Sergei Gepshtein

In recent years, advances in the empirical sciences of perception and cognition have attracted growing interest from designers. Architects, in particular, have come to see how scientific knowledge can deepen their understanding of how people experience the built environment – through sensation, perception, movement, and emotion.

Abstract Architectural proportion has primarily been studied in two dimensions. Similarly, scientific studies of the perception of proportion have focused on two-dimensional shapes projected onto flat surfaces and viewed from fixed distances. Yet architectural proportion is experienced in three-dimensional space. We address this discrepancy using methods of sensory psychophysics. Participants compared the proportions of solid objects presented within a modified camera obscura.

Abstract Throughout the twentieth century, several institutions sought to reform architectural education by enhancing students' perceptual and cognitive capacities. Notable examples include the American Theory of Pure Design in Boston, the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau, BXYTEMAC in Moscow, Visual Training at IIT in Chicago, the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm and the Cursus Kerkelijke Architectuur in 's Hertogenbosch.