Emotional Architecture in the Digital Age

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Emotional Architecture in the Digital Age: Generative AI and Virtual Environments for Human-Centric Design

ARCH 7036-04/ARCH5051-04.Elective Theory Seminar, SAID, DAAP, Spring 2024

Classtime: Monday. 10 am -12:50 pm.  Classroom: 4425-E, CGC Lab, DAAP building. 

Faculty: Ming Tang, Professor in Architecture and Interior Design, DAAP. Director of  Extended Reality Lab. XR-Lab

Gen-AI with Stable Diffusion, by Ming Tang

In his article The Case for a Feeling Architecture and Architecture Is a Deeply Emotional Experience, Jacob DiCrescenzo emphasizes the importance of designing architecture that prioritizes human emotions over abstract concepts. He advocates for a paradigm shift toward emotional responsiveness in design, creating spaces that enrich occupants’ well-being and experience. By integrating insights from neuroscience, architects can craft impactful, memorable environments, harnessing emotion as a core element of human cognition to make buildings more meaningful and engaging. In Emotional Architecture, Arushi Malhotra describes emotional architecture as a two-fold interaction: cognitive, where users interpret space, and emotional, where they react to it. By carefully manipulating elements such as light, color, and sound, architects can create environments that foster positive emotional responses, thereby enhancing user experience and potentially influencing mood and productivity.

On the other hand, the architecture of illusion, as explored by Richard Haas [1] and M.C. Escher, and AI-generated images at Craiyon create a world where perspective and spatial perception are manipulated to challenge the viewer’s understanding of reality. These artists employ techniques that distort conventional architectural forms, constructing scenes that defy gravity, continuity, and logic. Their work invites viewers into spaces that feel simultaneously familiar and impossible, where each element appears coherent individually, yet together, they form an intricate, mind-bending puzzle. Through the use of optical illusions, they create a captivating experience that blurs the line between the real and the surreal.

Course Brief:

This seminar focuses on the intersection of emotional architecture, generative AI, and immersive virtual environments to understand how spatial design impacts human perception and emotional response. Students will leverage cutting-edge technologies to examine how elements like color, light, sound, and spatial layout shape neural responses, eye fixation patterns, and overall emotional experiences within architectural spaces.

Through AI-driven simulations and virtual reality, participants will study how specific architectural features influence occupants’ psychological and physiological reactions. Using eye-tracking technology and biometric feedback, students will gain valuable insights into user interactions and emotional responses to various spatial configurations, developing skills to design spaces that resonate emotionally and enhance human well-being.

This course will explore how architectural experiences can evoke and enhance a range of emotions, including happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, love, excitement, calmness, awe, confusion, trust, pride, relief, compassion, loneliness, and anticipation. Additionally, students will build technical skills in visualizing architectural spaces in VR and assessing emotional responses, preparing them to create impactful, emotion-centered environments.

 

Gen-AI with Stable Diffusion, by Ming Tang

Skills covered:

Unreal Engine 5, Generative AI tools

Key Topics:

  • Theories of emotional architecture and human-centered design.
  • Exploration of architectural drawings from Libbeus Woods, Zaha Hadid about styles and human emotions. 
  • Applications of generative AI in creating adaptive, responsive spatial features
  • Use Unreal Engine to create virtual reality and immersive media for simulating and testing architectural impact
  • Techniques in eye-tracking and biometric measurement to assess engagement and emotional response
  • Analyzing the influence of spatial elements—color, light, sound, material textures—on mood and neural activity
  • Ethical considerations and implications of designing for emotional impact

Eye-tracking heatmap of CVG airport. Tobii VR. 

Learning Outcomes: By the end of this course, students will:

  1. Understand the foundational theories of emotional architecture and its relevance in contemporary design.
  2. Apply generative AI tools to create and adapt architectural designs based on emotional and perceptual data.
  3. Conduct virtual reality, eye-tracking, and biometrics experiments to gauge human responses to spatial features.
  4. Critically analyze and discuss the emotional impact of environmental factors in architecture.
  5. Produce a generative AI-based design project incorporating findings on human emotional responses to enhance user experience in virtual and real spaces.

Assessment:
Assessment will be based on a combination of participation in VR-based labs, a midterm report on emotional architecture theory, and a final project integrating generative AI with VR to present an emotionally engaging spatial design prototype.

Course Prerequisites:
This seminar is designed for advanced undergraduate or graduate students in architecture, design, or related fields. Familiarity with basic architectural design concepts and introductory experience in 3D modeling or AI is recommended but not required.

Tool Description Example
Unreal Engine 5 Used for creating immersive walkthrough and drive-through experiences in virtual environments CVG Airport Renovation;   2023 elective seminar
Gen-AI Utilizes Stable Diffusion with ComfyUI, ControlNet, and 360-degree Lora for generating design concepts and spatial visuals Blink Exhibition, Spatial Computing. ARCH Design Studio  AI and Architecture
Eye-Tracking Tobii VR system for tracking user gaze and interaction within virtual environments to assess wayfinding and emotional response Eye-tracking study on the signage and wayfinding at CVG

Weekly Schedule

Week Topic Skills Covered Deliverable
1 Architecture & Emotions Introduction to emotional architecture theory and its impact on design; exploration of case studies –
2 Gen-AI Using Generative AI tools like Stable Diffusion, ControlNet, and ComfyUI for creating spatial concepts based on emotional responses –
3 Virtual Reality Introduction to VR fundamentals, Unreal Engine UI, and GitHub for project collaboration –
4 VR Content Building VR content in Unreal Engine, focusing on modeling, materials, and lighting to enhance emotional impact Concept
5 VR Interactions Developing interactive elements in VR that respond to user movements and actions, enhancing immersion and engagement –
6 Eye-Tracking Introduction to eye-tracking technology to analyze user focus and interaction within VR environments –
7-15 Working Time Independent project work to refine VR environments, incorporating feedback loops with eye-tracking data to optimize emotional impact Prototype
16 Final Presentation Presentation of final VR environment, demonstrating emotional and interactive elements to a panel or peers Final Presentation

Reading

Appendix

Unreal student projects. CVG

Stable Diffusion with Control Net 

Stable Fast 3D with ComfyUI