A phenomenological ecology of personalisation as a dimension of intimacy in the public interior

Abstract

This paper brings together phenomenology and ecology to present perceptual and interrelational epistemological paradigms in the study of the mechanisms through which personalisation can contribute to visitors’ ability to develop positive and even deeply felt emotional connections with the environment of the public interior. This conception of environmental experience is referred to as intimacy, presented here as the emotional dimension of personalisation. It is explored through the study of environmental conditions in the public interior to correlate individual and collective experiences. Thus, whilst upholding the phenomenological foundation of perception, bringing body, mind and world together through embodied experiences, this paper also advocates an ecological perspective to account for the interrelational character of lived experiences.