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The provisional conclusions of the study are that the brain behaves differently when exposed to contemplative and non-contemplative buildings, contemplative states elicited through “architectural aesthetics” are similar to the contemplation of traditional meditation in some ways, and different in other ways, and, finally, that “architectural design matters.” — theatlantic.com
Related: AfterShock #4: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neuroscientific Architecture Research View full entry
Amelia profiles the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture aka ANFA and ponders the lessons from her time spent down in San Diego for ANFA’s annual three-day conference at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Does neuro-architecture truly hold the promise of translational... View full entry
The new science of neuroaesthetics [...] tells us much about the way pure form is dealt with by the brain. [...] V S Ramachandran, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego, and William Hirstein, a philosopher at Elmhurst College in Illinois, argue that we are innately attuned to recognise things as unified objects – such that we find brushstrokes or architectural features that can be mentally assembled into a coherent whole more beautiful. — aeon.co
Related Archinect Feature: AfterShock #4: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neuroscientific Architecture Research View full entry
The three scientists’ discoveries “have solved a problem that has occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries — how does the brain create a map of the space surrounding us and how can we navigate our way through a complex environment?” said the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, which chooses the laureates.
The positioning system they discovered helps us know where we are, find our way from place to place and store the information for the next time
— nytimes.com
Back in 1971, John O'Keefe identified "place cells" in the brain – neurons that were selectively activated in relation to the subject's place in an environment. He concluded these nerves were composing a mental map of the space, and the collection of multiple place cells constituted a spatial... View full entry
Look for coverage of the confernce here on Archinect next week. For now, follow Archinect on Twitter, or via #anfarch#anfarch TweetsThe ANFA Conference will explore, from a scientific basis, the range of human experiences with elements of architecture, through collaboration between architects and... View full entry
If we want to know how to make a better city, the place to start is at ground level, using observation and measurement ... to build a psychologically grounded view of the relationship between the physical design of a city and what happens there. [...]
How do we develop an experimental science of urban design? In the research laboratory for immersive virtual environments (Relive) at the University of Waterloo, we have turned to simulation methods to help build such a science.
— theguardian.com
