The role or interior design elements in mitigating the negative relationship between residential crowding and psychological health was investigated. Residents of crowded homes with greater architectural depth-the number of spaces one must pass through to get from one room in the house to another-are less likely to socially withdraw or to be psychologically distressed than residents in crowded homes with relatively low depth. Additional analyses suggest that greater depth buffers the association between residential crowding and psychological distress because it reduces social withdrawal among residents of crowded homes.Despite a voluminous literature on crowding and human behavior (Altman, 1975;Baum & Paulus, 1987;Evans & Lepore, 1992), there has been limited scholarly analysis of the role of environmental design elements in human responses to crowding. In this article, we examine the potential utility of space syntax theory (Hillier & Hanson, 1984;Peponis, Zimring, & Choi, 1990;Zimring & Gross, 1991) to study the relations among residential crowding, design elements, and human well-being.There have been a few studies on design and crowding. Dorm rooms with more light were perceived as less crowded than same-sized rooms with less natural light (Schiffenbauer, Brown, Perry, Shulack, & Zanzola, 1977). Parallel results were found in an experimental study using stick figures in a model room (Baum & Davis, 1976). In a series of studies, Baum and colleagues have also examined how architectural interventions change residents' reactions to crowded living conditions. In the

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