APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY OF ARCHITECTURE
BOOK I.

THE SECRET WORLD OF ARCHITECTS

(August 2018 – March 2021)

Karel Smejkal

in collaboration with psychologists Iva Beňová and Oleg N. Mazurov

At Wienerberger, we have long been interested in and actively support a number of programmes and competitions for secondary school and university students. Our activities have brought us to the work of Dr. Karel Smejkal, one of the founders of the student international architectural competition INSPIRELI AWARDS. Being a world leader in building materials innovation, we found it interesting to join this inspiring man in his other projects, including this publication. 

Applied Architectural Psychology is a world unique, a topic that has never been addressed before in this context. When we were given the opportunity to contribute to this publication, we proudly became a partner. The purpose of the sciences is, among other things, to explore and discover. The same applies to the development of our products, which is primarily driven by people and their hard work – by architects of ideas and visions.

We have become a partner of this book because we want to support the professional growth of young architects. We want to see their ideas come to life. And we are very aware that a brilliant idea is more likely to be born in a clear head.

Robert Krestýn
Director of Business Development and Marketing

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

White Dog

Theoretical background

What is psychology

What is architecture

The genesis of Applied Psychology of Architecture

The first touch of psychology

Psychology of buildings

From psychology of buildings to psychology of architecture

Psychology of architecture or psychology of architects?

Horizon of creating architectural work

Way of thinking

20 years among architects

Architecture and music

Pilot survey

Wings to the Future Cup

This project is not mine

Defining psychology of architecture

Environmental psychology vs psychology of architecture

Architect and responsibility

Structure of the definition

Chandelier in Wuppertal

Research

Hypothesis I. Distribution of temperaments in the architectural community

Find Your Architect

Results of architect testing using the Find Your Architect game:

Distribution of temperaments

Hypothesis II. Typological orientations of architects

Hypothesis III. The hidden handwriting of architects

Graphical test of creativity

Sorting of a gallery of realizations

Hypothesis IV. Identification of composition

Change of architect changes everything

Assumptions and possible conclusions

Hypothesis V. Typology-based approach of architects to clients

Hypothesis VI. Influence of education on preferences in architecture

Hypothesis VII. Psychological audit of architectural studio

Applying psychology of architecture

Course in applied psychology of architecture

The theoretical basis of the course

Course structure and experience

Architect Dating

Artistic value of architectural work

Definition of art

Is architecture art?

Toilet textbook

Duel with an economics professor!

Beginning

Attachments

Psychology of Buildings (Dissertation abstract, 2008)

1. DISSERTATION OBJECTIVES

2.1 THE ESSENCE OF THE PREFERENTIAL-STRUCTURAL METHOD

2.1.1. Characteristics

2.1.2. Requirements

3.1.3 Operational-dispositional units

2.2 METHODOLOGY

2.2.1. Definition of the preferential structural method

2.2.2. Methodology of the preferential structural method

2.2.3. Dependency charts

2.3 EXAMPLE EVALUATION

2.3.1 Evaluation of a sports building

2.3.2 Preferential Structural Methodology development, Conclusion

2.4 RESULTS, CONTRIBUTION TO PRACTICE

2.5 CONCLUSION – GENERALISATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS

Terminology

Preface

If you opened this book, it was probably because of the title. You may work for a contracting company where you meet architects now and then. Or you are a sales representative, and your daily bread is to communicate with architects and offer your products. Or you may be an investor looking for the right architect, or you are a teacher, a student, or even an architect. Or perhaps you are just intrigued by the subject matter of the book. Whoever you are, you opened this book for the same reason I once approached the Russian psychologist Oleg Nikolayevich Mazurov as he was sitting against the gym wall watching us. That reason was curiosity. A force that at the time inspired me in a direction I had not yet even contemplated before. Back then, I was just an architecture student who had ambitions similar to those of my classmates. I wanted to build, create, and conquer the world. My curiosity, however, eventually led me to other goals. I stopped being interested in buildings and houses, and I stopped wanting to build magnificent monuments to my creativity. I stopped wanting to be an architect to eventually become an observer, admirer, caregiver, teacher, and founder of Applied Psychology of Architecture.

It has been almost exactly four years since I decided to re-immerse myself in the mysteries of psychology and translate my experience and knowledge from the two disciplines – psychology and architecture – into an applied course that draws from both disciplines and enriches those who pursue their missions in these two fields. This book is not the first one I have written in my life, but it is the first that aims to impart some knowledge. Therefore, I decided to adapt its content to a form that appealed to me when I began to learn what applied psychology was and how it could benefit those ready to listen. At the same time, my teacher, psychologist Oleg Nikolayevich Mazurov, completed his work on the doctrine of Existology, parts of which meaningfully permeate this book and from which all our definitions have been derived.

