Commercial Architecture December 2017 - 16

FEATURE

2017 In Review

Ken's V I E W

How Buildings Mess With Our Heads
W

e shape our buildings and our buildings shape

puter-aided design system named CaveCAD allows

early man. In other words, be paranoid. If you think

us, Winston Churchill famously proclaimed.

users to alter dynamically the virtual environment

something wants to have you for lunch, you're probably right.

I'll bet he never heard of neuro-architecture. Don't

while subjects stand within the stereoscopic model

laugh. There's even an Academy of Neuroscience for

itself," according to International Academy for De-

Closer to contemporary reality is the idea that

Architecture. This is serious stuff. Churchill was on

sign and Health's website. "By logging subject re-

spaces with visibility and multiple vantage points may

the right track, but he didn't know half of it. How could

sponses over a sequence of trials, multiple design

promote environmental comprehension and engage-

he? The Internet, Facebook, and Twitter were nothing

changes can be tested, according to controlled pro-

ment. Put even more simply, people like to feel they

but science fiction in his day, if even that.

tocols and during synchronous recording of brain-

have some control over their environment and that it

wave responses," it says.

be coherent.

The BBC Future website, however, professes to
know a lot more. Part of our brain, the hippocampus,

One writer, Charles Montgomery, quoted in the

Never fear, there's an app that addresses "the

is attuned to "the geometry and arrangement of the

BBC article points to "an emerging disaster in street

effects of spatial design on aspects of social, organi-

spaces we inhabit," says the BBC.

psychology." In his book Happy City, he warns of

zational and economic performance of buildings and

No kidding. That's more or less what Churchill

blank, cold spaces replacing small shops that provide

urban areas." Space Syntax is a program developed

said, minus the part about brain physiology, and I

visual interest and variety. Indeed, one theory says

at the University of London.

think most architects know this despite not being

that the visual complexity of the natural environment

neuroscientists.

is a kind of "mental balm."

Still, it's a fair point and a lot more complicated.
There is increasing evidence that there are psycho-

Be warned, however, that some folks want it all.
They want order in their visual complexity.

Think that's all you have to worry about? Not even
close. Some folks think salutogenic design is the next
big thing in building design. It's a "well building" on
steroids. That means it takes into account even more

logical and physiological consequences to the envi-

This is starting to sound like biophilic design,

things that could impact building occupants' health

ronments we inhabit. There's even talk of devices that

which I wrote about in relation to healthcare facilities

and well being. Sorry if you haven't even begun to

monitor skin conductance (to measure physiological

some time back. Both biophilia and neuro-architecure

figure out EPDs and HPDs. The learning curve just got

response), smartphone apps to ask subjects how

have much in common with healthy and sustainable

steeper, but I'm sure there's an app.

they're feeling (bad idea), and electroencephalogram

design in healthcare facilities, schools, and offices. It

Certainly, there are those who suggest that the

(EEG) headsets to measure brain activity as it relates

adds another dimension to guidelines that focus only

complexity of architectural and urban environments

to mood.

on exposure to pollutants and toxins in air and water,

is far too intricate to reduce to mere data points.

Architects are already using virtual-reality tech-

or through physical contact.

I tend to agree. I doubt that architecture can or

nology as well as auralization techniques to pre-

One biophilic theory that I remember is that of a

should be reduced to algorithms, but it's encouraging

view unbuilt projects. Why not add an EEG headset

human preference for places of prospect and ref-

that someone is thinking in suitably complex ways

to see if a subject is stressed out by the proposed

uge-that is, someplace where one can see preda-

about how our built environment impacts all of us.

environment?

tors coming as well as be protected from them. It is

Oh, wait, it's already been done. "A novel com-

thought to be an adaptation of survival instincts of

- Kenneth W. Betz, Senior Editor

Want more information? To download the information listed below, visit commercialarchitecturemagazine.com/1712review.

Older, Smaller, Better (Preservation Leadership Forum)

Congress for New Urbanism

American College of Healthcare Architects

Restaurant Trends

Next Gen Learning

Climate Action: A Playbook for Hospitals

COMMERCI A L A RCHI T EC T URE

DECEMBER 2017

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Architecture December 2017