Interior Environmental Design for a Leisure Learning Area in the National Gallery of Thailand

The aim of this research study was to design and assess the design of the interior environment for a leisure learning area in the National Gallery of Thailand. The study used a combined quantitative and qualitative methodologies: interviewing the curator, 2 staff members, and the executive director of the National Gallery of Thailand; a physical survey of areas in the gallery; and a questionnaire survey of users’ preferences of art activity area. The survey of users’ preferences was conducted with a sample group of 600 potential users who were randomly and systematically sampled from a population of first-year students majoring in applied arts in several governmentally-supported universities in Bangkok. The obtained data on the designs that were based on the concept of functional and aesthetic design and a ‘circumplex model of affect’ in cognitive theory were analyzed accordingly. The preliminary designs were three arrangement patterns of environmental elements that provided positive stimuli: 1) a pattern for low level of stimuli; 2) one for moderate level; and 3) one for high level of stimuli. These patterns are illustrated in this paper as a layout plan and 3 computer-generated 3D perspectives that were assessed by 10 design experts on a 1-5 Likert rating scale. The means and standard deviations achieved by the 3 patterns indicated that the patterns for medium level and high level of stimuli was of a very high quality with ̄X = 4.5, SD = 0.14 and ̄X = 4.59, SD = 0.19, respectively. In other words, both patterns were active, functional, aesthetically-pleasing, and proper overall designs for the environmental interior of the intended area in the National Gallery of Thailand.