Spaces for Mingling

We have had a whole issue on this in April 2021 so be sure to check that out. But one of the most important aspects of our lives as humans, something that defines us, is our need to spend time socialising, whenever we choose to do so.

We mingle when we spend time together in living rooms and also as we eat.

• Warm colours, which are relatively less saturated as well as generally lighter are good options for spaces where people will socialise and also where they’ll be eating—research links better times spent with others as well as stronger appetites to seeing warm colours, which certainly will make dinner parties more successful, along with any other gathering at which you serve food.
• Visual complexity is especially important in spaces where people will spend time together, so make sure to use the same basic palette of colours in wallpapers, upholstery fabrics, rugs, etc.

• Using only a couple of patterns is best and each of those patterns should share design elements, such as tear drop shapes or softly rounded hexagons.  Moderate visual complexity means that there also there is some apparent order in the way that is designed, a space that seems to have come together without regard for symmetry of any sort or balance, for example, as discussed here, will not seem to have moderate visual complexity.  Still confused?  Residential interiors designed by Frank Lloyd Wright usually have moderate visual complexity, compare that of your living room against this one, by Frank Lloyd Wright.

• To encourage effective mingling you’ll want to develop zones for different groups to gather as well as a dedicated eating space with a table when only table dining will do. You can create zones by the way that you arrange furniture, rugs, and lighting, for example. And THIS is REALLY interesting: People in the glow of one particular table lamp will form a conversation group separate from the individuals in a distant and different pool of light.

• When people can see each others’ faces, they are more apt to interact, but we all need eye contact breaks from time-to-time so make sure to include art or plants or something else toward the point where the gazes of the group would intersect so that people can graciously divert their eyes when they feel the need.
• When furnishing spaces for mingling, make sure that the number of people you anticipate will be seated in a space can all sit on surfaces about the same height above the floor.So, if you think that there will, at some point in time, be 20 people sitting down in your living room, you should have 20 seats whose cushions are about the same height off the floor.  When we’re looking up or down at people we’re talking with, we think of them differently than if we’re looking at them roughly eye-to-eye.   If I’m sitting on a cushion on the floor and you’re sitting in a conventional chair, you’ll think of me as less competent and more childlike than you would otherwise, for example. While looking up at you, I’ll consider you more competent and more adult than I otherwise would.  A fleet of folding chairs is better during a party than oodles of floor cushions strewn about—they’re also less of a tripping hazard.