PVA: An Ecological Perspective on Space Perception in Built Environments

There is growing interest in the implications of perception science for the practice of architecture. Within the domain of interior architecture, a key question is whether principles of human perception predict experienced qualities of built interiors, with regard to their spatial structure as well as to the potential roles of furniture. Here we propose a novel conceptual tool for the design and the evaluation of built interiors: potential viewpoint analysis (PVA). Theoretically, PVA is rooted on Gibson’s notion of optic information in the ambient optic array and of perception as exploratory behavior realized by sampling arrays over time. The key concept underlying PVA is studying how enclosures constrain the set of potential viewpoints. According to PVA, any environment can be analyzed in terms of feasible and non-feasible potential viewpoints, each corresponding to individual locations whereby an optic array may be sampled. Geometric analysis of built interiors, in terms of three dimensional structure as well as number, location, and size of furniture, coupled with data on an observers’ potentialities for movement, yields estimates of the ratio of feasible to non-feasible potential viewpoints, or F/NF. I propose that F/NF provides information for perceiving both affordances (i.e., explorability, traversability, reachability, ability to support proxemics) and affective qualities (i.e., warm/cold, welcoming/repelling, private/exposed) of a built interior. I offer anecdotal evidence that observers are sensitive to F/NF, and discuss how F/NF may be used to make principled comparisons between the experiences of built environments. I conclude discussing how PVA may be generalized to cross-modal environments as potential “multisensory vantage point” analysis.