This book is thus not, as I firmly hope, just a boring summary of a new subject, but rather a personal narrative of my journey to understand the background of the world of us, architects, from a perspective that should not remain hidden from us, creators – the perspective of psychology.

So, I invite you, dear reader, to this path of knowledge that has opened before me. Because, as you will soon see, inspiration is the force that is the true architect of our cities and lives, and this book shows one of the ways to grasp this force for the benefit of us all.

Author

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Oleg N. Mazurov, my teacher, who guided us – his charges – for years in our sporting careers and then continued guiding us in our lives. Thanks to him, my life has been full of successes and new challenges that would not have been possible without the knowledge of psychology. In this book, I also draw on his life's work, The Doctrine of Existology, parts and definitions of which have been published in print for the first time in this book.

I would also like to thank Iva Beňová, a student and then a long-time collaborator and life partner of Oleg N. Mazurov. Iva was first my friend and opponent of my scientific work and then became a member of our scientific team and my support in building and teaching Applied Psychology of Architecture. Without her supervision, especially during my lectures, I would be less confident in some situations.

White Dog

A student is sitting at a desk in the middle of the classroom. It's almost dark outside. Like all his classmates, he has his term project on his desk and watches with anticipation as the professor slowly approaches him. A tall man with white hair is opening one paper folder after another with sure movements. With a few expert glances, the professor checks the crucial points of the steel structure and then turns to the last page, where he either confirms or rejects the resulting load capacity number. As he slowly works his way from project to project, from desk to desk, we can see he can no longer conceal his increasing tension. His sharp remarks point out one fundamental flaw that occurs in the students’ projects with chilling regularity. The whole classroom is nervous. The professor's advance is lined with rejected students who, almost with tears in their eyes, seek solace in the knowledge that they have not failed alone.

It soon becomes evident that one particular missing crossbeam is to the professor what a red rag is to a bull. The student looks at his project and sees that this particular beam is in place, but he wouldn't dare bet anyone on the rest of the project. As the professor approaches him, he decides to act. He grabs the white eraser he keeps on his desk next to his sharpened pencils and does what his classmates would never understand – a few quick strokes and he creates a flaw in his project the professor does not forgive. He puts the eraser aside just as the almost aggressive professor fails another student in front of him. He puts his glasses back on and goes to our student’s desk. The student stops him and shows him the missing beam, as a flaw he has just discovered and which he can correct immediately. The completely different attitude momentarily strikes the professor. The student managed to step out from the otherwise monotonous crowd. After a few seconds of consideration, the professor gives his approval and continues to the next desk. While the professor is bent over another project, our student recreates the original version of the beam with a few quick strokes and almost immediately taps the professor's shoulder to show him how quickly he could solve the problem. The professor takes a cursory glance at the centre of the structure where the student’s finger is pointing and then tells the student he’s got an A.

The professor was an expert in his field and had seen a lot in his long career. But this time, he was up against an opponent he had underestimated. He didn’t know that he had come across a student who knew psychology, nor had he any idea that psychology could be applied in such a subject as steel constructions. He was also unaware that the student, like any of his clients, might at some point gain an unnoticed advantage that might even affect the entire architectural work. This time, he was offered a “white dog”, which is a mistake he expected of a student, a mistake that distracted him from the rest of the project he never checked.

Theoretical background

What is psychology

Whenever I start a lecture or seminar on psychology of architecture, I open the topic by explaining the basic concepts so that we can all agree on a specific vocabulary that will be used. I have the dictionary already prepared, of course, and I just inform my listeners about its contents. This approach is based on my own experience when I met a real psychologist for the first time in my life. It was a sports psychologist – my future teacher Oleg Nikolayevich Mazurov. I remember that at the time, I couldn't help picturing the humorous image of a patient complaining about the setbacks of his life and a wise man sitting next to him with a pipe, barely keeping himself from laughing. In the case of this particular sports psychologist, my imagination could not have been closer to reality but also further from it at the same time.

But let's get back to the point. To avoid this experience, which is still vivid for me today, I always start by explaining the concept of psychology right at the beginning. The translation of the compound word psycho-logy, i.e. the science of the soul, is not precisely the most appropriate introduction because it could logically follow that psychology of architecture is a science of the soul of architecture, which would immediately lead us to a dead end. And that would be a pity. I'll avoid that by stating the following definition:

“Psychology is a science that studies psychological phenomena, which are values, qualities, states, and processes.”

You can see for yourselves that there’s no sign of the word “soul” and, therefore, the audience does not get indignant, and I can go on.

