Interior Vibe: The Psychology of Interiors

With most of our lives spent indoors, the space we occupy has major role in our psychological behavior and well being. I stumbled upon this fact through my years of meditation and healing journey. Any blocked memory that I have come across and healed, not only had emotional charge attached to events or persons but also elements and spatial dimensions. So when I started learning and practicing Interior Design, I tried to understand more as to how we are interacting and getting influenced by our built environment. And from the perspective of a practitioner of meditation and healing, I was curious to understand if our raised vibration has the potential to transform the energy of any built environment. 

My curiosity to learn more on this lead me to a subject called Architectural Psychology or more popular term Environmental Psychology. This branch of psychology looks into the interaction of people and the spaces they inhabit; both built and natural. It is the study of human relations and behaviors within the context of the built and natural environments. Within the built environment that is the interior of any building lighting, colors, configuration, scale, proportions, acoustics and materials address the senses of individual and generate a spectrum of feelings.

Photo Credit: David Libeert

From inducing warmth and safety, defining well being or creating a positive and efficient working environment, space impacts us whole lot on how we act or what we feel. I therefore feel that interior design and aesthetics would serve the client better if it is according to the social and psychological needs of the occupants.

The interior of any built environment becomes an integral part of people’s psychology as it directly impacts on our subconscious by contributing to our emotions and perceptions through that part of our brain that reacts to the geometry of the space we occupy. Though it is not the only factor, interior space has big implication on our psychological well being or lack of it. While some spaces add up to your anxiety, others provoke a sense of serenity and you cannot seem to know why. The influences of our environment we may not be able to see or touch, yet they directly influence on our behavior or mood.

While designing an interior, aspects of safety, social connect, ease of movement and sensory stimulation comes into consideration. More concrete measures encompass ventilation, light, drainage, color, texture and objects. The judicious use of design principles of balance, proportion, symmetry and rhythm can introduce a sense of harmony.

Colors make a huge difference to the energy balance of any interior. It plays huge impact in lending a space an altered volume: warmer the color, the more compact the space becomes. They can also evoke feelings of comfort or stimulate communication. Similarly light depends greatly on function. A dim light suggests a gloomy space while a bright light defines a bigger animated appearance. Natural light stimulates production and recovery.

Taken into account in the design process, environmental psychology may lead to built environments that is conducive to better productivity in commercial projects, bigger sales in retail ventures and accelerated recovery in health care developments. As translation of this subject into universally applicable specific design recommendations is yet to be common place, so it highly depends on designer’s sensitivity, creativity and understanding of the research in this area.

As I am learning along, I am trying to put into practice and transfer my learning to others.