Human behaviour and cognition of spatial experience; a model for enhancing the quality of spatial experiences in the built environment

Abstract

This paper takes an interdisciplinary approach to find out what makes the experience of spaces different and how can it be enhanced? Based on a literature review this paper draws on cognitive theory to provide a model for enhancing quality of spatial experiences. The model has three stages: encouraging, enabling, and enclosing. The model asserts that in every enhanced spatial experience the audience gets encouraged at the outset by a variety of strategies such as persuasion, designing for meanings, and including concepts in design. The audience must be then enabled by special means, such as immersive and interactive capabilities of the environment along with its security and safety attributes, to get involved with the spatial experience. Consequently, the experience shifts towards a cognitive level at the enclosing stage, focusing on emotion and engagement. To compose this model, at the very beginning, essential components, dimensions, and elements of experience were identified and defined. Seven selected experts were then informed and asked to decide on the priority of the experience's elements. Finally, selected elements were employed to propose the model for enhancing quality of spatial experiences in the built environment. The proposed model is then followed by an example that clarifies how the film industry could apply the model to enhance the quality of spatial experience in the built environment of a movie theatre.