Application of lens model in measuring responses of urban sculpture between designers and non-designers

Abstract

Public art as an element of urban project is created, selected and located in public spaces by designers. Being in a public domain, another group, which have an interest for public art, is the lay-public or the non-designers. The differences, which do exist between the aesthetic appraisal of designers and non-designers, have created a disparity of affinity for public art. This study compared the similarities and dissimilarities of preference and emotions of designers and non-designers for 24 colored photographs of urban sculptures as public art in Tehran. It examines which symbolism, physical, and conceptual properties of urban sculptures are associated with the global impressions and affective responses of the two groups. “Affect Grid” as a single item instrument was used to measure the emotional expressions of the respondents with two dimensions of ‘pleasure’ and ‘arousal’. The inferential processes of the research findings were described through the Brunswiks’ “Lens Model” to conclude which variables contribute to each group’s appreciations. As previous studies have shown, this study confirms that there are significant dissimilarities between the evaluation responses of both groups. The divergences of the two groups were derived from the overall definition of research variables. Although there is correlation between two groups in some of the research variables, they did not define the variables in the same way. The result was used to explore the extent of disparities between designers and non-designers agreement in utilization of research cues. Traditionally, there is a suggested element of homogeneity in design decision-making among designers but this study showed that the designers are more heterogeneous than non-designers group in appraisal of urban sculptures. Since the basis of the disagreements between both groups is related to different meanings of research variables for each group, this research suggests that using pictorial instruments are more appropriate for this kind of measurement.