Values represent what you care about.

Qualities who you are.

States how you feel

And, finally, processes are about how you do what you do.

Let me add an example from our field – architecture. So, you're an architect who wants to be famous and strives for it (values), you're bold, open, creative (qualities), you're healthy and successful (states), and you know how to design (processes). Sometimes I would elaborate on the concept of states, pointing out that it means how you are feeling at this very moment because an architect will probably work differently if he is sick, in love, unhappy, or angry. This is what psychology is all about, and I believe this is an introduction that explains the focus of psychology even to those who have encountered it for the first time.

So now you know what the concept of psychology is. But you don't know what its real power is yet. And because I have experienced this myself and I remember well my first steps to understanding the power of psychology, I would like to share with you a short story that shocked me and sparked a genuine interest in psychology and its involvement in our field.

We were in the gym, sitting around our sports psychologist. He told us that the path to becoming world champions would require us to take a completely different internal approach. The psychologist told us that some of us would experience happiness when giving the maximum performance, but some would have completely opposite feelings. And not only as a consequence of our performance but, surprisingly, as its starting point. It meant only one thing. There are people who have to believe in themselves in order to win, and there are people who must not. Paradoxically, at one European championship, I was tasked to literally spoil the mood of one of our competitors who entered the competition quite confident and self-assured (which was contrary to her temperament). Unfortunately, we noticed this inadequate mental setting (state) for her performance too late and did not have time to introduce doubt (which was so typical for her) into her mind. She sprained her ankle, and the competition was over for her about ten seconds after the music started.

What is architecture

It is amazing how familiar the word is but, on the other hand, how unprepared architects are to answer when you ask them about its content. The word architecture is so important that I will approach its explanation in a similar way as I did with the word psychology. I will start again with the origin of the term, which is actually even more remote for architects than the ability to explain its content. I will help myself with an exhaustive quotation from Filosofie architektury (Philosophy of Architecture) by Eduard Hermach:

The word “architecture” consists of two Greek words. The first – Arché – means origin, principle and law. The second is contained in the term “tekture”. “Tekture” is derived from the Greek word “tichtó”, meaning to beget and give birth, and also create and produce. “Techné”, which means art and skill and which became “technique” over time, has the same root. “Tektonikos” were construction workers, especially carpenters. There’s an interesting fact about the term – tektonikos were most often of Egyptian origin. It was thus Egypt that gave the world crafts and craftsmanship. But it was already mathematics and the Pythagorean construction of the world that have drawn our attention to Egypt. Egypt, through design and craftsmanship, is thus at the very centre of our interest. It has become part of the term architecture itself. Surprisingly, the arch-tekture represents a fusion of Greece and Egypt. Thus, in a way, there is also a relationship at the very beginning of architecture. Is this an architectural variant of the “wonder” we philosophy?

The Greek “architektonikos” thus presents itself as a transition from Egyptianism to Greekness, a shift from Egyptian craftsmanship to Greek principality. But in this transition, Egyptianism is not simply discarded; it does not disappear into the Greek “arché”. On the contrary, it is recognized and elevated to architectural construction and craftsmanship.

In the Czech language, it would be an “arch-craft” or “arch-craftsman”. (“arci” means amplification and intensification of the meaning of the second part of the word. Thus, the Greek words “architektonikos” and “architektos” contain craftsmanship connected with “arché”, i.e. origin, principle and law, and also with wisdom and knowledge, and by this connection it acquires power. The power of clairvoyant craftsmanship. The Greek architect is the opposite of the Egyptian creator, who is mere “tektonikos” and thus represents only a less consciously controlled construction and craftsmanship. The Egyptian “démiurgos” drowns in the dark craftsmanship of his production. Architecture, on the contrary, is a conscious and knowledge-driven construction.*

* (quote from Jiří Eduard Hermach – Filosofie architektury (Philosophy of Architecture))

Now that we know the origin and translation of the term architecture let me explain its meaning.

“Architecture is an artificial living environment.”

You may be a little disappointed now after such a detailed description of the word's origin, but believe me, “artificial living environment” is a similarly specific term. Architecture is everything that man has created in nature for the sole purpose of adapting the environment to our life, to our needs. Architecture is roads and bridges; it is dams, parks, forests, fields, ponds and, last but not least, our cities and houses.

And it’s mainly our living environment! That is essential. If architects were satisfied with buildings as the main description of the meaning of architecture, they would never understand their real mission. But if they replace the word buildings with the word environment, they will be amazed at the challenge that arises just by saying the word. It's completely different when you create a narrowly focused product or when your task is to provide a complete environment for someone with all their demands and circumstances. But since you now know that architecture is an artificial environment, you are beginning to understand its purpose.

