Evaluation of Comfortable Spaces for Women Using Virtual Environment

Abstract

Aiming at securing a comfortable, safe and high-quality life for all people, including the elderly, children, the physically impaired, and women, our research evaluates the conditions of living or working spaces using virtual reality. After comparing virtual spaces and real spaces by experiment and revealing the similarities and differences between the two, we planned a further experiment to evaluate the conditions of spaces that provide a feeling of safety and comfort, especially for women. From our questionnaire survey, the features of the answers given only by women are related to the condition of being seen or unseen. Therefore, we planned an experiment to clarify the conditions of openness of space related to feeling unsafe or safe. In generating the virtual spaces, we focused our attention on the window, since it is known that windows have the greatest impact on the openness of living spaces and that such openness is determined by both the size and view of a window. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the impressions given by rooms with a window of various sizes and outside views. From the results of questionnaire analysis, there were significant effects of window view for various impression items. Moreover, the results showed a difference in the feeling of openness between men and women. In this article, we introduce the results of the latest experiment in which we targeted only the window view and employed both a questionnaire and biological signals for evaluation of spaces.