pollution

Weisman’s Legibility Attributes

Weisman's legibility attributes describe how features of a building’s spatial layout, especially simplicity, clarity of organization, and distinctiveness of paths and zones, affect people’s ability to find their way

Biomimicry

a design discipline seeking sustainable solutions by emulating nature’s patterns and strategies

Involuntary Attention

attention drawn towards things that stand out. This doesn’t require effort to pay attention to, but rather takes effort to ignore