10 minute read
A new perspective
Neuroarchitecture could constitute an evolutionary step in architecture by understanding that the scientific advances of our time will allow us to understand the user in his deepest essence. If we know that the built space is decisive in the development of human beings, how can we ignore the disastrous consequences of a design that looks the other way instead of focusing on people?
Neuroscience can revolutionize architectural theory and the practice of the discipline at all levels. The study of form, light, spatial organization, interior routes, transitions between spaces, matter, hierarchy, perspective, vision changes, etc. is leading to conclusions to take into account as those presented in the work. However, there are still many aspects to be studied and, especially, the interrelationships between the different parameters mentioned. How the shape affects the color, or the texture of the material under specific lighting conditions, including the height of the space in relation to its lighting or the simultaneity of materials and visual perspectives. The entire lexicon of architecture as a whole should be reassessed, questioned and reformulated based on the anatomy of the human body, valuing the scientific perspective and, ultimately, allowing neuroscience to intervene in the architectural discussion.
Advertisement
However, one of the problems that this current is causing is the dispersion of content and the lack of cohesion in the results obtained, an objective addressed in this work. The establishment of a broad theoretical framework could not be considered a success if procedures are not developed that allow the systematization of the studies and their translation into architectural practice. However, looking for a strictly pragmatic method, or that only finds the answers in the studies carried out, can lead to turning Neuroarchitecture into a new approach to functionalism. For this reason, architects should attend to the discoveries of neuroscientists, but without ever losing the global perspective of the physical context, the sociocultural features of the place or other symbolic components that could be excluded from the purely neurological field.
Consequently, one of the essential questions that this work has sought to answer has been how to introduce neuroscientific discoveries in the field of architectural projects. In response, a cascade model has been proposed, such as the one described in the second chapter, where the different findings are embedded in the different phases or design approaches. Finally, a matrix of decisions would be progressively built that can be adopted by architects as scientific progress is made in the knowledge of the behavior and reactions of the human body.
On the other hand, and despite the fact that the studies are positive, it could be interesting to establish an ethical debate based on the conclusions reached. The possibility should be considered that this knowledge ends up being applied to repress people’s cognitive abilities and, consequently, subjecting them to deterioration and a psychological control reinforced by the environment itself. The clearest example of this model was the panopticon devised by Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century, where the inmates were deprived of any kind of privacy, eliminating the refuge space defended in this work. Prisons in general are the best example of this cognitive repression for the control of individuals, so a greater knowledge of neural responses can lead to a hardening of the conditions in these places. However, these tools used in a negative way could be transferred to the city model and buildings in a subliminary way, directly affecting our subconscious and limiting the physical and mental capacities of citizens.
In short, Neuroarchitecture must propose a comprehensive and extensive model that makes it possible to improve the sensory and therefore vital conditions of all human beings based on knowledge of our anatomy without losing the cultural reference inherent to all societies.
References
Bibliography
bachelard, Gaston. La poétique de l’espace. Paris: Les Presses universitaires de France, 1958; 215 pages. English version: The poetics of space. Boston: Beacon Press, 1969; 288 pages; translated by John R. Stilgoe.
Reference that could be considered anecdotal for the final materialization of this work, but that brings up reflections on space and cognition that have been present throughout the 20th century. Despite the absence of scientific studies typical of current neuroscience, he shows great lucidity in detecting essential elements on which work has continued to be done subsequently, such as the protective space.
frascari, Marco; edited by Federica Goffi. Marco Frascari´s dream house New York: Routledge, 2017; 238 pages.
This work compiles the ideas of Marco Frascari, an Italian architect who worked with Carlo Scarpa, focusing the interest of his practice on creating spaces that encourage thought and reflection. Despite the fact that he does not establish specific mechanisms to define this stimulating environment, his theoretical discussion in defense of an architecture of the sensorial was an advance in the criticism of functionalism of his time.
holl, Steven. Cuestiones de percepción. Fenomenología de la arquitectura. Barcelona: Editorial Gustavo Gili, S.L., 2018; 69 pages.
