Summary
Recently,
utilization of underground spaces has been dramatically increased for the
public and private uses in urban areas due to the lack of available land
spaces. However, negative image of underground structures throughout the
world’s population seems to be obstacles for the optimal utilization of the
underground spaces. A large proportion of the population show natural
reluctance to go underground structures and “many people claim to have feelings
of apprehension and even anxiety when they descend into a subway or an
underground park” (Sterling and Godard, 2004, p. 6). A common problem with the
underground facilities is the “feeling of danger and entrapment” (Ringstad,
1994, p. 5). Despite the fact that the underground structures are eco-friendly
and safer than above ground structure in many natural hazards such as
earthquake, hurricane, tornado etc., there is very limited research in this
field. An understanding of people’s image of underground space will therefore
be useful in predicting the most likely psychological responses to underground
facilities for public use; and this may be helpful in developing design
solutions for the underground space (Ringstad, 1994).
Experimental
research was carried out among the graduate level international students in
order to evaluate people’s fundamental psychological reaction towards the
underground space and analyze the influence of design factors on people’s
perception. More than fifty percentage of the population showed feeling of
unsafe while in underground, where the loss of connection to the outer world
was most fear provoking factor. People’s psychological reactions showed that
the safety assurance and the suitable architectural design parameters positively
influence the people’s perception on underground structures. Further researches
to incorporate more detailed psychological aspects of human being and influence
of design parameters are needed.
11/29/2005
Las Cruces, NM
