The past and the future of Experiential Design.

The neuro - architecture is progressively defining its fields of inquiry andbecoming an importantreference  in the evolution of design practice . The paradigm of the project is enriched of new rules  thanks to scientific evidence of human homeostasis  ( self-regulating processes to adapt to changing environmental conditions ) that go beyond the purely biological aspects generally considered (cellular , molecular and organismic ). Occupants enjoy some environments more than others, and often we do not understand what is the factor that determines this qualitative surplus:  it goes beyond the aesthetic / visual or functional appreciation, and it capable of inducing a regenerating  multi-sensory experience, making  these specific spaces empathic because responsive to our expectations.

The experiential architecture, also known as haptic architecture, according to  Pallasmaa definition, represent an important matter in neuro-architectural discipline, although raising a very controversial issue: the theory of mirror neurons in humans and their effective role  inour nervous system. We are not entering into the different interpretations ofthese small cellular units (we will deal with this specific topic in a future article), but instead we look  back  to very remote theories which already faced the same matter , i.e. the body experience of the environment, and tried to find explanations without the support of neuro-physiological and neuro imaging techniques. In the nineteenth century the visual perception was a central theme in the cultural debate, as philosophers and psychologists were very much into aesthetics and the experience with all environmental features.  If the term “empathy” was originally referred to the ability to fully understand the state of mind of others, since the middle of  1700 it began referring to the spatial dimension. This is when  German philosophers referred to einfuhling, or also to the verbeimfuhlen,  which literally means "feel into", to mean “belonging” or “ to be associated with”.

Vernon Lee - portait by  J. S: Sargent credit: wippainting.blogspot.it/

Vernon Lee - portait by  J. S: Sargent credit: wippainting.blogspot.it/

Vernon Lee was one of the first to speak of empathy towards inanimate objects . She was an English intellectual woman (her real name wasViolet Paget) who was born in France in 1848 and spent most of her life in Italy . Influenced by German philosophers and psychologists as Lipps and Groos, she  was known primarily as a writer rather than as aesthetic theorist  (common destiny for all women of that period). She can be considered one of the founders of the aesthetic psychology as she was the first to assert that the perception of an object is characterized by episodes of sympathetic resonance within our bodies, and we can use this bodily experience as an investigative tool. Her mechanical interpretation and callisthenic perception of inanimate objects is ahead even for the times in which he lived. Below is a passage in which she describes the bodily sensation that a simple glass jug display triggers :

I feel the pressure on my feet on the ground when I see the base, a feeling of lift as I view the body, and downward pressure on my head as I view the rim at the top”

As science evolved and became increasingly empirical, based on measurable behavioral assessments and comparable data, many fields of research relying upon personal and subjective speculations  were deprived of scientific validation,  became sterile and therefore were abandoned .

Yet even now, if we search for the term "empathy" in a philosophy/psychology dictionary of not long ago (*) we find that the definition incorporates the experiential concepts of past centuries, referring mainly to bodily experience in the perception of inanimate objects in space. Typical is the example of the column and the tendency of humans to identify with it: we feel uncomfortable and inadequate to suppeort our wieght when seeing very thin columns, or if the column are squat, weperceive ourselves as big and clumsy. This perceptive interpretation of experience, stripped from the formal excesses of Lee, is also very close to contemporary theories of 'embodied cognition and situatedness, which state that the experience of the world around us is made in the same measure through the body and through the mind.

 

Image by Giusi Ascione

Image by Giusi Ascione

 

This matter has raised a big issue  within the community of neuro-scientists and also raised perplexity among architects, since it refers to a level of sensoriality, a kind ofsympatetic resonance within our own bodies,which is not typical of all human, or, at least, it is an ability not yet developed by most. 