This brief compilation of Steven Holl’s opinions has served to extract examples of his own architecture and provide another vision of sensitive architecture defended by other authors. It undoubtedly allows to have a first contact with the architect to approach his work later.
metzger, Christoph. Neuroarchitecture. European Union: Jovis, 2018; 224 pages.
The trigger for all the research carried out, this book can be considered the first compendium of theoretical references for Neuroarchitecture whose postulates have begun to lay the foundations of the discipline. In addition, it gives some first hints of the impact that neuroscience could have to understand the built space and its relationship with cognitive and behavioral processes in people. It addresses themes such as the home, the need to encourage movement and organic architecture with works by Alvar Aalto, Frank Lloyd Wright and the personal contributions of Juhani Pallasmaa, among others. muzquiz, Mercedes (2017). La experiencia sensorial de la arquitectura (Bachelor’s Thesis). Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Madrid. pallasmaa, Juhani. Habitar. Barcelona: Editorial Gustavo Gili, S.L., 2016; 128 pages. rodríguez de torres, Raúl (2013). Del papel en blanco al blanco del papel (Thesis). Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid.
This work has served to extract a multitude of references from the theoretical vision of sensory architecture, thus complementing artists such as Richard Serra or James Turrell, and architects such as L. Barragán and P. Eisenman.
This book compiles five essays that revolve around the idea of inhabiting from the author’s own phenomenological and sensory vision. In a similar way to the author’s other book, Esencias (2016), it has served as a reference to understand the contributions of sensory architecture and especially the symbolic nature of the elements that make it up.
― Esencias. Barcelona: Editorial Gustavo Gili, S.L., 2016; 124 pages.
Juhani Pallasmaa presents the conceptual bases of architecture summarized in this compendium of four essays. The author rejects the design focused on the visual and addresses conceptual project strategies to form a sensory architecture. Along with the other book, Habitar (2016), he has brought the symbolic component of sensory architecture to the work.
― “The geometry of feeling – A look at the phenomenology of architecture”. En Nesbitt, Kate (Ed.) (2000) Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965-1995. Hudson, NY: Princeton Architectural Press (pp 448-453).
Pallasmaa shows the need to go beyond an architecture of form and the visual to achieve a design based on the phenomenology of the sensory, describing a series of experiences typical of this current.
This thesis focuses on project teaching methods, based on scientific bases and studies in cognitive neurobiology that allow current procedures to be varied. The contributions for this work have been mainly the definitions of elements of the nervous system and specific vocabulary present in the annexes.
Videography
The content of the videography focuses on the international congress convened by the “Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture ANFA” (Neuroscience Academy for Architecture) in 2018. The objective of this biennial congress (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018) is to put highlight new research and advances in the field of neuroscience by bringing together neuroscientists and architects from around the world. Its visualization has been essential to capture a multitude of scientific references, whose arrangement and relationship is shown in the second chapter, leaving the work open for future contributions and clarifications.
AHN, Kyuho. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Theoretical Paradigm Adapted for School Design for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW9nhoc7WfE
AKIL, Huda. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Thinking about solitary confinement [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WvIOqGDag0
BROWNING, William. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Neuroscience for Biophilic Design [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRvivytrFjA
COBURN, Alex. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Psychological Responses to Natural Patterns in Architecture [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnmB3cITKg
COLLATZ, Jana; CUEVAS, Erin; ETCOFF, Nancy. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Architecture of Effortless Attention [Video file]. Recovered from https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=5H8fQtcfVXU
DJEBBARA, Zakaria. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Incentive Architecture: Neural Correlates of Spatial Affordances During Transition in Architectural Settings [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=kDs7H8NxzD0
FICH, Lars. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Does Views to Nature and the Design of Spacses Matter?
