Now here‘s and interesting piece of research. Meyers-Levy and Rui Zhu from the University of British Colombia have shown that ceiling height affects the way we think. When the ceiling is higher, people think more abstractly and when it is lower they think more specifically.
Now that’s interesting! Because they are not saying that one particular ceiling height is good and another bad but that the physical environment in which you sit or move will be conducive to a particular way of thinking.
So, next time you want to be creative, think freely, brainstorm, or whatever, maybe you should get yourself into a room with a high ceiling! What about outside I wonder? Is that better? But, next time you want to focus in on the specifics, the details of a piece of work you might be best to find a more tightly enclosed space. Reminds me of something I read about writers who use a garden shed to write in! I wonder if the different kinds of rooms writers write in suit different kinds of writers?
What do you think? Are you aware of the effects that a room’s dimensions can have on your thought processes?
Heroes Not Zombies 
I really do notice the way a room feels, and every so often get the urge to move furniture around, which spikes my creativity almost every time. I’m sure there is a lot of benefit from the science of Feng Shui.
It’s interesting isn’t Ester how the space we are in can affect something as deep as creativity. I’m sure it affects health too. Our hospital (Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital) was designed using the best evidence we could find for what made a space a healing space. I don’t think nearly enough attention is paid to that when builders build houses either! I like your point about moving the furniture around too. I guess I don’t do that, but I do move to different places in my house to get things flowing.
Just found this article in the Guardian about newly built FE colleges
http://education.independent.co.uk/higher/article2525624.ece#2007-05-10T00:00:01-00:00
According to the article, they all seem to be built with the aim of being ‘bright and airy’, which I would read as ‘high-ceilinged’! I know when I recently visited Telford college’s new campus in Edinburgh, I was struck by the ceiling height and the transparent materials used. I think there’s a lot to be said for ceiling height in educational establishments!