The purpose of architecture is to satisfy human needs.

And as the study of human needs is the domain of psychology, this connection allows me to make the following summary:

“Architecture creates an environment for people, and, therefore, it is useful to know psychology.”

The genesis of Applied Psychology of Architecture

The first touch of psychology

As I have mentioned in the introduction, this is the first book that I have written on the psychology of architecture. Therefore, it is appropriate to explain how it happened that an architect, who did not even intend to work in his field, finally fulfilled his mission by returning as a teacher to his alma mater and founding Applied Psychology of Architecture.

A pertinent beginning for this look back is when I first met the Russian psychologist Oleg Nikolayevich Mazurov, who was our sports psychologist. As I mentioned at the beginning of this book, until then, I had no interest in psychology at all, and like probably most “untouched” people, I made do with the movie image of American psychoanalysts sitting in their comfortable offices and consulting wealthy clients.

But sports psychology was soon to show me that psychology is not only for “the broken and desperate”, but, surprisingly, also for people who are in quite the opposite situation – ambitious “predators” who do not hesitate to do anything for their success, including sacrificing their health. All the top athletes who co-created my world at that time could be counted in this category. I have heard a lot about the various “miracles” worked by sports psychologists. Still, here I will mention only my own experiences, the integrity of which I doubt because time has already worn away most of their details. I won't repeat the story when I was supposed to help Oleg Nikolayevich spoil the mood of our champion at the European Championship; instead, I have remembered another story which was a similarly bizarre memory. At the time, I was preparing for a competition with my partner. We were practising positions together as part of our choreography when Oleg Nikolayevich suggested that I go to the gym with him to help me increase my strength.

We stood over a bench on which a dumbbell for chest strengthening was attached horizontally. Oleg Nikolayevich asked me what the highest weight I thought I could lift was. After a moment's reflection, I told him that my personal best was around 90 kg. Which I considered a decent performance as I weighed 73 kilos. But Oleg Nikolayevich shocked me when he put 140 kilos on the barbell and told me that this would now be my training weight. The psychologist had my 100% confidence, and when he assured me that we would pull this weight together, I didn't even hesitate too much to prove him crazy. So I laid under the barbell, and it literally “fell” on me. Then, with considerable joint effort, we returned the barbell to its original place. My chest hurt, and this whole episode felt like a stupid joke. To my great surprise, the psychologist insisted on repeating it at the beginning of every training session, which meant every day except Sunday. When I had already let the hundred and forty-kilogram dumbbell “fall” on me ten times with precisely the same result, Oleg Nikolayevich prepared another surprise for me. He increased the weight to 160 kilos. I knew then that we had crossed a safe limit. I reckoned that the possibility of us returning this barbell to the rack was somewhat in the realm of dreams. I told the psychologist that this was madness, but he rebuffed me, so I gave in, saying that he would bear the consequences. What followed, I still don't understand. I lifted the dumbbell, then lowered it down to my chest and returned it to its original place without the slightest hint of pain. Then I immediately got up, felt my chest, which was always completely bruised, and asked the psychologist to explain what had happened.

Oleg Nikolayevich told me with a smile that I was under hypnosis – like in the case of a Russian swimmer at the Tokyo Olympics when he supposedly swam a world record. According to Oleg Nikolayevich, hypnosis was a state of absolute concentration of the mind, and my mind had been being prepared for this state by those previous 10 training sessions. I don't need to tell you what I thought about psychology and how surprised I was that nobody outside the sporting world had any idea about it. It was as if I were a sorcerer's apprentice opening his first spellbook. I became interested in psychology, and so, apart from training, Oleg Nikolayevich and I became increasingly close and talked about psychology. I soon started to assist him in testing other athletes and managers of large companies because part of Oleg Nikolayevich’s business was also corporate structures.

Over time, the idea of offering the experience of psychology to my field of architecture matured in me.

Psychology of buildings

The topic of my research work was Psychological Aspects of Building Design – I aimed to create a tool that would allow architects to consider the demands of future or current building users. I based this on my own experience when I witnessed a conversation between the owner of the studio (an architect) and an investor on one occasion in an architectural studio where I was on a temporary job. They were discussing the colour of the window frames of a planned spa building. The whole conversation would probably be uninteresting for other listeners, but thanks to my experience in sports psychology, I was already thinking about architecture from a slightly different perspective. It immediately occurred to me that both had no choice but to accept that one of them would eventually have to give in to the demands of the other. This was because they had no relevant tool to help one or the other side with their arguments. I felt even then that psychology could offer such a tool.

I present the results of my scientific work in the appendix of this book.