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It’s the homeowner’s own memory that will come to the rescue. Described as a handshake between the deep-seated hippocampus and the frontal lobe, memory does a lot more than help us recall names at cocktail parties, or ace exams. According to the latest research, it helps us project into the future. For designers, architects, developers, builders, stylists, and homeowners, memories help define what makes a house a home. “From what he knows of Cave A, and from what he knows of Cave B, our most ancient ancestor was able to envision what he’d find in Cave C, before even going inside,” says molecular biologist John J. Medina. Which is to say, given hundreds of choices, our windblown homeowner will have a good chance of picking the right cave. /// reTurning To The preSenT, deSignerS and archiTecTS have
Listen to Your Brain
been increasingly turning to molecular science to help them design better caves for their clients. What originated as important but specialized evidence on how design can be used to move people out of hospital beds quicker, or help office workers to think better, has now spread into the design mainstream. Architectural psychologist Dak Kopec gets this. Kopec directs the Boston Architectural College’s Master of Design Studies in Design for Human Health. He’s also the co-author of Evidence Based Design: A Process
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By Louis PosteL
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icture the intrepid homeowner on New England’s coast. Unusually high March tides are battering the last of his bulkhead. With a “What, me worry?” attitude that would make Alfred E. Neuman proud, he clicks through Zillow for mountain properties, using the search terms “Vermont” and “$750,000 plus,” for something a little less exposed. He’s never been to the mountains in Vermont, however. How will he know what to look for in a property? No worries. It turns out that the emerging science of evidencebased design (EBD) and its close ally NeuroDesign can now explain the uniquely human ability to adapt to an unknown environment.
recommended reading Want to know more about the role of evidence-based design in architecture, interior design, and landscape design? a handful of books and a new online journal are devoted to exploring the research and practical applications of this emerging field. evidence Based design: a Process for Research and writing, by dak kopec, Edith Sinclair, and Bruce matthes (prentice hall) evidence-Based design for Interior designers, by linda l. nussbaumer (Fairchild Books) Inquiry by design: environment/Behavior/ Neuroscience in architecture, Interiors, landscape, and Planning, By John Zeisel (W.W. norton) Brain landscape: The Coexistence of Neuroscience and architecture, by John p. Eberhard (oxford university press) eBd Journal, a new online magazine dedicated to creating a bridge between research and design practice. ebdjournal.com
keep in Touch help us keep our fingers on the pulse of new England’s
design community. Send your news to lpostel@nehomemag.com. 200 New eNglaNd Home march–april 2015
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for Research and Writing. “I just came across a study regarding real estate sales,” he says. “Professionals know it’s the first and last impressions that drive sales, but that the middle is basically junk. Why? Psycholinguistic studies show that our dak kopec brains need the first and last of things like words for recognition, but somehow have little trouble filling in the gaps.” “A groundbreaking design study I still find fascinating,” he continues, “is the one for the 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Boeing found out that increased humidity reduces air rage by producing the negative ions that calm people down. So does splashing water, for that matter.” Kitchen and bath designers take note. /// in a Similar vein, There’S Surely a STudy
somewhere on the positive effects of art in the home. The “Architectura Articulation” exhibit at Audio Concepts on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston last fall gave a good indication of how positive those effects could be. Curated by art represen-
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tative Lynda McNally, the show captured the deep connection we humans share for the built environment. Architecturalillustrator-turned-artist Paul McMahan summed up his own experience: by no longer worrying so much about rendering his clients’ specific designs, he obtained the freedom to fully express his passion for architecture itself. /// anoTher exhibiTor aT The Show, Frank Costantino, is a friend and occasional
drawing mentor of a number of leading area architects, including Jan Gleysteen, John Margolis, and Jeremiah Eck. “Before everything went digital,” says Costantino, “I worked as an independent
oriental contemporary broadloom
architectural illustrator for virtually all of Boston’s leading firms.” There was an upside to the collapse of the hand-drawn rendering—at least for him. “In the course of producing perspective imagery for these firms, I was able to develop my own aesthetic.” Costantino’s artistic turn in the face of adversity opened the door to a fulfilling life of teaching, doing demos . . . and fulfilling commissions. ///
Jacob Higginbottom is an architect,
triathlete, and exhibiting artist in the Audio Concepts show. His busy schedule includes hosting his own events at Midway Studios in the Innovation District Jacob higginbottom’s Melcher’s curve III
near the Boston Design Center. A local developer partnered with a collective to buy the space. “I show my work there several times a year,” Higginbottom says. “There is an emerging demographic of serious art collectors who are interested in going right to the source—to buy, as well as to socialize.” /// some brains choose one cave, others two
or more. “I’m seeing certain clients looking to sell their major home,” says Tracy Davis, a designer based in Portland, Maine, and New York City. “They’d like to use that $2.9 million to diversify to smaller dwellings in two places, say, one in Maine and one in New Mexico.” And while some second-homers are looking for more of a connection to nature, Davis notes that, for others, it’s just the reverse: they’re tracy davis moving to city dwellings. “I have a lovely woman client entering the second half of a legal career, who missed her connection to the Soho scene in New York,” says Davis. “So in her master we did some very euro-modern furnishings with high gloss, tone-on-tone
walls. All the same, we used the cerused walnut side tables with cabriole legs that had come from her mother and that she’d held on to since college. As long as you do it intelligently, it’s important to have things with that kind of emotional value.” /// Just the name and address of the com-
pany, Mast & Falls Interior Design on Blueberry Lane in Concord, Massachusetts, excites those dopamine neurotransmitters associated with poetry. But don’t be misled. Designers Katharine Mast and Sue Falls are also steeped in EBD, especially when it comes to aging. “We are seeing more young families who want to have their aging parents with them and are looking to incorporate design elements that will help them live independently,” says Mast. “Take lighting plans, for example. Scientists have shown that older people need about three times the amount of light inside the home as adults in their twenties and thirties.” Older folks don’t need to sacrifice style for comfort and utility, either. “While some Italian contemporary is too low and lounge-y,” Mast says, “Kravet in the Boston Design Center has
mast
Celebrating
Years
faLLs
a whole line of contemporary chairs and sofas that you can get out of easily, many of which can be customized.” Mast is helping her father and stepmother with their Virginia home. “We explored the elevator option, but ultimately we steered away from it. A chair lift was a nice compromise. There’s one manufactured by Symmetry that will go around curves and L-shapes.” /// did someone say “curves and L-shapes”?
While people indeed prefer curves to angles, a study by Texas Tech neuroscientist Michael O’Boyle indicates that this isn’t always the case. On the one hand, if you care to relax the fear and emotion center in your brain’s amygdala, curves are the way to go. On the other hand, he says, “if you’re urgently trying to find your way to the exit, angles are the way to go.” “What, me worry?” our unflappable homeowner can almost be heard to reply above the March gale. •
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