A Study On The University Outdoor Space Based On Perceptual Continuity

This dissertation studies the organization of university outdoor space from a perspective of perceptual continuity.People perceive the existence of surrounding space from their movements. Psychological research shows that in people's mental world, sometimes the time flow could pause and even go backwards, and the space could become fragmented and disappear, even though we know that the space-time and the movements are in the states of continuum. Conversely, we can also connect fragmented space in our perception through the layout and organization of spatial sequences to come to a "discontinuous continuity". It shows that a paradox of continuity and discontinuity emerges when human perception reflects to the outside world. This article tries to research and explain the paradox based on the theories of Gestalt psychology, cognitive psychology and Delueze philosophy, and study the university outdoor space from the perspective of perceptual continuity.Start with the famous Paradoxes of Zeno, this article distinguishes the experiential outside world from our mental world, and poses the conception of perceptual continuity. Then a series of logical arguments over the relationships between continuity and discontinuity, continuity and difference, and continuity and integrity are set forth to prove that the space better in forming perceptual continuity is more likely to convey the meanings of the built environment and gives people successive lyrical experiences.For further research of how to connect the spatial design and the perceptual continuity, this article divides the outdoor space elements into two types: place and path. They are two basic types of space elements that holding different perceptual meanings. According to the characteristics of university outdoor space, the article demonstrates that perceptual continuity in the experience of space can be influenced by two things: scale continuity and multi-meaning continuity. Scale continuity analyzes the ratio of spatial area to the overall perspective area and its influences to the perception based on the figure-ground principle in the Gestalt psychology. The appreciablility of space and the rhythm of spatial variation in the movement sequence are discussed through the detailed analysis of the three universities: University of Pennsylvania, University of Massachusetts Boston and Tongji University. It is also studied that multi-meaning continuity can be influenced by the different organizations of place and path, and how they can work on people's mental time to form multi-meaning like ambiguity, narrativity, intensity and divertingness. In the last part of the article, the two aspects of forming perceptual continuity are concluded and applied to university outdoor spatial design.