Unpacking the “wow” experience: Exploring profound emotional responses to evocative works of architecture
Article
D'souza, N, Mostafavi, A, Moshaver, S. (2026). Unpacking the “wow” experience: Exploring profound emotional responses to evocative works of architecture
. 10.1016/j.foar.2026.03.013
D'souza, N, Mostafavi, A, Moshaver, S. (2026). Unpacking the “wow” experience: Exploring profound emotional responses to evocative works of architecture
. 10.1016/j.foar.2026.03.013
Architecture, at its highest aspiration, transcends its functional purpose to evoke emotional and psychological experiences of its users. Buildings shape our health, safety, and well-being, inspiring comfort, meaning, and belonging. By understanding these affective dimensions, architects can create spaces that enrich life and make public environments emotionally resonant and meaningful. Evocative works of architecture, such as Westminster Abbey and Unity Chapel, are celebrated for their ability to provoke profound emotional responses. This study explores the specific spatial and experiential factors that underpin such responses that are often associated with a sense of delight or wonder, referred to as the “wow experience.” Using the architectural principle of “compression and expansion,” we investigated whether spatial transitions from low, dark spaces to high, brightly lit spaces elicit stronger emotional responses than other configurations. A virtual simulation experiment involving 38 participants exposed individuals to four carefully constructed spatial conditions within the Pantheon, systematically varying ceiling height and lighting contrast. Drawing on the Circumplex Model of Affect (CMA), emotional responses were evaluated through the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and concurrent think-aloud protocols. Quantitative analysis included factorial and mixed-effects modeling to assess the main and interactive effects of spatial features on emotional valence and arousal. Findings revealed that transitions involving both increased ceiling height and a dramatic shift from darkness to light most consistently triggered the “wow” response, characterized by heightened arousal and positive valence. A systematic thematic analysis identified recurring architectural features and emotional descriptors. The thematic analysis confirmed that lighting, ceiling height, and spatial layout were consistently identified as central to participants’ emotional experiences. Strong lighting contrast, particularly during transitions from dark to bright environments, generated the highest emotional arousal, evoking feelings of warmth, uplift, and sacredness. Spatial layout and ceiling height followed in importance, shaping perceptions of orientation, movement, and control. High ceilings elicited sensations of awe, openness, and transcendence, while openings and views, materials and textures, and architectural details played more supportive roles in enriching the overall emotional experience.While strong lighting contrast, especially during transitions from dark to bright environments, produced the highest emotional arousal, creating feelings of warmth, uplift, and sacredness, spatial layout guided feelings of orientation, movement, and control. Beyond feelings of excitement and amazement, participants frequently described feelings of comfort, safety, calm, and spirituality, indicating that the “wow” experience can encompass a broad range of positive emotional states. Together, these results provide empirical evidence that spatial choreography, especially the deliberate sequencing of scale and light, can be harnessed to evoke memorable and meaningful emotional responses in architecture. Practically, the study provides actionable insights for architects to design emotionally resonant spaces through calibrated interactions of light, scale, and transition, particularly in museums, educational, hospitality, and memorial environments. Methodologically, it highlights the promise of virtual simulation and affective mapping for emotion-driven design evaluation, offering a replicable framework that bridges architectural design, environmental psychology, and affective neuroscience.
