Effects of boundary height and horizontal size within boundary on perceived enclosure

Percept Mot Skills. 2011 Dec;113(3):995-8. doi: 10.2466/24.27.PMS.113.6.995-998.

Abstract

The permeability theory of environmental design predicts that perceived enclosure will be more strongly related to boundary properties such as height as opposed to the size of a horizontal area within a boundary. An experiment on perceived enclosure, provided by 24 participants on 12 spaces in a park, indicated that enclosure correlated at .85 with boundary height and -.60 with horizontal area. These results were as predicted by permeability theory.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Orientation*
  • Pattern Recognition, Visual*
  • Size Perception*
  • Space Perception*
  • Young Adult