Hello my beautiful people!
I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday that lingers into the new year :)
Today, I am writing to you post-lunch at the Kimbell Art Museum, designed by the late architect Louis Kahn (what a wonderful mix of concrete, travertine, and white oak).
Last week, we discussed, better yet, began to devise a methodology around, beauty in the virtual world. There are certain sensuous qualities, that when executed, can create something quite close to divinity (with of course subjectivity in mind).
This week, I would like to dive into the concept of neuroaesthetics, semiotics, and the organic nature of architecture.
Everything is an aesthetic experience.
There is beauty in everyday objects and experiences because of the social context surrounding that thing, personal to each and every individual.
So, in order to breakdown this notion of aesthetics, it is key to think about the science behind all of this… which of course we are all learning together here today…
During my undergrad, I became fascinated with the internal emotional suspension an individual feels in the presence of a ‘beautiful’ space or work of art.
I began to study the late Art Critic David Hickey, who coincidentally is also from Fort Worth, Texas (imagine that!). He stated:
Something connecting our bodies to our minds vibrates like a tuning fork in the experience of beauty, and the sudden, unexpected harmony of body, mind, and world becomes the occasion for both consolation and anxiety
The brain has a very peculiar cognitive response to the perception of beauty, one with both negative and positive attributes that can essentially be harnessed for the good of society.
The term ‘Neuroaesthetics’ was coined by British neurobiologist Semir Zeki in 1999, initially as a way for cognitive neuroscientists to understand how and why humans respond to the arts. At the intersection of psychological aesthetics, biological mechanisms, and human evolution; Neuroaesthetics can help architects build spaces that promote better health, wellbeing and learning (even about ourselves).
Johns Hopkins actually began studying the science of beauty long before the term was coined and today, Susan Magsamen, as executive director of the International Arts and Minds Lab, came up with a scientific model to approach the field called Impact Thinking (funny how the Golden Section is used here huh…)
For more on this topic, The IAM Lab has a wealth of knowledge to explore...
So, why does a room make us feel calm and relaxed, while another may make us feel elated?
At the most basic level, the brain takes in beauty through the senses by the process of perception, where external stimuli enter the brain and are processed through the pathways of the senses to and the brain’s perceptual systems and then utilizes cognitive functions to form meaning.
In order to understand more about brain activity during experiences, according to Susan, researchers are studying the activation of:
Reward Systems
Default Mode (aka Daydreaming)
The Reward System releases feel-good chemicals, like dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin, triggering feelings of pleasure and positive emotions.
The Default Mode is linked to functions that are core to connection, including identity, meaning, empathy, imagination, creativity, etc.
These two neural activities are powerful drivers of human behavior…
EXCERCISE:
Think about an immersive art experience you have been to.
Can you see how you were instantaneously transmitted into a state of daydreaming, if even hypnosis?
What characteristics made you feel such a way?
Was it the muted lighting or the humming sound?
Was it the grandiosity of the art in front of you?
In fact, Johns Hopkins conducted a research study on virtual art sessions and found positive human reactions to common themes such as: nature imagery, references to memories and personal symbols, fantasy and play within imagery, and depiction of everyday objects.
Today, a powerful duo at the head of Neuroaesethics is Suchi Reddy, founder of Reddymade and VP of Google's Hardware Design, Ivy Ross ( both of whom have already worked together in this capacity)
I think of architecture as embodied art. It's about holistically experiencing our world through all of our senses, and so architecture is the perfect matrix for considering neuroaesthetics - Suchi Reddy
Together, with Google’s Head of Store Design and Special Projects, they designed the company’s first retail store.
The designers are quite interested in the idea of form follows feeling, creating spaces that follow a beautiful sequence. Thus, the designers key principles were to ensure the technology is easily showcased and the customer is intimately connected to the experience.
The design was built upon Scandinavian principles of minimalism and purity (warm neutral color scheme, natural lighting, primitive materials) in order to present a calm feeling and draw attention to the products.
The products were showcased in ‘Tiffany-like’ boxes in order to promote the same wonder and excitement of the historic Tiffany blue box when exploring the technology.
The store also contains more intimate ‘experiences’ with the products that imagine the lifestyle with the product. Additionally, upon entering the store, visitors are given a wristband that detects their physical and physiological responses to each space. So, by the end of the store experience, customers can turn in their band, and for personal use only, see how they reacted to each space.
The designers are thus turning biometrics on its head to inform their users, not just exploit of the data for marketing purposes.
Side note:
Many companies have begun to use biometrics to conduct research on and analyze human behavior. iMotion, for example, is a software platform for the biometrics analysis, using eye-tracking (VR, screen-based, glasses), facial expression analysis (FEA) biometrics, and skin response technology to analyze emotional triggers.
Companies are now able to tap into unconscious responses to space. This is especially useful in the discovery of a customer’s path to purchase...
In a way then, from brand to customer, or space to human, a message is transmitted and received in some way or form.
I am very interested in this idea of semiotics, studying signs and symbols for the use or interpretation in the transmission of information.
Really, the message (or sign) lies between what we see and what we think
Here is the basics of Semiotics:
Designing a space must take into account the user’s perception of the message being relayed. Beautiful spaces will have clear signals (or signifiers) and cues that possess a ‘signified’ consensus (i.e. coastal environment and laid-back contextual cues of the southern california vernacular architecture).
The Signifier and the Signified become one in the harmonious consensus of the sign.
So where form follows feeling, form may also become function as an idyllic natural state.
Organic Architecture, coined by Frank Lloyd wright in 1908, brings this idea to life.
Architecture from within outward, in which entity is an ideal. (…). Organic means, in the philosophic sense, entity. Where the whole is [to] the part as the part is to the whole and where the nature of the materials, the nature of the purpose, the nature of the entire performance becomes a necessity - FLW
When parts of the whole form a harmonious union and primary functions are highlighted, the structure is utterly divine.
The science of beauty thus encompasses the study of neuroscience and utopian ideals of nature in society.
So today, I leave you with a few action items:
Build experiences that relax, entice, and please the brain
Link design principles to nature’s sense of completeness