Perceived meaning in virtual reality architectural models.

Paper in proceeding, 2001

This explorative study investigated how the participants experience a VR-presentation of an office building. Three office types (landscape, mixed and traditional) were presented in a between-subjects experimental design to employees at the Ericsson company in Sweden. The effects on the participants’ experience were measured using the Semantic Environmental Scale (the SMB-scale, Küller, 1975; 1991), a standardised instrument consisting of eight meaning dimensions, each measured using four to eight adjectives on seven-step scales. The SMB-results showed that the participants’ experience of the three office types differed with regard to the dimensions, pleasantness, enclosedness and social status. We also found effects of gender on the meaning dimensions affection, potency and unity. Our research,conducted in an ecologically valid context, suggests that the VR-model tested produces realistic effects on the participants’ experience.