SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN U.E.T. LAHORE

(Department of Architecture)

Course: Arch: 304 - Architectural Psychology

Level: Graduation

Credit Hours: Theory 2+ Practical 1

Course Outline

Environment – Behaviour Relationship. Introduction to environmental psychology. what is environmental psychology? why do architects need to study Psychology? It’s roots and background studies. Environmental perception and cognition. Theories and methods in architectural psychology.

Environmental needs The idea of environment supplying basic psychological needs as well as physical cover. Different climatic factors that effect human behaviour e.g. Noise, Disasters, Toxic Hazards and Pollution.

Personal Space and Territoriality This unit examines the territory functions of personal space and its impact on human behaviour. Students should be advised to relate this to their personal experiences and to evolve strategies to design better spaces to minimize problems due to inadequate spaces. Look at identity by exploring how ordinary people express their identity e.g. in housing. An introduction to the work of Robert Sommer and Edward Hall for study of personal space. i.e. Proxemics. Robert Sommer’s work on spatial organization as a determinant of social interaction, Table shapes, socio-petal and socio-fugal space, Conversing competing, co-acting, cooperating Social and public space and how we use them, Cultural variations. The work of Robert Ardery, Types of territorial behavior in the animal kingdom and its possible parallels in the human urban environment, the behavioral sink.

High Density, Crowding Urban Life and Behaviour This relates to issues related to population and its impact on people behaviour. This is to study the effects of city life examining the concepts of overload, environmental stress, behaviour constraint, and over staffing.

Research based urban versus rural comparisons are also made to fully understand the related concepts.

Architectural determinism A corrective view to restore the balance, Warnings and illustrations about seeing architecture as social engineering, the work of Jane Jacobs, Measuring and observing human response to architecture, some techniques psychologists and sociologists use for empirical studies

Architecture, Design and Engineering for Human Behaviour and Changing Behaviour to Save Environment This highlights the design process and emphasize on how to accommodate human behaviour in design decisions. Environmentally destructive human behaviour is assessed to raise awareness in environmentally responsible behaviour. Students may be advised to make a list of destructive behaviour practiced generally and specifically with reference to professional practice in building industry and discuss ideas to modify these practices.

Reference Books

Environmental Psychology. ed: Paul A. Bell, Thoms C. Greene, Jeffery D. Fisher, Andrew Baum. 1978-2001. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, Mahwah New Jersey, London.

Environmental Psychology: Behaviour and experience in context. Tony Cassidy. 1997. Psychology Press Publishers, 27 Church Road Hove east sussex BN3 2FA, UK.

Handbook of Environmental Psychology. Robert b. Bechtel and Arza churchman. 2002. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.

Creating Defensible Space. Oscar Newman Institute for Community Design Analysis. U.S. 1996. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Policy Development and Research.