A Study on the Characteristics of Immersive Experience in Complex Cultural Spaces Applying Biophilic Design- Focusing on Domestic and International Art Museums -

Abstract

(Background and Purpose) Complex cultural spaces have recently attracted attention not only as venues for exhibition and viewing but also as environments that enhance users’ affective experiences and emotional restoration. In particular, biophilic design, which actively integrates natural elements into spatial planning, stimulates the senses and induces immersive experiences, thereby enhancing the on-site experience, extending dwell time, and strengthening revisit intention. This tendency is increasingly evident across complex cultural spaces, including museums, where connection to nature has emerged as a core strategy for creating environments that promote emotional stability and creative thinking. Against this backdrop, this study identifies the biophilic design elements within complex cultural spaces that most effectively induce immersive experience and analyzes how these elements influence users’ intention to revisit. (Method) This study was undertaken to analyze the influence of biophilic design elements that induce immersive experience in complex cultural spaces. The analytical model centers on five components of user experience—aesthetics, comfort, accessibility, complexity, and immersion—and structures their relationships with biophilic design patterns, including Visual Connection with Nature, Non-Visual Connection with Nature, Material Connection with Nature, and Prospect. These elements stimulate users’ senses and emotions, induce immersive experience, increase dwell time, and cultivate place attachment. After establishing a theoretical foundation through a literature review, the study analyzes domestic and international case studies of complex cultural spaces that employ biophilic design to elucidate the mechanisms of sensory and emotional spatial experience centered on immersion. The findings are expected to serve as a basis for future design strategies for emotion-centered cultural spaces. (Results) Accordingly, this study analyzed the biophilic design patterns applied to complex cultural spaces across five museum cases in Korea and abroad. The analysis shows that Visual Connection with Nature is the most prominent pattern in most cases, indicating planning strategies that enable users to perceive nature directly through elements such as planting, windows, and framed exterior views. Prospect followed with a comparatively high presence, while Non-Visual Connection with Nature, Material Connection with Nature, and Presence of Water exhibited variation by case. These findings suggest that visual and physical contact with nature plays a critical role in eliciting user immersion and strengthening sensory experience in complex cultural spaces. (Conclusions) This study confirms that, in complex cultural spaces employing biophilic design, natural elements function as primary drivers that induce immersion through sensory and emotional spatial experience and that they reinforce sensory experience. Visual and physical contact with nature fosters sensory stimulation and emotional satisfaction, and the coupling of functional complexity with emotional experience contributes to enhancing the quality of the on-site experiences.