| Title |
Toward Understanding Observers' Evaluation of Aesthetic Beauty for Architectural Buildings |
| Keywords |
Aesthetic Beauty or Preference Analysis/Evaluation ; Environmental Design for Residential Setting |
| Abstract |
A total of 129 subjects are asked to rate a set of 9 residential housing scenes depicting a wide range of architectural features on a 5-point scale for aesthetic preference. In order to examine the proposition that there might be certain difference or similarity in the preference patterns of people who differ in both learning background and place of residence, sample are classified into architects who represent design-related professions and lay persons who lack specific training in design, and also into urban and rural residents according to their place of residence at the time of survey. This study addressing the pattern of similarities and differences in observers' evaluation of aesthetic preference for architectural buildings has obtained several meaningful findings.
First of all, between-group similarities are more likely than differences to be salient in preference patterns, although highly significant group differences are found in several scenes on a random base. As a result, this study is likely to partially supports the classical idea of environmental psychologists that preference ratings of built environments are cross-culturally valid. The study groups(architects or lay persons, and rural or urban people) have only a marginal effect on differentiating preference ratings among the respondents. Second, age explains directly or indirectly the pattern of aesthetic preference. That is, lay persons and female respondents turned out to be younger than their counterparts, and they, including young people, are similar in the response patterns of aesthetic preference. As validated by adjusted R2 values, third, the combined extra effect of all the group variables on the ratings of aesthetic preference is relatively weak. Finally, the total response variability of aesthetic preference ratings can be better explained and predicted by utilizing the group variables plus the visual cue variables all together. |