Visualizing Felt-Body Emotions through Two-Dimensional Compositions: A Comprehensive Experiment Using the Wheel of Emotions and Schmitz Vital Drive Theory

Objectives: This study aims to present a novel approach to non-verbal communication for expressing felt-body emotions. It seeks to determine if the ‘sensible space’ of felt-body emotions can be represented and measured in two-dimensional forms by first-year architecture and design students at the University of Petra. Methods: The study employs an empirical approach to the students’ works, testing Hermann Schmitz's dynamic vital drive theory and applying it to the Circumplex model of emotions. This research follows Amedeo Giorgi’s phenomenological qualitative approach to visually explore emotions, aiming to identify a shared pattern with students’ experiences. Results: The study finds that the spatial organizations arranging the shapes of the compositions can express the emotional impact on students. First, the sensible space can be seen through spacing between shapes, shaping their holistic bodily experience, where contraction expressed negative feelings and expansion mirrored positive ones. Second, the subject’s arousal level is influenced by the spatial configuration of a composition; a clustered organization aligns with high-arousal emotions, a centralized layout mirrors negative valence and high arousal, and linear arrangements reflect positive valence. The limited use of radial and grid layouts prevented this research from drawing conclusions. Conclusions: The study confirms that Schmitz’s ‘sensible space’ can be visualized through the contraction and expansion of shapes, and it can be measured using two-dimensional compositions, aligning spatial arrangements with emotional valence and arousal to meet on the wheel of emotions.