AIA Wyoming Winter Conference February 1, 2013

Architecture and Neuroscience

presented by

Alison M. Whitelaw, FAIA, LEED BD&C President, Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture

the Human Brain Book by Rita Carter (Pub Dorling Kindersley Ltd)

Architecture and Neuroscience

AIA/CES Quality Statement

This program is registered with the AIA/CES for continuing professional education. As such, it does not include content that may be deemed or construed to constitute approval, sponsorship or endorsement by the AIA of any method, product, service, enterprise or organization. The statements expressed by speakers, panelists, and other participants reflect their own views and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The American Institute of Architects or of AIA components, or those of their respective officers, directors, members, employees, or other organizations, groups or individuals associated with them. Questions related to specific products, publications, and services may be addressed at the conclusion of this presentation.

Architecture and Neuroscience

Course Description

• The session addresses neuroscience research connections to human experience in architectural settings and, thereby, the potential of achieving design excellence through the process of discovering new knowledge emerging from research on the brain and the mind.

• This concept connects to the AIA strategy of integrating research and “evidence-based design” in education and practice by creating an interdisciplinary collaboration between neuroscientists and architects.

• It is anticipated that the community of architectural users -- from children in classrooms to elderly persons being cared for in Alzheimer’s facilities -- will benefit from the ever expanding neuroscience knowledge base applied to architectural design.

Architecture and Neuroscience

Learning Objectives

1. Attendees will be able to read and discuss with others how the brain and mind are connected to architectural design

2. Attendees will gain insight into how areas of neuroscience research, such as neurogenesis, fetal brain development and perception can inform architectural design

3. Attendees will understand how research into human health issues such as circadian rhythms can inform architectural design

4. Attendees will understand how technology and brain scanning techniques are available to provide scientific basis for design decisions

Architecture and Neuroscience

Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture

Mission

The mission of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture

(ANFA) is to promote and advance knowledge that links

neuroscience research to a growing understanding of human

responses to the built environment.

Architecture and Neuroscience

Jonas Salk

1914 – 1995

Medical researcher

Discovered the first polio vaccine

Architecture and Neuroscience

Jonas Salk

Abbey at Assisi, Italy

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Jonas Salk

Polio vaccine

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Jonas Salk

Salk Institute, La Jolla,

Louis Kahn, Architect

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Interdisciplinary Effort

“Architect”

“Neuroscientist”

Architecture and Neuroscience

So…,

WHAT CAN NEUROSCIENCE DO FOR ARCHITECTURE?

Architecture and Neuroscience

Knowledge base categories that inform design

Intuition & instinct

History & theory

Physics (structures, acoustics, properties of materials, etc)

Sociological/behavioral research

Environmental conservation

Evidence based design

Neurosciences

Architecture and Neuroscience

Design approach

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Design approach

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Social & Behavioral Research, Scientific method

Social Sciences, Behavioral Sciences

• Grounded in Humanism

• Social psychology

• Environmental psychology

• Cognitive psychology

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Buildings can be designed to better protect the environment

Architecture and Neuroscience

• LEED

• BREEAM

• Green Star

• CASBEE

• Green Globes

• Green Guide to Health care

• CHPS

• Build it Green

• NAHB

• GB Tool

Green building metrics and standards

• Green Building codes & Standards

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Green buildings are marketable

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LEED Scorecard

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Productivity & Payback: Measures

• Churn

• Attraction, retention & turnover of employees

• Speed, accuracy, effectiveness, creativity, motivation

• Absenteeism

• Higher resale values and leasing rates

• Discounted property insurance rates

Architecture and Neuroscience

Productivity & Payback: strategies

• Air quality & distribution,

• Thermal comfort & control,

• Visual access to the natural environment,

• Light levels and quality,

• Acoustics

• Ergonomic quality

ANFA Interfaces 2011

Evidence Based Design:

• Review existing research literature to select significant findings and recommendations;

• Match referenced findings with data gathered from site visits, surveys results, subject matter experts;

