Visual perception of climate responsive architectural form

Abstract

The concept of the ecological approach to visual perception is reviewed, and its application both to the perception and to the design of architectural form is discussed. The objectives and requirements of climatic design, relevant to the achievement of thermal comfort through architectural form in a warm humid climate, are described. The relationship between the principles of climatic design in a warm humid climate, and the application of the concept of affordances of the ecological approach to architectural form is discussed. The results are critically assessed using two housing areas in West Java as case studies. Differences were found in the perception of architectural form between the first case, traditional housing, and the second case, modern city housing. It is argued that changes in socio-economical and physio-psychological needs constrain the basic affordances of architectural form, and affect their recognition and use. Finally an outline is given of possible future directions for study in this field.