The Role of VR in Supporting Body-Centered Phenomenology in Interior Design Education

Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of spatial perception, grounded in the body’s multisensory engagement with its surroundings, offers a robust theoretical basis for fostering deeper spatial awareness in interior design education. Drawing upon this framework, the present study investigates the extent to which virtual reality (VR) environments can reproduce selected dimensions of embodied spatial perception. A total of 22 interior design students at Cyprus International University experienced two distinct spaces in both physical and VR modalities. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and mental mapping techniques, analytically designed around Edward Relph’s “three components of place” model. The findings demonstrate that VR can convey key conceptual spatial attributes including organization, scale, and atmosphere, yet it only partially approximates the sensory depth and bodily salience afforded by physical experience. Although sensory constraints and reduced corporeal engagement in VR limited the students’ holistic comprehension of the spaces, the virtual environments nonetheless supported the development of phenomenological sensitivity to spatial qualities. Overall, the study suggests that VR holds potential as a complementary medium for cultivating body-centered phenomenological awareness in interior design education.