Dissertation

Meeting Grounds: Exploring How Spatial Design Shapes Romantic Interaction

Turati, Denise K

2025

Overview

Romantic connection today is often shaped more by apps than by architecture. But physical space still carries power—it sets the scene, frames the moment, and shapes the way people notice one another. A shared glance across a corridor, the hesitation before sitting nearby, or the brushing of hands at a doorway—these are fleeting but charged interactions made possible by how interiors are designed.To achieve this, Meeting Grounds reclaims shared space as a site of potential intimacy rather than passive background. Third places—like cafés or bookstores—are reimagined not just for utility, but for emotional elasticity. Echoing Ray Oldenburg’s observations, these environments function best when they foster unstructured, obligation-free engagement rather than prioritizing efficiency and turnover.The spatial layout facilitates movement across varying levels of proximity, offering opportunities to observe, retreat, or connect without commitment. This is consistent with what Edward T. Hall describes as the significance of proxemic zones—fluid boundaries between public, social, personal, and intimate space that shape how relationships evolve.Thresholds, ledges, and softened perimeters act as informal holding zones, encouraging stillness and passive engagement. The thinking aligns closely with Jan Gehl’s argument that transitional edges—where people pause, watch, or linger—are often the most socially activated parts of public environments. His work helped inform seating configurations, circulation logic, and visual layering throughout the project.Materiality, acoustics, and lighting are all tuned to regulate emotional tempo, supporting comfort and attentiveness. Rooted in Juhani Pallasmaa’s framework, these sensory cues speak to how texture and atmosphere influence perception, embodiment, and presence within a space.In Meeting Grounds, spatial strategies like intimacy gradients and the inherent third person became tools for interaction. Intimacy gradients allow people to shift between exposure and privacy depending on how they feel in the moment. The inherent third person is the subtle awareness that someone may be watching or nearby, which often heightens performance, attention, and presence. Goffman emphasized how public settings heighten our presentation of self, and that we “perform” more consciously when others are in view. This theory directly informed how visual thresholds and reflection are deployed to sustain a sense of social energy.Taken together, these theories shaped a design methodology that doesn’t impose interaction, but allows it to emerge. It proposes a slower spatial pace—where awareness, attention, and flirtation can happen organically. Through calibrated design, interiors can once again become spaces that don’t just host us—but help us find each other.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: Area planning & development / Area Planning and Development / Design / Sociology
• ISBN: 9798293812318