Dr. Tiziana Proietti, an assistant professor of Interior Design and Architecture, recently spoke at a Kansas State University event titled “Generators of Architectural Atmosphere.” Dr. Proietti presented the keynote talk, The Experience of Architectural Proportion Through a Scientific Perspective, in which she explored human perceptions of architectural proportion.
In her presentation, Dr. Proietti asked how modern science can advance our understanding of the experience of proportion of the flesh-and-blood person who moves freely in the built environment. Seeds of empirical approach to the topic were introduced through the analysis of the work of several architects, such as Nikolai Ladovsky and Hans van der Laan. Following this analysis, pertinent modern scientific studies were described emphasizing tangencies with the empirical thinking of proportion. Dr. Proietti concluded by presenting the work she has conducted at the Sense|Base Lab as an example of investigating architectural proportion through methods of science. She introduced two experimental approaches: external observation and immersive observation.
The Sense|Base laboratory, directed by Dr. Tiziana Proietti, is housed here at the Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma. It is an interdisciplinary laboratory that bridges architecture and neuroscience with an emphasis on the perception of architectural proportion. Dr. Proietti is also working with the scientist Dr. Sergei Gepshtein at Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Together, they are developing an interdisciplinary program of research to intertwine neuroscientific knowledge and architectural design and to test long-standing hypotheses about the human response to architectural proportion. Explore more of Dr. Proietti’s work.
Associate Professors Lee Fithian, Ph.D., and Elizabeth Pober have published a chapter in the recently released New Perspectives in Indoor Air Quality, published by Elsevier. Their contribution, titled “Chapter 16 – Architecture and the Challenges of Indoor Air Quality,” examines the relationship between architecture and indoor air quality.
Dr. Ladan Mozaffarian, Assistant Professor of Regional and City Planning, has been selected to serve as Co-Chair of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Planners of Color Interest Group (POCIG) for the 2025–2027 term.
The Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to recognize Tahsin Tabassum, a recent graduate of the college’s Master of Regional and City Planning program and current doctoral student at the University of California, Irvine, for receiving the prestigious 2024–2025 American Planning Association (APA) Outstanding Student Award.
