Space, both material and immaterial, is a fundamental basis for human existence, development, and evolution; space comprises the outer shell within which life takes place in all its variation.
People are directly and inseparably connected to the space that surrounds them. “Lived space,” a term coined by philosopher and educator O. F. Bollnow, refers to the close connection between people and the spatial environment.
The human life cycle, from its beginning in the womb through to death, unfolds in a wide variety of spatial environments and is subject to specific conditions, is in relation to them, and in exchange with them – that is, as part of a mutual relationship between people and their social and material-spatial sur-roundings.
IMPORTANT: The creative statement, symbolic effect, and impression made by an architectural space determine how people feel within it, to what extent the space appeals to them, and how they identify with it. It also affects how they appropriate it, behave toward and within it, and how they act individually and socially.
Space is always an immaterial and intellectual space as well.
It encompasses the atmospheric, experience-related dimension and the social and communicative dimension of interpersonal encounters and relationships.
A variety of scientific disciplines have focused on the significance of space with regard to its effect on people.
An important aspect of “lived space” is the atmosphere and the quality of the impression that emanate from it, both of which affect the psychological relationship between people and their surroundings. By virtue of its design, a space can, for example, appear cool, dis-tanced, austere, festive, or cheerful.These kinds of moods and impressions appeal to the emotions. They convey messages that impact people’s feelings, thoughts, desires, behavior and actions within a certain space.
studied the psychosomatic aspects of spatial experience. He asserted that the corporeality of a person means he or she depends on a world that is a built, designed, and shaped down to the very last detail. According to Kükelhaus, people need the biological fields of tension, elements of contrast, and stimulation provided by variety. Kükelhaus believes the absence of such fields of tension produces dysregulation triggered by under stimulation, such as brightness with-out shadows (absence of differences in luminance), lack of variations in temperature, and surfaces without any structure, etc. Restricted movement and monotone materials or colors can also cause dysregulation.
With a few exceptions, personal space can most easily and best be attained in private spaces such as houses or apartments. This is where appropriation can be manifested best, provided the spaces correspond to the true needs of the user.
Modern people generally spend more than 80 percent of their time in closed spaces. Developing an awareness of how important it is to live under the best conditions in these surroundings is the primary goal of effective design practice.
For the development of color concepts, this means:
Holistic thinking and analysis with regard to people– color–architectural space
Sound knowledge of scientific research on the topic of “col-or”; willingness to consider peripheral areas of research in this field; remaining open to empirical findings
Combining these with intuition, creativity, a sense of aesthetics, and professional know how.
Requirements for a positive relationship between people and architectural space as:
The emotions that perceiving a space triggers must be positive.
Architectural space must fulfill particular formal and aesthetic requirements to be experienced as beautiful and interesting.
Architectural expression must be experienced as true from an ethical standpoint.
A space must provide satisfaction in terms of functionality.
In addition to satisfying their physiological needs, such as light, air, food, sleep, and sexuality, people have additional basic needs that are of interest with regard to interior design. One of the most fundamental of these is related to experiencing one’s own existence, the experience of “I am.”
Through the sense of touch, of contact, people learn how to distinguish between their bodies and the outside world and, in doing so, experience themselves. This experience is also supported by the boundaries, objects, and materials of architectural space. Another human need is that of orientation: in one’s surroundings as well as in planning and shaping one’s own life. Architectural design that is geared to people can thus communicate meaning and build values.
The need for orientation also includes the need for control, which means being able to cope with situations and achieve goals. The desire for control is related to the desire for room, for leeway, to carry out one’s actions. The designed environment can create an important framework that helps people cope with their situation. Learn more...
Another basic human requirement is the need to communi-cate.This encompasses the need for social bonding and a connection to the objects in one’s surroundings, as well as the need for identity. Identity develops from our fundamental, early childhood experience of security, confidence, and trust, followed by an upbringing that supports initiative, activity, and autonomous behavior and actions combined with appreciation. Extreme experiences and changes can unsettle an individual’s sense of identity, but can be countered by outside support and one’s own actions. It is important to design spaces that convey a sense of trust and whose expression can be understood – spaces that en-courage people to engage with objects and that are open to and provide room for social relationships.
The complete system of our senses plays a major role in the process of the human-environment relationship. Psychology regards the following types of needs as effective:
The need for impressions: allowing oneself to be impressed by one’s environment
The need for expression: being able to express oneself
The need for exploration: exploring and understanding one’s surroundings.
In addition, people inherently seek harmony and beauty.
Below is a catalog of needs and requirements related to spatial environment:
The relationship between figure and ground is critical to using color to create the illusion of space. For example, black can be placed in front of white if black is functioning as the figure rather than the ground. Otherwise, white is placed in front of gray, and gray in front of black, although surface proportion also plays a role.
Colors can be employed to create meaning based on the rules of color perspective. They can generally be used to influence the effect of room proportions, such as wide, narrow, high, low. Here, the synesthetic (intermodal) quality of experience (light or heavy in terms of weight) plays a role. Bright colors are experienced as being light in weight, and dark colors are experienced as heavy.
Within a range of colors, brighter shades appear lighter than saturated ones (pink seems light in weight, whereas red seems heavy). However, the effect of heavy or light in weight in architectural space is clearer if we compare wall and ceiling colors. Learn more...
Light blue on a ceiling, does not in itself appear light in weight if it is next to a white wall; but it would appear light in weight in relation to a sand-colored or dark wooden wall. The spatial effects of intense, saturated colors are only infrequently employed in interior design. In the reality of architecture and interior spaces, it is the more muted shades that are used (lightening and darkening). We should point out that the effects of colors in architectural space, on the floor, wall, and ceiling, always depend on the brightness and saturation of a color.
The physical optical fundamentals described above result in a principle of perspective color perceptions in architectural space:
Warm, highly saturated, and bright colors (orange, ocher, sand yellow) advance to the foreground.
Colors that are neither clearly cold nor warm (green, violet, purple) are located in intermediate ground.
Cool and bright colors (light blue, lime green), as well as dark, warm and dark, cool colors (dark brown, dark blue) recede into the background.
Concerning hues of equal brightness:
Passive colors (e.g. green, green-blue) seem lighter in weight, and
Active colors (e.g. red) seem heavier.
Every color is qualified through its nuance and the material with which it is associated. The following table lists basic feelings elicited by color effects in architectural space, summarized from many decades of experience in teaching interior design and educating color designers. Of course, feelings deviating from these that are based on individual experiences are also possible.
TABLES: