A Phenomenological Framework of Architectural Paradigms for the User-Centered Design of Virtual Environments

Abstract

In some circumstances, immersion in virtual environments with the aid of virtual reality (VR) equipment can create feelings of anxiety in users and be experienced as something “frightening”, “oppressive”, “alienating”, “dehumanizing”, or “dystopian”. Sometimes (e.g., in exposure therapy or VR gaming), a virtual environment is intended to have such psychological impacts on users; however, such effects can also arise unintentionally due to the environment’s poor architectural design. Designers of virtual environments may employ user-centered design (UCD) to incrementally improve a design and generate a user experience more closely resembling the type desired; however, UCD can yield suboptimal results if an initial design relied on an inappropriate architectural approach. This study developed a framework that can facilitate the purposeful selection of the most appropriate architectural approach by drawing on Norberg-Schulz’s established phenomenological account of real-world architectural modes. By considering the unique possibilities for structuring and experiencing space within virtual environments and reinterpreting Norberg-Schulz’s schemas in the context of virtual environment design, a novel framework was formulated that explicates six fundamental “architectural paradigms” available to designers of virtual environments. It was shown that the application of this framework could easily be incorporated as an additional step within the UCD process.

A virtual reality home-based training for the management of stress and anxiety among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…This VR-based psychoeducational experience has been created following the theoretical framework of architectural approaches for the user-centered design (UCD) of virtual environments developed by Gladden [ 70 ]. Since the scientific literature suggests that naturalistic virtual environments cause a relaxing effect and an increase in positive emotions [ 71 – 73 ], a small tropical island was chosen as the setting.…”

MIND-VR: Design and Evaluation Protocol of a Virtual Reality Psychoeducational Experience on Stress and Anxiety for the Psychological Support of Healthcare Workers Involved in the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Regarding virtual reality, it has been demonstrated that, by optimizing the virtual environment's architecture, the use of UCD in the development of virtual experiences offers a more efficient, satisfying, user-friendly experience (Gabbard et al, 1999;Jerald, 2015;Barbieri et al, 2018;Gladden, 2018). It has been employed to design and evaluate virtual experiences in museums (Barbieri et al, 2018), tourism (Poux et al, 2020), automotive industries (de Clerk et al, 2019), and military (Hix et al, 1999), and medical fields (Vailland et al, 2019).…”

“…The design of the experience is based on the theoretical framework of architectural paradigms for the UCD of virtual environments developed by Gladden (Gladden, 2018). By considering the unique possibilities for structuring and experiencing space within virtual environments and reinterpreting Norberg-Schulz's schemas in the context of virtual environment design (Norberg-Schulz, 1980), this framework formulated six fundamental architectural paradigms available to designers of virtual environments that could easily be incorporated as an additional step within the UCD process.…”

“…This architectural paradigm can be used to create many types of virtual environments that are not literally meant to function as "museums," creating for users the atmosphere of a gallery whose visual and textual information are being displayed and appreciated. Inside these virtual museums, the person can follow a predetermined path or freely explore the environment (Gladden, 2018).…”

The Self-Revelation and Cognition of VR-Facilitated Virtual Worlds: Towards a Phenomenology of Virtual Habitation

“…More recent phenomenologically oriented investigations relevant to virtual reality have included analyses of embodiment and intentionality in VR from the perspectives of Merleau-Ponty (Ajana, 2005;Cobián, 2008;McBlane, 2013;Bailey, 2016) and Stein (Fuentes, 2016); Heideggerian explorations of VR focusing on truth, inauthenticity, the world, and aesthetic experience (Coyne, 1994;Polt, 2015;Geng & Peng, 2016); explorations of the connection between the lifeworld and virtual reality (Beeson, 2001;Deuze, 2014;Butnaru, 2015); analyses that relate Ingarden's aesthetics to virtual reality as art and narration (Ryan, 1999(Ryan, , 2001(Ryan, , 2015Drazdauskas, 2006;Vilariño Picos, 2011;Przegalińska, 2014); frameworks for the design of virtual environments that draw on Norberg-Schulz's architectural phenomenology (Gladden, 2018b); broader phenomenological aesthetic analyses of virtual reality (Bekesi, 1999;Rabanus, 2009;Rousseaux, 2010); and more general phenomenological analyses of VR (Kornelsen, 1991;Murray, 1999;Schroeder, 2003;Heinzel & Heinzel, 2010;Asanowicz, 2014). This text seeks to advance such phenomenological study by investigating the nature of the VR-facilitated virtual world qua world and our experience of it.…”