August in San Diego: Neuroscience for Architecture, Urbanism & Design Michael A. Arbib University of California at San Diego NewSchool of Architecture and Design [email protected] (August 24, 2019) Table of Contents 1. Introduction + Evidence Based Design ........................................................................... 2 Neuroscience For Architecture, Urbanism & Design ............................................................. 2 NfA and ANFA ......................................................................................................................... 4 Evidence-based design ........................................................................................................... 5 2. From Neuroscience to Architecture and Back Again ....................................................... 6 The Spectrum from Neuroscience to Architecture ................................................................ 6 Core Neuroscience/Cognitive Science: The Action-Perception Cycle and Affordances ........ 9 Embodied Cognition/Embrained Bodies .............................................................................. 10 Linking Music and Architecture ............................................................................................ 11 3. Measuring Physiological and Neural Correlates............................................................ 11 Core Neuroscience: The Autonomic Nervous System ......................................................... 11 What can we measure and what does it mean? .................................................................. 12 Architecture education ......................................................................................................... 12 Physical Reality “versus” Virtual Reality. .............................................................................. 13 4. Memory, Wayfinding and Design ................................................................................. 14 Core Neuroscience: Episodic Memory, Place Cells, and Navigation .................................... 14 Wayfinding in and out of Virtual Reality .............................................................................. 15 Design – from Devices to Buildings ...................................................................................... 16 Neuroscience of the design process ..................................................................................... 17 5. Learning and Creativity ................................................................................................ 18 Core Neuroscience: From Synaptic Plasticity to Deep Learning .......................................... 18 Artificial Intelligence, Creativity and Consciousness ............................................................ 19 6. Empathy, Paradise, and Bio-Inspiration ....................................................................... 21 Core Neuroscience: Mirror Neurons and Systems ............................................................... 21 Empathy, Einfühlung and Mirror Neurons ........................................................................... 22 Michael Arbib: August in San Diego: Neuroscience for Architecture, Urbanism & Design 2 From Paradise to Courtyard ................................................................................................. 22 Bio-inspired architecture ...................................................................................................... 24 7. Baukultur and Community ........................................................................................... 25 What makes a good environment? ...................................................................................... 25 Baukultur .............................................................................................................................. 26 From Loneliness to Community ........................................................................................... 27 8. Biology, Light, and Aesthetics ...................................................................................... 28 Core Neuroscience: Circadian rhythms ................................................................................ 28 Light and Architecture .......................................................................................................... 29 Core Neuroscience: The Visual System ................................................................................ 29 What makes beauty? ............................................................................................................ 30 9. Neuromorphic and Dynamic Architecture .................................................................... 33 Neuromorphic Architecture ................................................................................................. 33 Core Neuroscience: Neuroscience of Emotion .................................................................... 35 Emotions in a Neuromorphic Architecture .......................................................................... 36 Buildings as robots ............................................................................................................... 37 About the Author: ........................................................................................................... 38 References ...................................................................................................................... 38 1. Introduction + Evidence Based Design NewSchool of Architecture & Design in San Diego held a highly successful Intersession on “Neuroscience For Architecture, Urbanism & Design” on August 12-15, 2019. Participants came from around the world, and many of the organizers and speakers were members of Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture’s Board of Directors or Advisory Council. To make sure that the excitement of the Intersession could be shared widely, I took copious notes and have now edited them, rearranged the material by themes that cut across the lectures (rather than offering lecture-by-lecture summaries), and augmented the result by adding brief introductions to core topics of neuroscience: the action-perception cycle and affordances; the autonomic nervous system; place cells, navigation and episodic memory; synaptic plasticity; mirror neurons; the visual system; circadian rhythms; and emotion. In addition, I have supplemented material from the Intersession with a range of personal observations that extend the discussion or offer new perspectives. This article is also being published as nine posts (one per section) on the AN blog on the ANFA website: http://anfarch.org/blogspot/. Neuroscience For Architecture, Urbanism & Design The “Neuroscience For Architecture, Urbanism & Design” Intersession held at NewSchool of Architecture & Design in San Diego on August 12-15, 2019 offered the following talks: Michael Arbib: August in San Diego: Neuroscience for Architecture, Urbanism & Design 3 Monday, August 12 - Embodiment and Aesthetics In Search of Paradise | Harry Francis Mallgrave Neuroscience of Beauty | Tom Albright Neuroscience for Architectural Practice | Alison Whitelaw Light and Circadian Rhythm | Satchin Panda + Fred Marks Tuesday, August 13 - Human Centered Design Baukultur, Corbusier, and Buildings that have Brains | Michael Arbib User experience Design and, well, everything | Don Norman Designing for Active Healthy Cities at the Macro and Micro Levels | Jim Sallis Eco- and Neuro- Logical based Design for a post Anthropocentric era | Ilaria Mazzoleni Wednesday, August 14 - Technologies and Tools Measuring Neurophysiological Responses to the Built Environment | Eduardo Macagno Exploring the Spatial Relationships Between Real and Virtual Environments | Dane Clemenson Rethinking Architectural Methods with Neuroscientific Modalities | Biayna Bogosian + Kris Mun Responsive Architecture through Neuroscience-Based Material Programing | Elie Al-Chaer Mapping Trans-Disciplinary Processes | Myles Sciotto Emotive Matter: Neuroscience In Design | Behnaz Farahi Spatial Intelligence: Cyberphysical Architecture and Brain-Computer Interfaces | Guvenc Ozel Thursday, August 15 - Sense and Perception Kinds of space | Sergei Gepshtein Enacting Civilization: Neuroaesthetics and the Thermodynamics of Beauty | Marcos Novak Home(ostasis): Towards an Architecture of the Extended Mind | Neil Leach The meeting was organized by Kris Mun, Tatiana Berger, Mike Stepner, Kurt Hunker and Elena Pacenti of NewSchool. Eleven of the speakers and organizers were members of the Board of Directors or the Advisory Council of ANFA, the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture. The present document is based on the 40 pages of notes I took during the Intersession. Given that my typing for one subtopic might distract me during the beginning of the next, or that I might take time to jot down my own thoughts on the subtopic, the coverage of the lectures must be incomplete and at times inaccurate. Moreover, my own interests will have led to fuller notes on some topics than others for which I had less interest or understanding. Nonetheless, I hope that the edited notes will convey much of what was presented at NewSchool. As can be seen from the Table of Contents, this document does NOT offer talk-by-talk summaries in the order of presentation. Rather, in reviewing the notes, I sought to identify a variety of themes which, in some cases, cut across several talks, and then arrange them in an order which offers one possible path for cumulative understanding