Contributions of Environment-Behavior Studies To Interior Design Education

Abstract

Knowledge in environment-behavior studies (EBS) is significant for interior design students, as understanding the human being and how one makes meaning of the environment, and how human beings operate within a spatial context, is essential to understanding the requirements an interior and its users. This basis is helpful in enabling the design of more fitting environments that functionally and aesthetically provide an answer to users' needs. Although this is the case, most interior design programs today do not have this course in their educational structure. In order to transfer this understanding to interior design students, a study was conducted within the EBS course in the Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, Izmir University of Economics, Turkey. The course aimed to present a comprehensive and interdisciplinary understanding on the relationship between the physical environment and behavior of human beings. Environmental problems require an understanding of how people think and behave, as well as the related context, therefore, topics included, but were not limited to, making meaning within the environment, biophilia, universal design, environmental perception and cognition, spatial behavior such as personal space and territoriality, privacy, crowding, behavior settings, physical settings in which people live, work, and learn, the transactions between people and their everyday social and physical environments at an advanced level, in addition to how these issues could be reflected on different areas of interior design. Students were required to conduct a small-scale EBS research study in groups, and prepare presentations including videos, posters, and reports. The various research study topics included, identifying accessibility problems on the university campus by using a wheelchair on a specified route and providing accessible solutions; a comparison of consumer behavior and movement within two shops that were similar in terms of target customers, but had different approaches in their interior designs; designs that invite pedestrians to show playful behavior on a busy street in downtown Izmir; and a Biophilic kindergarten design. The students interacted with users of a particular environment and provided design proposals at the end of their studies. Findings showed that, students were quite successful in designing and applying a research study in the EBS area. With a theoretical background that included the fundamentals of EBS, students also gained awareness and sensitivity towards the built and natural environments, and were able to grasp the significance of research in the field of design and learning to do research in design. Moreover, they acquired the skills to assess how findings of a research study could be applied in design. In this study, the significance of EBS in interior design education and the means by which this content can be delivered with active student participation will be discussed, on the basis of a theoretical background and specific examples of the applied student works.