Saskia Kuliga

Research interests

• Psychology    (Environmental / Architectural)
• Human Wayfinding in Architectural Indoor Environments
• User Experience and Usability Research for Buildings
  
• Spatial Cognition
• Space Syntax
  
• Human Media Interaction

In February 2012, Saskia started her PhD-project at the Center for Cognitive Science in Freiburg. She is supervised by Prof. Christoph Hölscher (ETH Zürich/University of Freiburg). 

The R6[SpaceGuide] project seeks to better understand human and robot wayfinding processes in interaction with their physical and virtual environment. Methods include real-world observation studies (often post-occupancy) and Virtual Reality (VR) experimentation in complex, public buildings, such as airports, hospitals and libraries. 

The team also works on how to support architects in designing buildings in which users can navigate well; this involves observing the design process itself. Furthermore, we study spatial differentiation and the effects of circulation on human behavior, and  investigate to what extent VR can be used as a research tool. Saskia's doctoral dissertation will be rounded and electronically published in 2015.

Starting in February 2015, Saskia will continue her doctoral dissertation, while being engaged in a new project: ESUM, a collaboration between ETH Zürich and Bauhaus University Weimar. This project will focus on user experience in urban environments (more info at http://infar.architektur.uni-weimar.de/service/drupal-infar/esum ).

For detailed descriptions of collaborative work, please see below.

Curriculum Vitae

Projects

SFB/TR 8 Project R6-[SpaceGuide]
 

Publications

Papers in Journals

• Dalton, R., Kuliga, S., & Hölscher, C. (2013). POE 2.0: exploring the potential of social media for capturing unsolicited post occupancy evaluations. Intelligent Buildings International, 5, 3, 162–180. Special Issue: Post-occupancy evaluation. ISSN 1750-8975; DOI 10.1080/17508975.2013.800813. (Access via: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508975.2013.800813#.Umo7XnDjdAc)

• Kuliga, S., Dalton, R., & Hölscher, C. (submitted). Virtual Reality as Empirical Research Tool – Exploring User Experience in a Real Building and a Corresponding Virtual Model. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, Special Issue: The Use of Virtual Reality for Environmental Representations; if accepted: January 2015.
  
  

Articles in Conference Proceedings, with oral conference presentation

• Kuliga, S., Dalton, R., & Hölscher, C. (2013). Aesthetic and Emotional Appraisal of the Seattle Public Library and its relation to spatial configuration. Proceedings of the International Space Syntax Symposium 2013, Seoul, South-Korea, Eds: Kim, Y.O., Park, H.T., Seo, K.W., Sejong University; 077:1-17.(Access: http://www.sss9.or.kr/paperpdf/scb/SSS9_2013_REF077_P.pdf)

• Schneider, S.,  Kuliga, S., Hölscher, C., Dalton, R.C., Kunert, A., Kulik, A., Donath, D. (2013). Educating Architecture Students to Design Buildings from the Inside Out: Experiences from a research-based design studio. Proceedings of the Ninth International Space Syntax Symposium, Seoul, South-Korea. Eds: Kim, Y.O., Park, H.T., Seo, K.W., Sejong University, 001:1-18. (Access: http://sss9.or.kr/paperpdf/ADP/SSS9_2013_REF001_P.pdf)

Short-papers in Conference Proceedings (< 6000 words)

• Kuliga, Dalton, Hölscher, Tomko (2014). Tools, Stages and Perspective-Taking during the Architectural Design Process: Preliminary Results from a  University-building Case-study in Australia. Proceedings of Spatial Cognition 2014 Workshop: Design cognition and behavior: Usability in the built environment. In Emo, B., Varoudis, T. (Eds.). Bremen: Universität Bremen / Universität Freiburg; 18-22. (Access: http://conference.spatial-cognition.de/SC2014/sites/conference.spatial-cognition.de.SC2014/files/SFB_TR8Rep038-09_2014.pdf)

• Von Stülpnagel, R., Kuliga, S., Büchner, S.J., Hölscher, C. (2014). Supra-individual consistencies in navigator-driven landmark placement for spatial learning. 36th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Quebec City, Canada, 1706-1711. (Access: https://mindmodeling.org/cogsci2014/papers/297/paper297.pdf)

• Kuliga, S., Beinhofer, M., Langenfeld, V., Fleckenstein, F., Dufner, S., Von Stülpnagel, R., Burgard, W., & Hölscher, C. (2014). Spatial Ambiguity in Indoor Environments – A Comparison Between the Human and the Robot Perspective of Spatial Ambiguity Identification. Proceedings of Spatial Cognition Conference 2014 Poster Presentations, Bremen, Germany, 64-67.(Access: www.sfbtr8.spatial-cognition.de/aigaion/index.php/attachments/single/768).
  
  

• Kuliga, S., & Hölscher, C. (2013). Exploring Aesthetic and Emotional Appraisal of a Real Building and a Corresponding Virtual Model. 10th Biennial Conference on Environmental Psychology, Magdeburg, Germany. (Access via: http://www.envpsycon.ovgu.de/envpsycon_media/Downloads/Interactive+conference+program.pdf)
  

• Kuliga,S., Tanja-Dijkstra, K., Verhoeven, F. (2011). Effects of an Image of Eyes on Implicit Activation of Norms of Compliance and on Hand Hygiene Behavior. 9th Biennial Conference on Environmental Psychology, Eindhoven (NL), September 2011. (Access via: http://proceedings.envpsych2011.eu/files/doc/258.pdf)
  
  

Poster Presentations, abstract-based 

• Hölscher, C., Dalton, R.C., Kuliga, S., Tomko, M. (2014). Towards Computer-Assisted Wayfinding Design Support : Interview-based needs analysis across stakeholders. DCC'14, p.31, London, United Kingdom. (Access via: http://cs.gmu.edu/~jgero/DCC14-PosterAbstracts.pdf#page=39)

• Kuliga, S., Von Stülpnagel, R., Hölscher, C. (2013). Navigator-driven placement of landmarks: effects on wayfinding performance (and relations to space syntax) in a virtual Tate Gallery London. 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Berlin, Germany. (Access via: https://mindmodeling.org/cogsci2013/papers/0831/index.html)

• Kuliga, S., Tanja-Dijkstra, K., VanRompay, T., (2012). Come Away With Me: Effects of classical and instrumental music on dental anxiety. Interdisciplinary College (IK) 2012 - Emotion and Aesthetics,Günne am Möhnesee (Germany), March 2012. 

Work in Progress papers

• Natapov, A, Kuliga, S., Hölscher, C. (in preparation). The effects of circulation typology on wayfinding (working title). 
• Kuliga, S., Shelton, A., Dalton, R.C., Carlson, L., Hoelscher, C. (in preparation). Wayfinding in the Seattle Public Library (working title).
   

Teaching

• Summer 2014