Material Surface Features in Body Conscious Spatial Design

Abstract

The paper explores the issue of surface features, which has a special role within body conscious spatial design. We have set surface features such as particular quality, skin and interface that create limits or open an honest communication between the human and the built-environment. Roughness as a measurable parameter is very important for an overall feeling of comfort, especially contact comfort, and has a direct relation to all other parameters such as thermal comfort, sorption activity, possibilities of maintenance, antibacterial behaviour, control over body position or acoustic well-being, while in the most of these relations there is a direct proportionality. The paper presents the results of different tests related to the roughness of solid wood with chemical surface finishing with the aim of showing the consequences for well-being, based on recent research studies of the interaction of wood and human.