Curved vs. Angular Spaces

A curve can guide the eye around an opening, soften the outline of a piece of furniture or change the route through a room. Its contribution depends on where it occurs. The radius on a surface touched every day has a different job from the sweep of a wall seen across a hall.

Research has given one aspect of this choice a clearer basis. In Vartanian and colleagues' 2013 study, participants looking at images of interiors more often judged curvilinear spaces beautiful. Beauty is a worthwhile design outcome, especially when it is part of what the occupants want from their surroundings. The experiment also separated that judgement from decisions about entering or leaving, which did not significantly change with contour.

A brief can use that distinction productively. Visual preference can inform the composition, while the physical shape is examined for its effect on contact, movement and use. A rounded worktop should be considered by the person standing beside it; a curved route should allow the passage required. The choice becomes stronger when the form serves both the experience of looking and the activity taking place around it. Samples and drawings at the relevant scale help bring the two together.