The Concept of Architecture as a Discourse of Everyday Life.
Architectural design is one element that defines our surroundings. It can enhance the quality of our lives by enabling us to create beautiful and inviting spaces.
Architectural design has a prolonged impact on people’s behavior, mental health, and well-being. Neuro-architecture is one of the emerging fields that focuses on the effects of architecture on our daily lives.
Understanding Neuro-architecture: Bridging Architecture and the Brain.
Neuro architecture is the science that deeply discusses the relationship between architectural design and the human brain and behavior, as the name suggests, it focuses on human brain dynamics and how it reacts to the built environment.
Analyzing factors such as light, space, and materials as they relate to our affective states and cognitive processes is a cross-disciplinary approach that incorporates neuroscience, psychology, and architectural theory. Neuro-architecture is an attempt to explain how environments may enhance or hinder our working and living lives in the course of a day.
The Emotional and Cognitive Influence of Space on Daily Routines
“Buildings can be depressing and uplifting, soothing or surprising’; buildings directly impact our emotional state”, said Eberhard Tröger, a German architect, theorist,
The goal of architectural space is to create various levels for different sensations. By analyzing the emotional and analytical qualities of an architectural space we can better understand how spaces modify our daily routines.For people to experience the space, spatial elements blend to create a symphony, much like in a musical composition, and such elements are lighting, colors, textures, spatial layout, ergonomics etc.
The Impact of Lighting: The Salk Institute
Lighting has an impact on emotions and productivity as it can deeply influence how we perceive a space. The interplay of light and shadows can highlight certain architectural features and create a positive atmosphere. The Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, uses natural light to encourage calm and clarity for the users .
The building’s deliberate use of light highlights openness and clean lines, creating a favorable working environment. The institute’s open, airy layout is meant to encourage intellectual curiosity and creativity. Windows facing west onto the ocean are made possible by the diagonal protrusions of a series of detached towers that line the central court. Small bridges span the rifts of the two sunken courts that separate these towers from the rectangular laboratory buildings, allowing natural light to enter the research areas below.
Glass walls which are designed in a way that they face the western direction provide a continuous view of the surroundings and a sense of calmness which plays a great role in improving performance and reducing mental fatigue during long periods of work for instance during research periods. The architectural design of the Salk Institute not only serves as a place of work but it shapes the day-to-day life of the researchers thereby enhancing their ability to focus and think creatively.
Colour Psychology In Architectural Design.
However, there are other elements of design that can have similar benefits such as the colors, and materials in a building to help people be more productive in their work and in good mental health as seen at the Salk Institute.
The Google headquarters in Mountain View, California is an ideal example of how color psychology works in architectural design. The careful selection of the textures, colors, and the arrangement of the space create a lively and innovative atmosphere and thus boost the employees’ morale as well.
The office spaces are painted in bright colors such as yellow, green, and blue and this was done in consideration of the psychological impact of the colors. Such vivid hues were used because of their psychological impact. The color yellow facilitates energy and creativity, while blue enables us to focus and creates a calm environment, these hues help employees emotional equilibrium while promoting creativity and teamwork, the two crucial aspects of their daily jobs. Further, the use of natural materials like wood and glass creates a warm and welcoming atmosphere, which directly affects how satisfied the employees are at work.
Google’s workspace is designed to improve the mental efficiency of people by providing both quiet areas to focus and active areas for groups to work together. While the presence of quiet areas reduces cognitive overload and improves focus, the open layout pushes people to work together without any prompt which helps with decision-making and creativity.
Cognitive Impact In Workspace Through Architecture
Although open-plan offices have grown in popularity, they tend to have a variety of repercussions. While certain people may find such lively and collaborative environments ideal, others tend to find them distracting, which makes it harder for them to focus and be productive. According to Neuro-architecture, providing people with secluded and calm spaces might improve their productivity. Spaces that create loud noises, dim illumination, and a lack of personal space may trigger burnout and mental tiredness which results in high levels of stress. On the other hand, spaces that are designed using neuro-architecture principles, including natural elements and creating visual connections with nature can in turn reduce our cortisol levels, stress and improve mental clarity.
Neuro Architecture In Healing Environments
Neuro architecture is extremely important while designing healthcare facilities one of the buildings designed using this method is the Penn Pavilion located in Philadelphia.
The Penn pavilion houses a unique collection of innovative research and care facilities. The facility houses many latest technologies from intensive care units, in the patient facility, the facility’s 500 individual patient rooms with different levels of urgency along with providing plenty of spaces for patients’ families to spend the night.
Additionally, the pavilion’s architecture combines the interior and exterior through the usage of natural light and the views for the employees, patients, and visitors. Continuous artificial lighting can disrupt the circadian rhythms, causing stress and confusion, This helps to create more of a serene environment.
Each floor consists of a separate living room for the visitors offering a sense of personal and communal security in an environment that is potentially distressing.
In order to avoid the feeling of a conventional hospital setting the building is designed to be flexible and the space gives the feeling that it is more of a private setting than a typical hospital.
The field of neuro architecture provides clear evidence of how the environment impacts people in a scientific way rather than just an aesthetic, intuitive, or experiential one. Structures that are designed with the knowledge of human behavior create an environment that not only satisfies human needs but also improves their mental health. Various architectural branches can be benefitted from this field such as Urban planning, educational environments, healthcare facilities- etc.
Though Neuro-architecture has now readily been practiced in various international firms like NacLab, Perkins, and Will, NBBJ still has a long way to go as it can offer much more to the field of architecture.
REFERENCES:
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Trivedi, A. (2024) Psychology of architecture: Impact of spaces on our behavioral and emotional patterns, The Decor Journal India. Available at: https://www.thedecorjournalindia.com/psychology-of-architecture-impact-of-spaces-on-our-behavioral-and-emotional-patterns (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
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Natacha (2023) Neuroarchitecture applied to work environments, Limobel. Available at: https://limobelinwo.com/en/neuroarchitecture-applied-to-work-environments/ (Accessed: 05 January 2025).
