Measuring Human Emotional Response to Architectural Materials in Daylighting Conditions

Abstract

This architectural research aims to survey human emotional responses to variations in daylight and material conditions. Over the past several years, daylight research has prioritized task-related comfort conditions and energy conservation, with a more recent push towards the photobiological benefits of eye-level light exposure. The field has a research gap in understanding, measuring, and predicting the human-centric experience of daylight and materials. This research aims to measure the effect of daylight conditions (façade/roof openings) and material composition (wood, brick, concrete, white-painted gypsum) on human emotional responses using subjective ratings in an online survey. The methodology places a 360-degree camera within a physical room model to capture material and daylighting variations. The panoramic images are transferred into an immersive eye-level web-based survey, asking participants to describe their emotional responses through numeric appraisal ratings. Initial results show that brighter daylighting variations with larger window openings have a strong positive impact on human emotional response. Materials also are influential but to a lesser degree, with people responding best to scenes with white painted gypsum board and wood. The anticipated benefits from this research are improved understandings of human perceptions of space, material, and light interactions within the built environment. 3 This project opens a new frontier for analyzing how people visually respond to materials and spaces from the human perspective. By further understanding emotional response, this research can help inform material choices and lighting designs to promote human well-being in architecture.