Susana Iñarra Abad

Design Attributes Influencing the Success of Urban 3D Visualizations: Differences in Assessments According to Training and Intention

ABSTRACT The graphic tools most widely used for communicating the design of future urban spaces are 3D visualizations. These virtual images allow graphic designers to manipulate conditions to embellish the final image they present. But, what design attributes are associated with positive assessments? This paper attempts to identify the key design attributes for a successful proposal and observes whether intention (assess the image versus assess the project) and observer training (architect versus non-architect) influence that relationship. A field study was carried out using assessments from 225 individuals. Results show that color, nature, and architecture are fundamental elements in successful proposals. Significant differences in assessments have also been observed according to the training and intentions of the assessors.

Influence of Color in a Lactation Room on Users’ Affective Impressions and Preferences

Objective: The present study aims to examine the influence of environmental color hue in a lactation room at a health center on users’ affective response and preference. Background: Hospital design plays an important role in the emotional experience of patients. In this regard, many studies have attempted to find relationships between design variables and healthcare facilities users’ response. Color has been frequently examined because it is always present in the environment and can be easily changed. However, most of the studies dealing with color–emotion relationships acquire users’ affective response by questionnaires developed by experts which could lead to inaccurate results since nonexperts may misunderstand concepts set by experts and use nonimmersive images to simulate the environments to assess. Methods: To overcome these limitations, a Kansei Engineering–based approach was proposed. In the first phase, users’ specific affective factors for lactation rooms were determined using Semantic Differential. In the second phase, the influence of nine different color hues on users’ affective factors was obtained. An immersive display system was used to visualize the room altering hues in an isolated and controlled way. Results: (1) Six user’s affective factors connected to the lactation rooms were discovered: safety, elegance, coziness, spaciousness, simplicity, and luminosity, of which coziness has the most impact on the assessment of the room. (2) Warm colors like orange and yellow tend to score highly for coziness which puts them in leading positions when users’ assess lactation rooms. Conclusions: Results provide recommendations for designers and show the advantages of using semantic differential and immersive displays to analyze user’s affective response to environments.

A New App to Assess the Visual Impact of Buildings in Historical City Centers Called LandArch

We wanted to assess the opinion of citizens on proposed architectural solutions to integrate a set of buildings with a visual impact located in the historical centre of Valencia. Five scenarios were prepared, one of which being the current situation, using spherical photographic panoramas. To prepare the scenarios, a preliminary historiographic study was carried out. Each observer was asked to order the scenarios in order of personal preference and visual integration, using traditional printed images, in addition to a new purpose-built App called “LandArch: Visual Impact Evaluation”, available for free from Google Play. This App allows users to dynamically observe spherical panoramas on the screen of any personal device using 3d glasses. Following the preference and integration assessment of the 5 scenarios, we observe significant differences in the results according to the visualization device used, twice for preference and twice for integration. It seems that the traditional printed image facilitates the recognition of height relationships between buildings and can better resemble the historic imaginary. Conversely, dynamic spherical visualization devices predispose observers to give more positive assessments to risky architectural solutions that use reflections and mirror images for example.

Virtual Reality as a Tool for Emotional Evaluation of Architectural Environments

The methodology and results of a preliminary study that used virtual reality environments and surveys to analyze the emotional influence of color palettes in an interior space is exposed. Nine chromatic tones were selected and applied into a Virtual Reality architectural environment. Thirty trials were made with users who answered questionnaires about emotional response and overall assessment of the space during the simulation. The results of this work may be of interest for architects as the opportunity to correlate color ranges used with emotional response and appreciation of space by users facilitates design criteria adapted to the needs of people.

Introducing emotions in the architectural design process

3D images or architectural renders are expressive tools widely used by architectural students to communicate their projects. Not only do these images have the task of transmitting the formal and functional characteristics of the project, but also need to evoke in users the sort of feelings and emotions which can only be aroused by experiencing the architecture. An experiment we undertook enabled us to find that these emotions can be quantified and may relate to the design parameters of the image, moreover there are also substantial differences in the valuation between architects and non-architects. Thus, the aim of this paper is to incorporate the results of our research on the learning of this graphical tool into the learning of architecture. Therefore we have established a teaching methodology in which the images are not only employed to show the final result of design, but are also incorporated into the creative process to investigate emotional and aesthetic responses of the user of the designed space. http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/HEAd15.2015.392