Merging two disciplines:
architecture and neuroscience

Source: Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture
Sept. 24, 2003

Neuroscience is one of the newest frontiers of knowledge being explored by humans. By contrast, architecture is one of the oldest disciplines of human civilization. On May 8, at the national American Institute of Architects convention in San Diego, a new venture was announced which will explore how the world will be changed by merging these two disciplines.

This new venture, the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture, is located in San Diego and is a not-for-profit, collaborative effort between prominent architects and neuroscientists from around the United States.

Results of research studies being conducted by the academy to determine why humans perceive and respond to the built environment in certain ways are likely years away, but these results may eventually have far reaching impacts upon the way architects design buildings.

In fact, since the discovery of certain principles of physics, basic architectural approach has changed little. Efforts to design hospitals to promote healing or schools to promote learning are currently based mostly upon intuition. The academy will attempt to assign proven scientific principles to the impact of certain designs and strategies upon the human brain.

Already, the academy's board of directors has identified several topics for study, including "Healing by Design" for Alzheimer's patients. Neuralpathologic changes associated with neurodegenerative disorders are known to cause Alzheimer's. By understanding how such damage to the brain changes perceptions, we may be in a position to know why certain facility designs can calm and aid those afflicted by this disease.

Another topic of study identified by the academy is to determine how learning is impacted by the physical environment. A previous study has already shown that students' test scores improve when their learning environment is infused with natural light. Researchers will attempt to map the neurological response involved in this process to better understand why this causal relationship happens and in what ways it can be replicated.

Before the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture was formed, architect John Eberhard was already exploring the possibility of using neuroscience to guide architects' designs. Eberhard is the director of Research Planning for the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and has been instrumental in forming the academy.

Local architect Alison Whitelaw approached Eberhard about his work in this field when she was devising a "Legacy Project" as part of San Diego's contribution toward hosting the national AIA convention last May. Every year, the host city AIA chapter contributes a project meant to give something back to the community from the architecture profession as part of the national AIA convention. Building homes for the needy and creating educational opportunities for children are popular focuses for past Legacy projects, but Whitelaw and her organizing committee envisioned something more ambitious.

"The spark for the idea actually came from AIA President Norman Koonce," said Whitelaw. "He talked about how Dr. Jonas Salk had attributed his breakthrough in discovering the polio vaccine to the time he spent in the abbey at Assisi, Italy. This got us thinking about why certain buildings evoke certain thoughts and emotions."

Whitelaw learned that Eberhard had already begun a journey down this road of discovery and contacted him with the idea. Since then, they have put together a board of directors and advisory board stacked with some of the most prominent people and organizations within the architecture and neuroscience professions.

Distinguished research institutions represented on the boards include the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, the Neurosciences Institute, the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego and the UCSD Graduate Program in Neuroscience. Other participants include representatives from the American Institute of Architects, The Boston Globe and Crystal Cathedral Ministries, to name just a few.

Eberhard, on behalf of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture, was awarded a $100,000 Latrobe Fellowship at the convention from the AIA College of Fellows to develop research studies and grow the academy. The academy is headquartered at the NewSchool of Architecture in San Diego.

Though in its nascence, the academy has drawn interest from around the world.

"We had an e-mail recently from someone in Israel who heard about the academy and wanted to know how he could get involved," Whitelaw said. Interest has also come from Australia, England and throughout the United States.

Academy organizers are keeping a database of people interested in volunteering their time or contributing information, but right now, fund raising is high on the agenda for Eberhard and the others.

"Sponsorships will be paramount to making the discoveries that could change our world," Eberhard said. "We are meeting with people all over the country who are considering investing in the academy."

Related Link
Academy for Neuroscience for Architecture: www.anfarch.org