Investigating the Impact of Spatial Design on Emotional and Cognitive Response in Cultural Heritage Spaces

This thesis investigates the extent to which subtle architectural manipulations influence the implicit affective and cognitive states of the museum visitors, specifically lighting temperature, ceiling height, surface color saturation, and interpretive graphics. This study employs a multimodal experimental design using the Deir el-Medina room at the Museo Egizio (Turin) as a case study, a controlled laboratory experiment was conducted with 30 participants. Subjects viewed high-fidelity renderings of the museum space across five experimental conditions while their physiological responses were recorded using Electroencephalography (EEG) to measure cognitive workload and engagement, Electrodermal Activity (EDA) to measure physiological arousal, and Eye-Tracking to map visual attention and gaze behavior. These implicit measures were analyzed with explicit self-reported evaluations of the space. The most robust finding was the impact of spatial compression: lowering the ceiling reduced cognitive workload while increasing visual fixation on the primary artifact and increasing subjective reports of mental effort, effectively acting as a passive mechanism for attention guidance. Conversely, the introduction of interpretive graphics drove higher levels of engagement but dispersed visual attention away from the artifact. Furthermore, conditions with high color saturation and cooler lighting trends indicated increased cognitive workload, suggesting that visual intensity may tax the visitor's cognitive resources in heritage environments. By quantifying the invisible dialogue between the visitor’s brain and the architectural vessel, this research provides an evidence-based framework for designing empathetic cultural heritage spaces that respect the cognitive economy of the visitor.