Effects of Area, Height, Elongation, and Color on Perceived Spaciousness

Abstract

This article reports findings from three experiments, covering 46 environments and 66 participants, on how strongly four properties of the physical environment influence perceived spaciousness.The properties were horizontal area, boundary height, elongation, and color. Ten original findings were reported. Overall, horizontal area had the strongest effect on perceived spaciousness ( r = .60; more floor area increases perceived spaciousness), followed by height ( r = —.22; lower boundaries increase perceived spaciousness). The effect of color on perceived spaciousness, when amount of light is controlled, was much smaller ( r = .14). Findings for elongation were different for concave and convex spaces ( r’s of —.22 and +.26). Quantitative syntheses of the current work with previous work are presented, as is numerical guidance for cost-effective future work.