Curved walls or sharp corners; which is better?

Here’s a question you may not have ever asked yourself: what shape should my room be for maximum creativity?

Curved!

That’s what psychology researchers from Bond University in Australia recently discovered. To come to this conclusion, they used virtual reality to place 35 participants in a rectangular room—the usual sort where the corners are sharp—and in a curved room, where the walls gently arc.

In both environments, they then:

• asked participants to rate their emotions: did they feel positive ones like “excited,” “inspired” or “enthusiastic,” or negative ones like “irritable,” “afraid” or “nervous”?
• monitored the participants’ heart rates
• tested creative thinking by asking participants to come up with as many uses for a knife or newspaper as they could in 60 seconds; for example, a knife could be used as a mirror.

The curved room was beneficial in all three instances. Versus the rectangular situation, participants in the curved space were in a better mood, their lower heart rates indicated less stress, and they were more creative when it came to that newspaper and knife.

Why does the arc of the wall matter? Previous studies suggest that humanity’s preference for curves is innate, and it has even been observed in infants. We like sleek cars, swoopy fonts, rounded toasters. As for curved rooms, studies have demonstrated that they’re linked to feelings of safety, pleasantness and reduced threat. Perhaps because curved locations (think cave) are more abundant in nature than sharp-cornered ones, we feel better in them versus a boxed space.

The study doesn’t indicate why creativity would be boosted thanks to the curve, but I’ll extrapolate that we’re likely to be more creative when we’re relaxed than when our hackles are up.

As for implementing the findings to make our own art practices more creative, most of us probably find ourselves surrounded by abrupt corners and can’t take on an architectural project to fix this. So I say we simply do whatever is needed to make ourselves feel that sense of safety and pleasantness.

For me, it’s covering my walls with artwork I love, filling my bookshelf with books that inspire me, dotting the room with plants, and keeping my art supplies handy and organized. My studio/office is a place I adore entering—so hopefully that gets reflected in the originality of my artsy output, too.

What do you think?

What’s your opinion on room shape? Let me know! Email me at art@galadrielwatson.com or find me on Instagram.