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Spaciousness and Boundary Roughness

Institute of Environmental Quality in San Francisco, ieq{at}att.net

V. V. Krishnan

Engineering Department at San Francisco State University

This article reports how strongly boundary roughness predicts impressions of spaciousness. In one experiment, 16 rooms with fractal walls were created in CAD simulations and 49 respondents rated the rooms in terms of spaciousness. In a second experiment, 16 respondents rated spaciousness for an additional 12 rooms with different wall systems. Fractal rooms with rough walls were judged as being more spacious than rooms with smooth walls, and opening bookshelves also made rooms seem more spacious. Thus, results from both studies indicate that boundary roughness makes rooms seem more spacious. Quantitative guidance is provided to assist future research.

Key Words: enclosure • fractal dimension • area • light

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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Stamps, A. E. Articles by Krishnan, V. V. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?