Empirical aesthetics: the body and emotion in extraordinary architectural experiences

Abstract

While there have been many theoretical and philosophical speculations on the role of emotion and embodiment in the aesthetic experience of architecture, there have been little or no actual empirical support substantiating the claims made. If this lack of hard proof was not an issue in the past, our epoch, profoundly influenced by Modernity, has made increasingly difficult to advance any significant allegation without providing some factual evidence in the scientific sense. This paper reports on work directed to address this challenge. Using a previously documented survey on Extraordinary Architectural Experiences, a large quantity of ‘qualitative measurements' was collected along 13 categorical variables gauging feeling and embodiment. These data were then thoroughly examined through four levels of statistical analysis. The results empirically demonstrate 69 significant correlations among the variables and thus the central role of embodiment and emotion in extraordinary architectural experiences. Of these correlations, 23 were specifically analyzed to define their psychological and physical characteristics to an unprecedented level of detail. It is hoped that this knowledge sets up a foundation from where to test, develop, and/or apply old and new hypotheses of aesthetic affect and effect in architecture.