omnispace

Zen Unlocks Hidden Tree

500 year old Ryoanji temple garden, Kyoto.
In 2002 Gert Van Tonder of Kyoto University discovered 500-year-old rock patterns suggest 'tree' to our subconscious mind. The beauty of one of Japan's most popular Zen gardens has long eluded explanation. Now neuroscientists have discovered its minimalist design suggests a pleasing picture to our subconcious. Using symmetry calculations the objects imply a tree image in the empty space. The finding suggests that Japanese garden designers - originally priests - "balanced forces from visual science," says study leader Van Tonder. Repeating the calculations with random rock groups failed to generate any similar patterns.

500 year old Ryoanji temple garden, Kyoto.
In 2002 Gert Van Tonder of Kyoto University discovered 500-year-old rock patterns suggest 'tree' to our subconscious mind. The beauty of one of Japan's most popular Zen gardens has long eluded explanation. Now neuroscientists have discovered its minimalist design suggests a pleasing picture to our subconcious. Using symmetry calculations the objects imply a tree image in the empty space. The finding suggests that Japanese garden designers - originally priests - "balanced forces from visual science," says study leader Van Tonder. Repeating the calculations with random rock groups failed to generate any similar patterns.

Neural Patterns

The recent study of complexity and patterns (fractals) via physics has relevance to architecture. A fascinating path by way of Nikos A. Salingaros, Mathematics Professor at the University of Texas in an article entitled "Architecture, Patterns and Mathematics" theorizes that: "Man's visual system is especially receptive to patterns." In Salingaros' treatise patterns are defined as "regularity in some dimension" and that mathematics is a science of patterns. Thus I began to see how mathematics, patterns and gestalt psychology began to intertwine and be applied to architecture. The paper referred to mankind's need to "generate patterns out of some basic inner need" and applying basic psychology we might ask, are human beings insecure in a perceived wildly chaotic universe? If the answer is yes, then does architecture fulfill man's craving for meaning? And if symmetry and patterns are preferred or considered 'beautiful' does this conversely imply that random design, empty walls, little colour, no pattern be judged as non-preferable or even 'ugly'?

Salingaros informs us that historically architects were mathematicians and that the two disciplines were indistinguishable. The Medieval stonemasons had a strong understanding of Platonic philosophy, proportion and mathematics and to them all their work was grounded in the ancient Pythagorean maxim "all is number." Studying the Gothic structures geometry and mathematics are completely woven into the structure's physical features. Ancient Classical cultures and Western European Renaissance architect mathematicians designed their structures with patterns in mind and thus the structures themselves reflected processes which are inherent in the human mind. see also gestalt

Neuroscience Unlocks Zen Power

500 year old Ryoanji temple garden, Kyoto.
In 2002 Gert Van Tonder of Kyoto University discovered 500-year-old rock patterns suggest 'tree' to our subconscious mind. The beauty of one of Japan's most popular Zen gardens has long eluded explanation. Now neuroscientists have discovered its minimalist design suggests a pleasing picture to our subconcious. Using symmetry calculations the objects imply a tree image in the empty space. The finding suggests that Japanese garden designers - originally priests - "balanced forces from visual science," says study leader Van Tonder. Repeating the calculations with random rock groups failed to generate any similar patterns. Earlier work by Ilona Kovács, a visual scientist at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, showed that the human brain uses similar symmetry lines, like those of a child's stick figure, to make sense of shapes. See also gestalt theory.

References:

1. Van Tonder, G., Lyons, M.J. & Ejima, Y. Visual structure of a Japanese Zen garden. Nature, 419, 359, (2002).
2. Kovács, I. & Julesz, B. Perceptual sensitivity maps within globally defined visual shapes. Nature, 370, 644 - 646 (1994).

Proxemics

Edward Hall is most associated with proxemics, the study of the human use of space within the context of culture. In The Hidden Dimension (1966), Hall developed his theory of proxemics, arguing that human perceptions of space, although derived from sensory apparatus that all humans share, are molded and patterned by culture. He argued that differing cultural frameworks for defining and organizing space, which are internalized in all people at an unconscious level, can lead to serious failures of communication and understanding in cross-cultural settings. This book analyzed both the personal spaces that people form around their bodies as well as the macro-level sensibilities that shape cultural expectations about how streets, neighborhoods and cities should be properly organized. Hall's most famous innovation has to do with the definition of the informal, or personal spaces that surround individuals:

• Intimate space - the closest "bubble" of space surrounding a person. Entry into this space is acceptable only for the closest friends and intimates.
• Social and consultative spaces - the spaces in which people feel comfortable conducting routine social interactions with acquaintances as well as strangers.
• Public space - the area of space beyond which people will perceive interactions as impersonal and relatively anonymous.

