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.
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture congratulates Thinh "Henry" Duong, a master's student in the Division of Interior Design, for earning first place in the 2026 Robert Bruce Thompson Annual Student Light Fixture Design Competition.
Gibbs College of Architecture Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) Director and Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design (PLAD) faculty member Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., recently published a new book, Collective Yearning: Black Women Artists from the Zimmerli Art Museum.
In May, students from the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture's Architecture, Environmental Design, and Interior Design programs participated in an intensive five-day Studio in Residence at Taliesin West, the iconic winter home and desert laboratory of Frank Lloyd Wright.
