Does Virtual Reality Allow Essay Participants Better Conditions to Get Information Regarding the Perception of Architectural Contexts?

ABSTRACT: This article integrates a research project that aims to understand the architectonic contexts’ influence on meditation practice. One of the phases of the project refers to meditation practitioners’ emotional reactions to a set of architectonic contexts using Kansei. Accordingly, we will use the Kansei inquiry method which allows the creation of predictive models that relate characteristics of architectonic contexts with the expected reactions of meditation practitioners. The more productive type of approach, real scale models, might be unpractical due to the high costs of implementation. The aim of this article is first to establish a conviction about which of the two ways of presenting models might be better for getting this information. Under these two conditions, 30 participants who practice meditation, 15 with PowerPoint (PP) and 15 with virtual reality (VR), classified 10 architectonic contexts on how they may be influencing their will to practice meditation. These 10 contexts vary in materiality and openings to the exterior. The Kansei word pairs (agitated-calm, distracted-aware, absent-present, uncomfortable-comfortable, numb-awake, unstable-stable, depressed-happy, and constrained-free) were used to evaluate the participant’s perception. At the end, the volunteers were interviewed to collect information about their grade of Presence. The results showed higher punctuation attributed to VR in almost all questions of the Presence Evaluation Questionnaire (PEQ), this might suggest a higher immersion grade in VR than with the PP. Moreover, the Kansei results for mandala windows suggest that a glare effect is only clearly perceived in VR. Finally, we recommend further studies with larger samples.

CONCLUSIONS: However, with a reduced sample of individuals we could detect some tendencies that might be more evident if we enlarge and diversify the sample. Concerning the aim of this study: to ascertain if VR allows a better perception of architectonic contexts, this experience suggested that it might be the case. There might be a higher level of immersion in VR than in PP, allowing a better perception of the contexts and a sharper detection of the problems with meditating, such as the frontal light glare effect. These findings allow better control of agitation, distraction, and absence through an improved conception of architecture and avoidance of unexpected problems in the final building. The grade of Presence has also been statistically proven to be higher in VR than in the PP. Finally, the practical possibility of showing the architectonic contexts was reduced to 5 images with the PP, while with VR the participants could be aware of all the space around them.

RECOMMENDATIONS: We recommend further studies with larger samples to have better Presence statistical data. And, to audio record and stimulate the comments of participants. Also, to video record, through mirroring, the interaction of participants with VR. Concerning the PP, as the participants tend to stay in a static position, the physical interaction is lessened. It might also be useful to evaluate the level of participants’ anxiety before the experience, as it may vary from one individual to another which may influence the results.

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