authors |
Keul, Alexander |
year |
1996 |
title |
LOST IN SPACE? ARCHITECTURAL PSYCHOLOGY - PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE |
source |
Full-Scale Modeling in the Age of Virtual Reality [6th EFA-Conference Proceedings] |
summary |
A methodological review by Kaminski (1995) summed up five perspectives in environmental psychology - patterns of spatial distribution, everyday “jigsaw puzzles”, functional everyday action systems, sociocultural change and evolution of competence. Architectural psychology (named so at the Strathclyde conference 1969; Canter, 1973) as psychology of built environments is one leg of environmental psychology, the second one being psychology of environmental protection. Architectural psychology has come of age and passed its 25th birthday. Thus, a triangulation of its position, especially in Central Europe, seems interesting and necessary. A recent survey mainly on university projects in German-speaking countries (Kruse & Trimpin, 1995) found a marked decrease of studies in psychology of built environments. 1994, 25% of all projects were reported in this category, which in 1975 had made up 40% (Kruse, 1975). Guenther, in an unpublished survey of BDP (association of professional German psychologists) members, encountered only a handful active in architectural psychology - mostly part-time, not full-time. 1996, Austria has two full-time university specialists. The discrepancy between the general interest displayed by planners and a still low institutionalization is noticeable. How is the research situation? Using several standard research data banks, the author collected articles and book(chapter)s on architectural psychology in German- and English-language countries from 1990 to 1996. Studies on main architecture-psychology interface problems such as user needs, housing quality evaluations, participatory planning and spatial simulation / virtual reality did not outline an “old, settled” discipline, but rather the sketchy, random surface of a field “always starting anew”. E.g., discussions at the 1995 EAEA-Conference showed that several architectural simulation studies since 1973 caused no major impact on planner's opinions (Keul&Martens, 1996). “Re-inventions of the wheel” are caused by a lack of meetings (except this one!) and of interdisciplinary infrastructure in German-language countries (contrary to Sweden or the United States). Social pressures building up on architecture nowadays by inter-European competition, budget cuts and citizen activities for informed consent in most urban projects are a new challenge for planners to cooperate efficiently with social scientists. At Salzburg, the author currently manages the Corporate Design-process for the Chamber of Architecture, Division for Upper Austria and Salzburg. A “working group for architectural psychology” (Keul-Martens-Maderthaner) has been active since 1994.
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keywords |
Model Simulation, Real Environments |
series |
EAEA |
type |
normal paper |
email |
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more |
http://info.tuwien.ac.at/efa/ |
full text |
file.pdf (19,727 bytes) |
references |
Content-type: text/plain
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Bailey, R.; Brand, C.; Taylor, C.W. (Eds.) (1961)
Architectural Psychology and Psychiatry
, Salt Lake City: University of Utah
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The Future of Endoscopy
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Architectural Psychology
, Strasbourg: Université Louis Pasteur
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Stokols, D.; Altman, I. (1987)
Handbook of Environmental Psychology
, New York: Wiley
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last changed |
2005/09/09 10:43 |
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