Designing emotional spaces: the power of light and atmosphere
How do the spaces we live in make us feel, think or behave? Often unnoticed, architecture holds the power to shape our daily experiences in subtle but significant ways, affecting our physical, emotional and psychological well-being. It is commonly perceived that a room can feel calming or oppressive, a building inspiring or cold. But until now, much of this understanding, that the atmosphere of a space matters, has lacked empirical evidence. Blending architecture with cognitive neuroscience, environmental psychology and virtual reality technology, the RESONANCES project has changed that. Undertaken with the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the research designed and carried out experiments to explore the emotional and cognitive responses of architectural atmospheres. “Through our experiments, we contributed to providing empirical evidence on how spaces emotionally affect us – a field with limited research to date. By deepening our understanding of human emotions, we can design buildings and cities that are more attuned to human experiences, guided by evidence-based insights,” states Valter Scelsi, RESONANCES project coordinator.
Proving the power of atmospheres
Traditionally, research on architectural atmospheres and sensory interactions has relied on first-person accounts of consciously perceived spatial experiences. “Today, however, there is a growing interest in non-conscious responses, which can be examined through third-person assessments using real-time, non-invasive methods,” says Scelsi. To capture the emotional effects of architecture, RESONANCES used virtual reality to immerse participants in different spaces, incorporating self-report questionnaires and neurophysiological recordings. Sensors monitored heart rate, skin temperature, electrodermal response, eye movements and even brain activity, measured through electroencephalogram signals. “Our findings confirm that architectural atmospheres – intangible and ephemeral background phenomena – exist, matter and prime our spatial experiences by influencing emotions, perceptions and memories,” adds Scelsi. Even though atmosphere encompasses a complex and cohesive multisensory experience, light emerged as the most influential factor in evoking emotional responses. The project isolated light in the controlled experiments, given its unique influence on perception, ease of implementation as a design element and universal accessibility and affordability.
A database for emotional design
To detect, measure and analyse atmospheric emotions using neurophysiological signals, it is essential to have tailored normative affect-based stimuli. The project took as a reference the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), a set of images validated to reliably elicit emotional responses based on arousal, valence and dominance. However, in the field of neuroarchitecture, similar databases are limited and methodologies vary significantly. To address this gap, the RESONANCES team developed ATLAS, a unique open-access database of visual atmospheric stimuli. This collection of spatial patterns, derived from a systematic selection of elements that generate atmospheres, provides researchers with reliable and reproducible stimuli. It is an essential tool for experiment-based studies, advancing both research methodologies and the exploration of emotional responses to architectural features. The findings from RESONANCES hold transformative potential for architects and urban planners. “It paves the way for a future where architectural theory, design and education can progress from a purely technical focus on building performance towards a more empathetic approach centred on human experience,” adds Scelsi.
Keywords
RESONANCES, architectural atmospheres, emotional design, ATLAS, neuroscience, environmental psychology, affect-based stimuli