L'estimation subjective de l'espace urbain

Abstract

Summary In the flrst investigation, a public square, a building and a big hall have been explored by 20 students of architecture, divided in three groups. They were invited to draw, photograph and observe each of these spaces. When the task was finished, both experimentalist and subject, went to a field where the student was asked to mark the perimeter of the space he had explored, at scale 1/1. An important underestimation of the surfaces is observed for those dimensions above 2 000 m², public square = — 47 % and building = — 28 %. The big hall (723 m²) on the contrary is fairly well represented (mean = + 4 %). In the second experiment the influence of exercise upon the estimation of urban space was studied in two groups of students from the School of Architecture. One group has received an explicit visual training during the semester in a public garden of Buenos Aires. The other group did not know sufficientely the place. Ss of both groups spend a certain time at this public garden. At the laboratory they build a reduced model (maquette) of this place. A significant difference is observed between the two groups : the surface is overestimated by the trained group and underestimated by the other. Also the underestimation of buildings is relatively less important in the maquettes of the Ss having drawn a picture of this particular building. These results show the need for further research on the psychology of space outside restricted laboratory conditions. The importance of « scale » is obvious in everyday life for the professionals of space, architects and urbanists.