Characterization of the new dormitory towns visual environments and its perceptual influence on their residents

Abstract

The question of building a comfortable for living in it architectural space has gained a popularity because of the expansive growth of new dormitory towns in big Russian cities. Connection between the quality of surroundings and mental health of the residents, their ability to navigate in space and to react to the external stimuli is obvious. In this research the analysis of different typologies of urban architectural spaces was carried out in order to determine the quantitative parameters of these visual areas. According to the results of this research a strong tendency of the facades silhouettes simplification and a decrease of morphological informativeness of the visual environment were noticed. Comparing to other types of architectural environment, visual medium of new urban dormitory towns provides its observers with rather poor material to analyze and get important information from the surroundings. The whole spectrum of deviations from normal perceptive process can be influenced by this new environment, including difficulties with orientation in space, learning how to navigate (especially for kids who have lived in such conditions since being born), decrease concentration of attention and narrowing of the field of vision.