Neuro- Architectural
Interventions:
Establishing New Architectural Bases Through Neuroscience
“By ignoring neuro-physiological responses, architectural theory was left essentially in a vacuum for many years. A scientific basis for understanding architecture will now fill in this
gap”
- Nikos Salingaros
Table of Content
Thesis Statement
Research
Study Precedents
Precedents' Exterior Geometry Analysis
Thesis Statement
By reconciling architecture and neuroscience, an authentic connection between nature, the built environment, and humans will establish. Here we gain the opportunity to revive human’s state of well-being by designing intuitive spaces inspired by neuroscientific insights which emphasized the restorative effect of patterns, symmetries, and fractals.
Research
By following neuroscientific knowledge as a ground base for architectural design, I envision a world in which sustainability and spatial quality are prioritized to seek a more humane architectural design. In this perspective, “the key to understanding how our brains enable our minds to experience architecture settings is consciousness” (Eberhard 2009). Understanding the elements of consciousness enables us to comprehend human interaction with the built environment at a neural level resulting in a much more elaborate and satisfactory architectural design. Travis Price, an award-winning author, philosopher, and architect, points out the plain soullessness of today's “modern box”. Price argues the problem existing in modern architecture is its lack of an authentic linkage with nature and contextualization within its environment.
Salingaros' Experiment
Despite the human reasoning that has a preference for curvature and the feel of enclosure, architects have a history of neglecting these intuitive instincts stretching back millennia. Salingaros supported this idea through an experiment that showed, through neurolinguistic measures, that industrial-modernist design-trained architects tend to conflict between positive and negative valences. By responding to what is considered attractive (positive) or repulsive (negative), neural signals were complex due to bivalent judgements and increased cerebral activation relative to usual people's monovalent responses. Interestingly, schizophrenia is reminiscent of this cognitive phenomenon; seeking image-based design goes against intuition.
Study precedents:
Exploring projects that applied science-inspired design approaches
- Hazelwood School
- Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center
- The UK Pavilion
HazelwoodSchool
Lee, Andrew. Hazelwood SchoolExterior.
Alan Dunlop’sHazelwood School harnesses every possible detail in the design as a learningaid for students with complex impairments. The building design “snakes throughthe site” creating a small series of external gardens. This design aspectfacilitates more opportunities for an intimate outdoor teachingenvironment and maximized student-nature interaction through a physical andemotional sensory experience.
Eberhardexplains in “Chapter Two: Neuroscience and Design of Educational Places” thatwayfinding is a significant concept in educational building design thatfacilitates navigating through built environments and remembering specificlocations. Also, Eberhard suggests that the environment's acoustical qualitiescan significantly influence students’ academic success, especially for childrenwith hearing impairments or educational and communications needs (62).
Alan achieved these qualities by cladding the school’s hallways with a tactile material (cork) which stimulates pupils’ sense of touch through the texture and warmth of the chosen material. Moreover, cork acoustical quality integrated within Hazelwood school’s design further minimizes ambient sound; thus, positively influencing pupils’ learning experience.
Guiding principles for designing schools suggest incorporating a rich variety of stimulants such as colour, shapes, light, size, and textures (47). This is evident through the diversity of wall and floor designs to distinguish different areas. The maximization of natural light throughout the entire building is another aspect that helps to maintain students’ circadian rhythm and alertness.
Schools can impose anxiety on students simply because it is considered a foreign architectural setting that they are used to. It is more likely that schools with a modern architectural setting to be perceived as unfamiliar; thus, stressful if students lived in a traditional neighborhood. Therefore, Alan insured to expose timber columns and beams' structure that evokes overall warmth and familiarity of space.
Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center
Cleveland Clinic Center freestanding Structure
FrankGehry’sdesign bringsback buildings’ beauty through neurological studies about Gehry's clients’preferences (the patients). Gehry considers patients’needfor an environment that boldly stands against regular medical settings.Nikos Salingaros suggeststhat being able to categorize perceived shapes and forms can reduceinformational overload. I believe that the complex repetition of FrankGehry’s building envelope designdemonstrated a great example of applying evident research to architectureto enhance the human experience.
Gehry improvesthe patient experience by designing a curved corridor that tailors sightlineslimiting interaction between patients at varying stages of illness.
This buildingstands out from Gehry’s usual work; it is a freestanding structure withdeeply coffered windows and enterprising lines. Such aspects createa masterpiece of cathedral-like space blending both influentialvisual impact and remarkably efficient patient care. The design approachhelps patients’ well-being and refreshes their memory with thebuilding’s unconventional, unique, and memorable forms.
Gehry's teamsdesigned an architectural masterpiece that blends the efficiency of thepatient’s care and maintains a robust visual impact. Gehry explains, “themantra is Keep Memory Alive”, his design aims to attract more partners tosupport finding a cure for neurodegenerative diseases through its imposingsculptural form that is both memorable and enjoyable to patients andvisitors
The UK Pavilion
Heatherwickstudio rendering. The UK Pavilion Interior
Heatherwickstudio explains the pavilion’s concept partially being a commentary on museums'and big Expos' experiences being simple and commonplace. The UK Pavilion’sdesign aims to create memorable experiences by emphasizing the exhibitioncomponent of the space rather than the plain building where elements aredisplayed. Knowing the United Kingdom’s history of incorporating nature intocities, the Seed Cathedral resembles the future of more humane UKcities.
The two components in whichHeatherwick’s design consists are the Seed Cathedral and asurrounding “crinkled” plain that acts as a base that simplifies thepavilion’s complexity. The surrounding “crinkled” space contrasts with the softnessof the Seeds Pavilion. Thus, contributing to the overall visualcalmness and memorable experience of the exhibition.
Lookingat the Pavilion from the outside, the Seed Cathedral is perceived as a cube piercedby 7.5 m long light-collecting rods. Each rod holds up to 4 seeds from acollection of more than 200,000 seeds, 25% of plant species around the world.The resulting poetic aesthetics of the pavilion reflects the architects’ intent tofocus on texture rather than the form of the building. Alongside the cube’s softedges, acrylic rods added weightlessness to the design and dynamics as it moveswith the wind “like stalks in a wheat field” (Thomas Heatherwick).
Tothat extent, the building in itself isthe exhibition, the used acrylic rods perform both as a display method and asignificant component of the interior and exterior structure. Acrylic rodrepetition generates mesmerizing reflection and scaling symmetries easilydetectable by our neural system thus enhancing our sense of space and calmness.Also. the resulting bilateral symmetries from these patterning could beprocessed by our brain as reminiscent of an abstract facefeature (anthropomorphic design) which further supports theemotional and awe-evoking experience.
Precedents' Exterior
Geometry Analysis
“The brain controls our behavior. Genes control the blueprint for the design and structure of the brain.
The environment can modulate the function of genes, and ultimately the structure of our brains.
Changes in the environment change the brain, and therefore they change our behavior.
Consequently, architectural design changes our brain and our behavior” (135)
- Dr. Fred Gage
