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.
A project designed by Gibbs College of Architecture faculty member Austin Lightle has been selected for BuildFest 2026, a national art and architecture festival held at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York, on the historic grounds of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival.
Two Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture alumni are helping shape recommendations that could influence affordable housing design and construction across Oklahoma.
The University of Oklahoma Libraries recently welcomed Carl Siegel as an Architecture Librarian and Archivist and Assistant Professor. In his role, Siegel supports students, faculty and staff across the Gibbs College of Architecture while also serving as archivist for the American School of Architecture Archives.
