Designing immersive spaces for Transformative Experiences: eliciting positive and epistemic emotions

The term immersive space is often used to describe environments that are designed to provide a deep and compelling sensory experience.

An immersive space is built to engage people’s perceptions, create a sense of presence, and provide an environment that encourages exploration and discovery.

Transformative experience design principles, as we have already described in a previous article, on the other hand, refer to a framework for designing immersive experiences that are capable of transforming people in meaningful ways.

An immersive space designed according to transformative experience design principles can provide a sense of presence (a concept already discussed when referring to Networked Flow and Virtual Reality) that allows people to feel deeply engaged and connected to the environment plus encouraging exploration and discovery. This feeling of presence is often achieved through the use of technology, such as virtual reality or augmented reality, or by creating an environment that is rich in sight, sound, aroma, and touch.

Creating an environment that surrounds people, and provides a sense of immersion, and curiosity can be particularly effective in eliciting positive emotions, as it provides people with the opportunity to learn and discover new things.

On the importance of space and how much it can be an enabler of new sensations and emotions-Cartwright (2017) also speaks out:

Bachelard, a philosopher of science, believed that the mind was insufficient to account for his observations about space and thus introduced the “soul” to his inquiries and the idea that pure poetic image of space has no causality — it is basic, primitive, and immediately knowable, much like Jung’s concept of the archetype. Bachelard distinguishes between the “intimate” space as seen in the domestic image of the house with its cellar, the stairs, the attic and nooks and crannies and the “exterior” space where images of immensity dominate. Bachelard and Searles explain why both intimate spaces and immense spaces can inspire us and stimulate our imaginations.

Another principle of transformative experience design is to provide experiences that are meaningful and relevant to people’s lives. By creating an immersive space that is designed around a specific theme or idea, the experience can be tailored to resonate with people’s interests and values. This can be particularly effective in eliciting epistemic emotions, such as a feeling of awe ( Alice Chirico ), wonder, or enlightenment, as people are able to engage with ideas that are relevant to their lives and their sense of identity.

Some Examples? The Super Blue in Miami; the Van Gogh Immersive Experience or the Museum of the Future in Dubai.

The significance of spaces is also crucial in shaping our autobiographical narratives cannot be understated, as they have a substantial impact on our perception of our life stories. According to Lengen et al. (2019), spaces are an integral element in unraveling our experiences in memory and imagination. Thus, the spatial dimension plays a dominant role in defining and experiencing the self, both individually and collectively ( Riva Giuseppe et al., 2021). Our identities are largely defined by the spaces we frequent and the places we inhabit, such as our workplace, an educational institution, or our country of residence. For instance, we identify ourselves as workers if we go to the office, as students if we attend an athenaeum, and as Italians, if we reside in a particular country.

As we have previously discussed, it is essential for authentic transformation to involve the individual in the generation of new meanings and the belief that the lived experience is relevant to them. However, due to the subjective nature of personal transformation, it is impossible to predetermine how an experience will be perceived before it is lived. Transformative Experience Design (TED) offers guidelines for eliciting transformative experiences through specific affordances ( Andrea Gaggioli ).

These affordances include emotional stimuli that evoke curiosity, interest, and awe, as well as cues and narratives designed to inspire reflection, reframe, and insight. Among these experiences, those of wonder and flow have been identified as having significant positive psychological impacts. Wonder, which is often associated with awe, is challenging to study due to its rarity and is characterized by the perception of the vastness that challenges one’s cognitive schemata. Flow, on the other hand, is described as a state of complete absorption in an activity, as coined by Csikszentmihalyi.

The creation of immersive spaces, therefore, in addition to being increasingly common in the future, will have to follow the principles of transformative design to create something truly relevant to people’s lives.

In the experience economy, as identified by Pine and Gilmore, it will be increasingly necessary to design new virtuous models that are able to have a real impact on people’s ability to have positive experiences and emotions.

In the words of Alvin Toffler in Future Shock:

To survive, to avert what we have termed future shock, the individual must become infinitely more adaptable and capable than ever before. We must search out totally new ways to anchor ourselves, for all the old roots — religion, nation, community, family, or profession — are now shaking under the hurricane impact of the accelerative thrust. It is no longer resources that limit decisions, it is the decision that makes the resources.