A Pain Stress Experiment [Video file]. Recovered from https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=rhCMnf04Ed4
HALBLAUB, Marianne; USTINOVA, Maria. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) “I spy with my little eye” A child-led Assessment of the School Built Environment [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CjuX5AvL24
KIRSH, David. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Measuring neuropsychological properties of architectural shape [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Vkre3J1F4NE
LINDBERG, Casey M. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Wellbuilt for Wellbeing: Using sensors and surveys to explore the indoor environment and health [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uENTPooVKPA
MAGAN, Victoria; ANDERSEN, Marilyne; SIMON, Forrest. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Transparency as an environmental factor that influences cognitive visuo-locomotive experience in large-scale buildings [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2l6JVjxAQg
MAZUMDER, Robin. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) The Space Between: An Exploration Into How Urban Environments Influence Affect and Distance Perception [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LerzslpH-Y0
MCNICHOLAS, Elizabeth; MCNICHOLAS, Matthew. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Legibility, Orientation and the Mantle of the ‘Other’ [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HbX8rcUzKA
MUÑOZ, Ricardo; SPECK, Larry. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Physical Environment and Brain Health [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=iFOttTCZX64
NEWMAN, Winifred E. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Home as Health Intervention [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZO9sznp3xs
PANDA, Satchidananda. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Light-Dark Cycle in the Built Environment [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=hTQrtBEzxXw
PARK, Stephanie. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture].
(2018, 19th October) Impact of Face-to-Face Social Interaction on Performance in the Workplace [Video file]. Recovered from https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HK7Yc1LW1A
UPALI, Nanda; ESSARY, Jonathan. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Studying the brain and building with real life settings [Video file]. Recovered from https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=zq9iECz_vQ0
VECCHIATO, Giovanni. [Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture]. (2018, 19th October) Neuroimaging tolls to study the aesthetic experience of architectural environments: the predictive power of the EEG [Video file]. Recovered from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=crSKkOfTV-s
References
Articles
Together with the videography, the different articles analyzed have been crucial to understand the approaches of neuroscience.
adli, Mazda.; fingerhut, Joerg; brakemeier, Eva-Lotta, gomez-carrillo, Ana. “Neurourbanism: towards a new discipline”. ReserarchGate, March 2017, pages 183-185.
aviv, Vered. “What does the brain tell us about abstract art”. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience , volumen 8, article 85, February 2014, pages 1-4.
breva franch, Eva; mut camacho, Magdalena. “El Desarrollo de las ciudades desde la publicidad exterior y las neurociencias”. Universidad de Zulia (Maracaibo) year 32, No especial 7, 2016, pages 231-247.
chen-yen, Chang; ping-kun, Chen. “Human Response to Window Views and Indoor Plants in the Workplace”. HortScience (Chicago) volumen 40, number 5, August 2005, pages 1354-1359.
coburn, Alex.; vartanian, Ossin; chatterjee, Anjan. “Buildings, Beauty, and the Brain: A Neuroscience of Architectural Experience”. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 11 May 2017, pages 1-11.
evans, Gary W.; mitchell, Janetta. “When buildings don’t work: the role of architecture in human health”. Journal of Environmental Psychology, number 18, 1998, pages 85-94.
freedberg, David; gallese, Vittorio. “Motion, emotion and empathy in esthetic experience”. ScienceDirect, volumen 11, number 5, 2007, pages 197-203.
meyers-levy, Joan; juliet zhu, Rui. “The Influence of Ceiling Height: The Effect of Priming on the Type of Processing”. Journal of Consumer Research (Chicago), August 2007, pages 174-186.
yildrim, Kemal; ozkan, Aysen; lutfi hidayetoglu, Mehmet. “Effects of interior colors on mood and preference: Comparisons of two living rooms”. ResearchGate, April 2011, pages 509-524.
anfa, The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (2003). Recovered from: < http://www.anfarch.org/> [Access 2nd March 2020].
Connections By Finsa (2020). Neuroarchitecture: Intelligently Designed Buildings. Recovered from: <https://www.connectionsbyfinsa.com/ neuroarchitecture/?lang=en> [Access 17th April 2020].
de paiva, Andréa (2019). Neuroau: Principles of Neuroarchitecture And Neurourbanism. Recovered from: < https://www.neuroau.com/ post/principles-of-neuroarchitecture> [Access 17th April 2020].
de paiva, Andréa (2019). Neuroau: What NeuroUrbanism Teaches us About our Cities. Recovered from: < https://www.neuroau.com/ post/what-neurourbanism-teach-us-about-our-cities> [Access 29th May 2020].
de paiva, Andréa (2019). Neuroau: What NeuroUrbanism Teaches us About our Cities. Recovered from: < https://www.neuroau.com/ post/what-neurourbanism-teach-us-about-our-cities> [Access 29th May 2020].
fairley, Julia (2018). Roca Gallery: Neuroarchitecture: The New Frontier in Architecture. Recovered from: <http://www.rocagallery.com/thebuilt-environments-new-frontier> [Access 17th April 2020].
