Student Presenter(s): Aleksandra Zatorska
Faculty Mentors: Randy Stout, Marcella Del Signore
Department: Biomedical Sciences; Architecture and Design
School/College: College of Osteopathic Medicine, Long Island and School of Architecture and Design, New York City

About 5.2 million people suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) per year, and an estimated 7.8 million Americans will experience PTSD at some point in their lives. The purpose of this project is to raise awareness of the presence of trauma, show the potential use of VR in architectural research and explore the connectivity between neuroscience, architecture, and healing processes. The architectural space proposal developed for the Architectural thesis studio scrutinizes various interactions between human body and spatial forms, as well as the way of releasing the patterns held in the body after experiencing traumatic event or long-term stress. The project has two intersecting tracks that are developed simultaneously. The first is the development of a VR study to scrutinize emotional and physical responses through interactive surveys of the participants being immersed with certain architectural characteristics. The results will serve as a data layer to allow me to identify the spatial characteristics that were shown to have an effect on the study participants during the VR experimentation so that we are able to add rational design elements as components of an overarching functional pavilion design for those with PTSD. The main project environments are also defined by the information extracted from the literature recommended by Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture and body techniques that lead to calm and relaxation.