Most interior designers would tell you with confidence that the lighter a ceiling is, the taller a room will appear. Intuitively it make sense and if you take a look at some images or notice the rooms you visit, you will soon see there is some truth to this. But as a fan of scientific research, I like to back these ideas with some actual support. So here it is folks, this week's
Research Findings Fridays is about the factors that influence perceived room height:
D. Oberfeld, H. Hecht & M. Gamer (2010). Surface Lightness Influences Perceived Room Height. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, vol. 63, no. 10, pp. 1999-2011.
Indeed they found that observers perceived room height to be taller when ceilings were lighter. That effect was significantly strengthened when walls were lighter too - an effect they did not anticipate.
Floor colour and room brightness did not have a significant impact on perceived room height, which actually came as a surprise to me. I would have assumed that a room with dark floors and light walls/ceiling would appear taller than a room with a light floor and light walls/ceiling - like the contrast would matter somewhat. Actually, the experiment shows that the brightness contrast between the walls and ceilings is not a significant factor in perceptions of a taller space.
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Instead the effect is additive and not dependant on contrast at all - something else that kind of surprised me. So the lighter yours walls and ceilings are generally, the taller your room will look. To explain further or more dramatically, a room with black walls a white ceiling will still appear less tall than a room with white walls and a white ceiling. |
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Moral of the story? If you want to maximize the perceived height of a space, keep your colours on the light side - all around and up high - and choose whatever type of floor your heart desires.
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Happy weekend to all!
That staircase in the first image is just incredible :) Love your spot the difference game! I will be playing at the weekend :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the rest of your weekend hun.
Stuart x
http://whatwilsonwants.blogspot.com/
wow! lovely :D
ReplyDeletelast one is my best :D every little detail is just perfect for me!
Great stuff these research Fridays. Makes interior design more like a science and what I do more scientific. Ha! Never thought of myself in those terms. Anyway, keep up the great work, Holly.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like them! My time working in a lab in university really opened my eyes to the scientific world and the importance of it. It changed the way I looked at the world. I knew I wanted to carry this to whatever I did. Each Friday, we had a lab meeting where a member of the lab would present a recent paper from another group of scientists. The topic was always related to our study topic, of course. We would discuss the findings, examine the methods, critique and compare. It was a way of staying in touch with the developments in our field, so that we could also do better research. I loved these lab meetings and the discussions that came out of them. So I decided to have my own lab meeting here on Fridays too :)
DeleteThanks for your encouragement Xx.
Great work, Holly! What you do is very inspiring! Your comment about lab meetings and your own lab meeting on Fridays made me laugh! It's really funny, but true - once a scientist, always a scientist! ;)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy and keep up the good work! x
HIbba!! Of course you would appreciate my Design Research Friday posts!!! So happy you stopped by here :) Thank you Xx.
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