Why Our Brains Love High Ceilings
fastcodesign.com
fastcodesign.com
> the mere fact that the ceiling heights vary, allows people to move from high rooms to low rooms, and vice versa, according to the degree of intimacy they seek — because they know that everyone correlates intimacy with ceiling height.
> According to this theory, the effect of the ceiling height is not direct; there is instead a complex interaction between people and space, in which people read the different ceiling heights in a building as messages, and take up positions according to these messages. They are comfortable or uncomfortable according to whether they can take part in this process, and can then feel secure in the knowledge that they have chosen a place of appropriate intimacy.
Anyways, highly recommended, if nothing else to get insight in human patterns regarding living spaces and communities
Probably not, but just a thought.
I disagree. Nature versus nurture is a difficult but interesting topic. Is our preference for high ceilings caused by culture and experience, or is it something we're genetically predisposed to? It seems like it would be a hard question to answer, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth thinking about.
In the alternate "high ceiling'ed places yield lower creativity" world, maybe we would say of the same exact fMRI study that obviously the neural spatial exploration networks are being overloaded by processing the tall room, hindered from devoting neural energy to the creative tasks at hand like they can so efficiently in the low-ceiling rooms, or some other story.
High ceilings do feel better for group and work spaces, room to breath.
[0] an actual anecdote that happened to me.
This is a well-known effect that architects have employed for centuries. In fact, you probably encounter it in many places without even thinking about it:
- when walking into a cinema auditorium, you walk through a low-ceiling entrance or corridor and then the auditorium space opens up in front of you. This effect is even more dramatic in some old theatres and opera houses
- the historic concept of contrasting spaces has been used in many different ways by changing the type of space or the size/scale of a space. For example, the narrow streets of a medieval town that suddenly and dramatically open up to a large market square.
The Swiss architect Le Corbusier designed a block of flats (apartments) called the Unité d'habitation (housing unit) in Marseille in France. It was completed in the 1950s and had a huge influence on the design of post-war housing across Europe (it generated much controversy too).
The duplex flats have a narrow width of just 3.66 metres. As you enter the flat, the first ceiling height is 2.26 metres (which Le Corbusier described as "intimate"). This leads into the double-height space of the living room (i.e. the second ceiling height). The windows in this double-height space are 15 square metres. Light floods in to the apartment in winter and summer and, according to Le Corbusier, can penetrate to a depth of 20 metres. The flats are fitted with stairs without risers to accentuate the sense of space.
Here are some pictures of an apartment: https://www.flickr.com/photos/88017382@N00/8562877755/ http://www.house42.com/2010/10/14/unite-dhabitation-duplex-a...
"Breath" is a noun that means "the air taken into or expelled from the lungs."
I wonder what dead salmon think of high ceilings? ( http://prefrontal.org/files/posters/Bennett-Salmon-2009.pdf )
After 1970 the regulations were changed and all the houses were built with 8 foot ceilings to save money. I hate these low ceilings as they feel totally oppressive.
Does that really save all that much money? Seems like it would be only a percent or two extra.
Taller walls tend to come with taller windows. Not just more glass... sometimes whole extra windows (transoms) which cost almost as much as the much larger ones below. Taller cabinets or soffit details to receive them. More elaborate trim work. etc.
For a flipper or a production builder every dollar is saved because it adds up in the end. If there's a high ceiling it's because it's been determined to command a good profit.
Over here, the standard room height is 2400 mm or 2500 mm, and my house has 2780 mm. I'm happy with the extra overhead space, but there are all sorts of little things. The drywall boards actually had to be ordered separately, and the price increase is not linear. They're heavier to carry - again, not linear - so installing is more difficult. Working on the top parts needs higher scaffolding. To get to the attic, I have this factory-made foldable ladder that opens from a hatch in the ceiling and then folds out with three hinges; it's factory-made for 2500 mm room height so I had to add a 35cm piece to the bottom with another hinge so that it would reach down to the floor and be steady.
Edit. I did a search and in Australia raising the ceiling by 12 inches adds $3000 to a $350,000 house.
Did he give you a breakdown of what cost more? Or was it just that it was nonstandard?
Did you do it?
I grew up in a house with 10' ceilings (most heritage houses in Australia are 10'+).
Yes, there was no question at any point that we were going to do it. Lower ceilings here make a house feel cheap and nasty, so I was thinking of resale value as well as my sanity.
Ceilings bring me to our relationship with verticality. We don't experience large vertical dimensions the same way we do with horizontal ones. IIRC system theorists argued we were wired differently to perceive dimensions because of gravity.
Headroom and legroom were also deciding factors in every single car purchase we ever made. What good is a car you dont fit into?
The funny thing is, I've noticed it doesn't matter how tall the ceilings are, but they always screw up the stairways in homes. I always have to duck to go down stairs. My house has 8 1/2 foot ceilings in the basement. I have to duck just as much as I do in houses with shorter ceilings. Or so it seems.
I'm lucky when it comes to cars, most cars I've driven has been alright when pushing the seat all the way back, if I'd been slightly taller it would've been a different story.
People like high ceilings, but it's a "nice to have" for most people. Also that like changes from time to time -- in the 80s, old buildings with high ceilings were looked down upon.
Also, new construction costs have escalated so much that new homes are stripped to the bone in most cases. Your $500k house will have a $50 "builder grade" faucet, for example.
I know in my area a property with high ceilings will sell for a premium over one with low ceiling. It is really interesting to see this effect in properties built around the change over time where the older property is 5% more expensive than a similar property a few years younger but with low ceilings.
Commercial buildings are the same way. I had the pleasure of working in a refurbished school converted into offices... Being able to open a window in a room with 15' ceilings was amazing.