The Impact of Biomorphic Design on the Memorability of Interior Environment

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of architectural design elements on the memorability of interior designed environments. These effects were investigated by testing three hypotheses that explored the relationship between architectural design elements and memory. The first hypothesis was that images of environments primarily containing elements of biomorphic architectural design are more intrinsically memorable than images of environments that primarily contain elements of formal rectilinear minimalist design. The second was that architectural design elements are expected to impact intrinsic memorability through their effect on participants' feeling of pleasantness. It was also expected that as visual attention to the architectural design elements increases, the intrinsic memorability of those architectural elements also increases.;To explore these hypotheses, this study compared the memorability of interior environments that were designed using a biomorphic design approach, inspired by organic shapes and forms, with interior environments designed using a formal rectilinear minimalist design approach, characterized as simplified designs with "rectilinear" forms, the use of boxes, and the rejection of ornament and decoration. This dissertation project includes two primary studies: First, a stimulus set was developed using a specific methodological consideration, to provide a set of normative and standardized stimuli sets that control potential confounds in this study. Second, the main experiment was designed to assess the three measures of spatial cognition components using linear-regression modeling. First, it measured intrinsic memorability of designed environments, using a cognitive memory task to see which types of design images were more memorable. Second, it measured participants' points of view, using a Likert Scale questionnaire, to assess participants' emotional responses to biomorphic design and formal rectilinear minimalist design. Third, it measured participants' visual attention, using eye-tracking technology, to identify which specific design elements the participants were looking at.;The results demonstrated that designing environments using biomorphic design elements increased human visual attention through the interior environments and positively impacted their memory and memorability of designed environments. Moreover, participants had a higher preference for biomorphic designed interior environments rather than formal rectilinear minimalist designed environments.;Research is needed to study the relationship between designed environments and human Neuropsychological function such as memory to traditional environment-behavior studies. This study addresses that need.;These findings suggest that interior spaces with biomorphic design elements are more memorable and pleasurable than spaces without biomorphic elements. Furthermore, greater memorability was mediated by pleasantness, which suggests that emotional enhancement of memory occurs when viewing spaces with biomorphic design elements.