A neuro-cognitive investigation of the impact of glass floors on people

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate neuro-cognitive effects of ‘the architecture of vertigo’, i.e. glass-floor platforms, which recently became a popular concept, on humans. Designed spaces were transferred to a virtual reality environment. Different measurements were performed on the participants using Electroencephalogram, galvanic skin response, Heart rate variability and eye tracking device throughout the experiment. The main objective here is to see the mood changes of the participants when they were on the glass platform and also to investigate the cognitive effects of glass platforms. As a result, despite the negligible cognitive and physiological problems at 15 and 30 meters of heights, various problems were found to emerge at higher elevations. Given that these platforms are used for dining and walking, no neuro-cognitive contribution of these platforms to the architecture was found, beyond the fact that these platforms are designed only for ‘entertainment architecture’ and/or ‘popularity’ purposes.

KEYWORDS:

• Glass floors
• neuro-cognitive
• EEG
• eye tracking
• galvanic skin response
• heart rate variability
• design

Acknowledgements

This study was carried out in SDU computational design laboratories. The study was conducted with the permission and approval of the SDU Faculty of Architecture dean's and The Faculty of Architecture Ethic Committee approved the study of SDU. I want to thank the participants and Architect Ali Musab Kayhan for their contribution to the virtual reality environment. I would also like to thank the reviewers and the editor for their contribution to the study's development and publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.