The beauty of Unity-in-Variety: Studies on the multisensory aesthetic appreciation of product designs

This thesis embarks from the idea that aesthetic appreciation of product designs is determined by simultaneously perceiving the two partially opposing dimensions of unity and variety. People actively avoid boredom by searching for variety because it challenges the senses and offers the potential of learning new information. Hence, people browse...

Perception and cognition of depth of field

A common way to present 3D materials to human observers nowadays is by stereoscopic displaying on 3D TVs or head-mounted displays such as the Oculus Rift. However, not everyone can see three-dimensional solid shape from stereoscopic viewing and the three-dimensional images remain two-dimensional pictures to them rather than solid shapes....

Building Beauty: Kantian aesthetics in a time of dark ecology

In the aftermath of a normalized Foucaultian world with an all encompassing web of biopower, one remaining hope is to cultivate nimbleness. Nimbleness is an embodied aesthetic sensitivity to the material presence. Cultivating nimbleness is a particular style of cultivation; it is to willfully gather together one’s self in the wake of a formative...

Advancing the Relevance Criteria for Video Search and Visual Summarization

To facilitate finding of relevant information in ever-growing multimedia collections, a number of multimedia information retrieval solutions have been proposed over the past years. The essential element of any such solution is the relevance criterion deployed to select or rank the items from a multimedia collection to be presented to the user....

Typically the Best? Perceived Typicality and Aesthetic Appraisal of Product Appearances

In this dissertation, it is investigated how the current knowledge that people possess about a certain product category influences perception and aesthetic appraisal of product appearances within this product category. Through the reoccurring exposure to product appearances in everyday life people form Internalized Product Appearances (IPA) of...

"De l´architecture sauvage": Asger Jorns Kritik und Konzept der Modernen Architektur

Asger Jorn is a well known artist, especially his activities within the CoBrA group, Bauhaus Imaginiste and the International Situationist, after WWII contributed greatly to his international success. Besides his paintings, prints, ceramics and sculptures he produced a remarkable amount of theoretical work. In his early years, he repeatedly...

Converted Industrial Buildings: Where Past and Present Live in Formal Unity

This thesis deals with design guidelines, as defined in the field of architectural conservation, by focusing on the problem of the conversion of industrial buildings. It is generally agreed that the best way to secure the future life of industrial heritage is through their adaptive reuse. The former function of ‘production’ for these buildings...

De stad als architectonische constructie: Het architectonisch discours van de stad (Duitsland 1871-1914)

The city as an architectural construction: The architectural discours on the city At the turn of the 19th to the 20th century a paradigm shift took place within German architectural thinking that can be identified as a turn to the city. Whereas throughout the 19th century architectural knowledge was primarily directed to questions of style of...

For Inspiration Only; Designer interaction with informal collections of visual material

Designers surround themselves with visual material as a source of inspiration. The images are used in collages and moodboards to define and communicate the direction of a design project at an early stage of the design process. This thesis describes how designers interact with their collections of visual material and how new tools can support...

Artful Judgements: A psychological inquiry into aesthetic preference for visual patterns