At present, however, there are other neuroscientific topics giving important  contributions to the design  discipline. Those research areas,  still based on mind / body connection,  rely upon scientific data which build the foundation for further inquiry and start a process where the apparent dichotomies and distant field of investigations may find their points of connection. Therefore, architects should avoid forms of skepticism about the interdisciplinary work, that is only at the beginning of its path. Environmental features got a high potential to improve our health, as they interfere the ongoing dialogue between our nervous system and the rest of our body: a positive and constructive dialogue can only be beneficial to our neurophysiological system. 

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Giusi Ascione

Architetto abilitato dal 1992, LEED Green Associate, con un’esperienza decennale all’estero presso studi di progettazione internazionali (Burt Hill, EMBT/ RMJM, Forum Studio/Clayco). Rientra in Italia nel 2008 per avviare ABidea, dedicato alla progettazione e al retrofit. Nel frattempo presta consulenza presso Proger Spa, NeocogitaSrl, collabora con il GBCItalia. Consulente architetto per spazi rigeneranti e formatore di CFP per architetti, è coinvolta anche in attività di ricerca interdisciplinare centrata sulle relazioni tra il comportamento umano e lo spazio costruito. (EBD - Environmental Psychology)

The visceral experience of architecture: object affordance and our need to grasp our surroundings. By Nikos A. Salingaros

Nikos A. Salingaros

Nikos A. Salingaros

Nikos Salingaros is a mathematician but also a  strong supporter of biophilic design and  new architectural theories that he has developed through his collaboration with the architect Christofer Alexander, author of "A Pattern Language"",  ( still a seller after over four decades from publication). His critical analysis of conventional modern architecture is very harsh especially when he tries to combine  theories from physics  with architectural discipline .The following excerp form his recent chapter introduces you to a another approach to neuroarchitecture, without getting too deep into the neuro-physiological analysis, but using its assumptions to conceive a different approach to design. This time Salingaros does it without any regard for ancient architectural language, or does he ???

The visceral experience of architecture: object affordance and our need to grasp our surroundings.”
By Nikos A. Salingaros

Introduction
A quiet revolution is underway, in which architects are beginning to prioritize human neurological responses in what they build (Robinson & Pallasmaa, 2015; Sussman & Hollander, 2015). How does the human organism react and relate to a building, space, surface, or structural detail? A collaborative effort between architects and scientists, with cross-fertilization among disciplines, is revealing important new findings. This represents a paradigm shift after decades during which design focused almost exclusively on form, materials, and abstract geometries.
At the same time, we are discovering that traditional wisdom embedded in the built environment contains many of the design answers we now seek. Our ancestors who built towns and cities had an intuitive idea of which environments were more accommodating emotionally, and more healing (Alexander, 1979; Alexander et al., 1977). The tools they used to evaluate them were their own direct senses. Those older methods of choosing one design over another are now verified by our present-day laboratory techniques.
The sensory impact that our environment has on our nervous system and our body as a whole is the result of a complex mixture of distinct sources, all of which affect us viscerally. Our state of wellbeing is due in part to the effect that environmental information triggers in our body, coming from how our neurological system is designed for organismic survival during our evolution. Instinctive responses to form, pattern, and surface play a fundamental role in how we experience architecture.
Following the lead of Christopher Alexander (2001-2005), I have been investigating the organization of complexity (Mehaffy & Salingaros, 2015; Salingaros, 2006; 2011; 2014; 2015a). The central assumption is that our neurophysiological mechanism is developed for precisely this purpose — to analyze information automatically — hence theoretical results will help to explain how our body reacts to different environments.
Our neurophysiology picks up specific useful pieces of complex information from our surroundings. It does this subconsciously. Other, separate layers of our cognitive apparatus synthesize all this information to compute an integrated result. Our body then acts and reacts according to this internal cue. Building form adapts to our neurophysiology whenever all the individual internal elements, spaces, and surfaces — which should hopefully have followed criteria that guarantee an emotional connection — cooperate cognitively. Increasing the system’s interdependent relationships towards geometrical coherence consequently enhances its value in accommodating human life.

you can keep on reading here (link)