References
Origin of the images
Introduction
Fig. 0.1 The matter of time, Richard Serra (2005). Modified source: archdaily.com
Fig. 0.2 Watercolor, Steven Holl (2016). Source: architectmagazine.com
Fig. 0.3 Representation of neurons, Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934)
Fig. 0.4 Earth Room, Walter de Maria (1977). Source: artsy.net
Fig. 0.5 Vals Baths, Peter Zumthor (1996). Source: bjorndesign.net
Fig. 0.6 Gilardi House, Luis Barragán (1976). Source: archdaily.mx
Fig. 0.7 Berlin Holocaust Memorial, Peter Eisenman (2004). Source: own production
Fig. 0.8 Skyspace Lech, James Turrell (2018). Source: archive.maltm.com
Fig. 0.9 Serbian Pavilion Venice Biennale, Stefan Vasic, Ana Sulkic and Igor Sjeverac (2016). Source: archiscene.net
Fig. 0.10 Methodology
First chapter
Fig. 1.1 Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Steven Holl (2007). Source: stevenholl.com
Fig. 1.2 Nueroarchitecture, Christoph Metzger (2018)
Fig. 1.3 Theoretical references
Fig. 1.4 House N, Sou Fujimoto (2008). Source: plataformaarquitectura.cl
Fig. 1.5 Town of New Barris, Hassan Fathy (1967). Source: arquine.com
Fig. 1.6 Fred Gage, neuroscientist. Source: newswise.com
Fig. 1.7 Salk Institute , Louis Kahn (1965). Source: laarquitectura. blogspot.com
Fig. 1.8 Electroencephalography (EEG). Source: circulaseguro.com
Fig 1.9 Eye-tracking device. Source: anfa.com
Fig 1.10 Electroencephalography (EEG) and virtual reality (VR). Source: michaelgaebler.com
Second chapter
Fig. 2.1 References for the different project approaches from the notion of sensory function.
Fig. 2.2 Observation tower, EFFEKT (2019). Source: plataformaarquitectura.cl
Fig. 2.3 NA House, Sou Fujimoto (2010). Source: plataformaarquitectura. cl
Fig. 2.4 Kunsthal Museum, Rem Koolhaas (1992). Source: designboom. com
Fig. 2.5 Salk Institute, Louis Kahn (1965). Source: flickriver.com
Fig. 2.6 Children’s Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center, Sou Fujimoto (2006). Source: archdaily.com
Fig. 2.7 Sun Tunnels, Nancy Holt (1976). Source: celia-hannes.tumblr.com
Fig. 2.8 Melbourne Children’s Hospital, Bates Smart (2011). Source: architectureanddesign.com.au
Fig. 2.9 Ugolin et ses enfants, Auguste Rodin (1882). Source: palavracomum.com
Fig. 2.10 Mirror neurons, Freedberg y Gallese (2007)
Fig. 2.11 Gemälde Number 1, Jackson Pollock (1949). Source: artsy.net
Fig. 2.12 Moss Wall, Olafur Eliasson (1994). Source: nationalgeographic. co.uk
Fig. 2.13 Final wooden house, Sou Fujimoto (2008). Source: dezeen.com
Fig. 2.14 Rainbow Panorama, Olafur Eliasson (2011). Source: own production
Fig. 2.15 Reality machines, Olafur Eliasson (2015). Source: olafureliasson. net
Fig. 2.16 Glasses that enhance red light, Andersen y Magan (2018). Source: anfa.com
Fig. 2.17 Room for one colour, Olafur Eliasson (1997). Source: guggenheimbilbao.esu
Fig. 2.18 Riverbed, Olafur Eliasson (2014). Source: archdaily.com
Fig. 2.19 Building height study, Robin Mazumder (2018). Source: anfa.com
Fig. 2.20 Kid’s City Christianshavn, Cobe (2017). Source: cobe.dk
Conclusions
Fig. 3.1 Project development