Hall's work inspired developments in several fields. In the field of anthropology, he was one of the first to consider the "anthropology of space." Today, this is a robust area of research pursued by anthropologists interested in how the built environment expresses culturally shared ideas and sustains relations of inequality between people (Lawrence and Low 1990). Hall's ideas have also had a significant impact in communication theory, especially intercultural communication, where it inspired research on spatial perception that continues to this day (Niemeir, Campbell and Dirven 1998). In geography, Hall's work has inspired geographers to consider the importance of relative and relational, as opposed to absolute, space, and to ask the questions about how different human communities create and make use of space.

Environmental Psychology

Pruitt Igoe by Minoru Yamasaki
Throughout history, architecture has never formulated organized knowledge of environmental psychology. Most prominent US architects, led until recently by Philip Johnson view their job as an art form. They see little responsibility for the social impact of their designs which was highlighted with the failure of public housing developments like Yamasaki's Pruitt. Environmental psychology has conquered one whole architectural genre however - retail stores, and any other commercial venue where the power to manipulate the mood and behavior of customers, like stadiums, casinos, malls, and airports. From Philip Kotler's landmark paper on Atmospherics and Alan Hirsch's "Effects of Ambient Odors on Slot-Machine Usage in a Las Vegas Casino", through the creation and management of the Gruen transfer, retail relies heavily on psychology, original research, focus groups, and direct observation. One of William Whyte's students, Paco Underhill, makes a living as a "shopping anthropologist".

It didn't surprise me then to find out that although we live in an age focused on 'human experience' there is only one UK institution offering Environmental Psychology study - the University of Surrey. On their website they say they are the only UK postgrad course that investigates people's interactions with the environment - their perceptions, attitudes and actions. It investigates the psychological processes which enable us to understand the meaning that environmental situations have for people acting individually or in groups, and how people create and use places.

History: Research in Environmental Psychology started in 1950 with a campaign to improve mental hospitals. Architects in charge of building these hospitals where more concerned with the structure rather than human needs. They turned to psychologists for information on cognition and social and human behavior. This collaboration between architects and psychologists created a field called Architectural Psychology. Over the years, problems expanded beyond architectural situations to parks and landscapes, thus creating Environmental Psychology. Researchers began discovering the mismatches between humans and their environment. Psychologists began trying to solve these problems through improved design. A field that had started with investigating color and chair systems in hospitals moved to tracking visitors in national parks and studying the stresses associated with urban commuting.

Neuroscience for Architecture

Unlocking the Brain for Better Architecture & Design
Do specific colors support patient recovery in hospitals? Can certain acoustic conditions support learning in classrooms? Do windows support productivity in offices? The intuitive answer to all of these questions is a resounding yes. The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA), a unique research venture between architects and neuroscientists, wants proof. Launched as the legacy project of the 2003 AIA National Convention in San Diego, Calif., ANFA is devoted to building intellectual bridges between neuroscientists and architects that will lead to studies about how and why the human brain perceives and responds to architectural cues. What neuroscientists learn from these studies can one day be applied to make evidence-based design possible to a new level of precision. By understanding how an architectural setting impacts the cognitive ability of children, for example, architects could design enriched learning environments. By understanding how some people are able to find their way more easily than others, architects could create more easily used navigation systems in complex buildings.

John Eberhard, FAIA, has been a driving force behind ANFA since its inception. He is ANFA’s executive director, a Latrobe Fellow of the College of Fellows of the AIA, and director of research planning for the AIA. ANFA received funding for its first two years in the form of a $100,000 Latrobe Fellowship. “Architecture stands on the threshold of a new era,” says Eberhard. “The enormous body of knowledge being created by neuroscientists is about to dramatically change what it means to be a professional designer. Architects will benefit from the new knowledge base made possible by neuroscience, but the real beneficiaries are future generations of school children, hospital patients, and office workers who will have their environments more carefully tuned to their needs and desires.” In his paper “Architecture and the Mind,” Eberhard writes, “The research results emerging from neuroscience provide knowledge of the basic biology of the brain, of how our minds use the brain to process experiences, and of why the human brain has evolved in this way.” Among the recent discoveries, for example, is a finding by Fred Gage, Ph.D., president of ANFA, that enrichment and exercise can lead to a re-tooling of the adult brain. Gage is a professor at the Salk Institute’s Laboratory of Genetics. Tools that didn’t exist as recently as 10 years ago are available now to study brain function. Scientists can employ imaging techniques to see what’s happening inside the brain, including which areas of a person’s brain are in use or being stimulated. New brain scanning devices can trace mental processes as a person moves, sees, hears, meditates or experiences emotions.

“Observations of how humans interact with their environment are based on informed suppositions and usually careful methodology. The limit of these methods is that we know a good deal about what happens during environmental interactions, but we don’t know why humans respond the way that they do. As a result of studies of the brain and the mind by neuroscientists with modern scanning equipment, it is possible to know much more about how humans experience their environment, about why they have such experiences, and about what might be done by designers to influence experience.”