018 Cathedral Effect
High ceilings promote abstract thinking. Low ceilings promote detail-oriented thinking.
• Conspicuous ceiling height—that is, noticeably low or noticeably high ceilings—promotes different types of cognition, with high ceilings promoting abstract thinking and creativity, and low ceilings promoting concrete and detail-oriented thinking. No effect is observed if the ceiling height goes unnoticed.
• The effect may be due to priming, or a vestigial preference for high tree canopies and open skies, as would have been common on the African savannas.
• Favor large rooms with high ceilings for tasks requiring creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. Favor small rooms with low ceilings for tasks requiring detail-oriented work (e.g., ...
Get The Pocket Universal Principles of Design now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