• Predict the outcomes of design decisions; • Track the positive outcomes for design implementation

• "EBD is not a search for scientific certainty, but rather a way

to identify and incorporate innovations that will likely achieve an organization's goals in a given context.” Craig Zimring

Architecture and Neuroscience

LEED for Schools:

Achieve day lighting (25 to 500 fc) in the following:

• 75% of all classroom and core learning spaces (1 point), or

• 90% of all classroom and core learning spaces (2 points), or

• 75% of all other regularly occupied spaces (1 additional point). Project teams can only achieve a point for these other spaces if they have also achieved at least one point for classroom spaces.

Day lighting in Schools Heschong Mahone

LEED for Healthcare:

For inpatients, provide access to views that meet the following criteria:

• A minimum of 90% of the inpatient staff and public areas shall be within 20 feet—or twice the window head height, whichever is smaller—of the perimeter.

• All such perimeter areas must have windows that provide at least an 11° angle of unobstructed view in the vertical and horizontal direction.

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Views in Hospitals Roger Ulrich

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Environmental Quality in Schools UK Study by Peter Barrett et al: “…explore if there is any evidence for demonstrable impacts of school

building design on the learning rates of pupils in primary schools” Built Environment Factors:

Naturalness: Daylight, Fresh Air, Noise Individualization: Low Space Density, Inappropriate Scale, Personalization,

Flexibility Level of Stimulation: Functional Colors, Balance of Open/Private Space, Clutter

Architecture and Neuroscience

Environmental Quality in Schools

UK Study by Peter Barrett et al:

Improvement in learning rate measured against the National Curriculum Assessment Framework

Normalized for variables such as teaching styles, school ethos, socioeconomic factors, gender, etc

???CONCLUSIONS???

Architecture & Neuroscience

The Sum of the Parts

*

Informed intuition, history &

theory, physics, sociology,

psychology

Evidence based design

Neuroscience research

*

www.anfarch.org

Architecture and Neuroscience

So…,

WHAT CAN ARCHITECTS LEARN FROM NEUROSCIENCE?

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Neurogenesis:

Exposure to enriched environments increases the birth of new neurons

Architecture and Neuroscience

Circadian Rhythms

Sleep problems Depression Metabolic disease Cancer Accelerated aging

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Circadian Rhythms

Optimize design for daylighting Lighting level Passage of time Light color Design of artificially lit environment Lighting level Passage of time Light color Compensate for night shift

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Sensory Perception

Vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste, proprioception

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Familiarity & Novelty “I claim that the formal characteristics of most human products, from tools to buildings, from clothing to ornaments, can be seen as manifestations of that sense of order that is deeply rooted in man’s biological heritage. Those ordered events in our environment that exhibit rhythmical or other regular features (the waves of the sea or the uniform texture of a cornfield) easily “lock in” with our tentative projections of order and thereby sink below the threshold of our attention while any change in these regularities leads to an arousal of the attention. Hence the artificial environment man has created for himself satisfies the dual demand for easy adjustment and easy arousal”. “The Sense of Order” E.H.Gombrich 1979

Architecture and Neuroscience

Development sequence of the fetal sensory system

Architecture and Neuroscience

Development sequence of the fetal sensory system

• Typical human gestation period is 40 weeks

• Nowadays 60 – 80% of premature babies survive

• Even babies born at 22 weeks may now survive

• Premature babies typically spend first weeks in NICU

• How can neuroscience research into the developing brain inform the design of NICUs?

Architecture and Neuroscience

Development sequence of the fetal sensory system

1 Somatesthetic modalities: Touch, pain, position & temperature sensitivity

2 Vestibular modalities: Sensory systems of the middle ear: motion, balance, & orientation

3 Chemosensory systems Smell & taste

4 Auditory modalities Response to sound & vibration

5 Visual system

Development sequence of the fetal sensory system Auditory system Structural development occurs in first 20 weeks

Neurosensory development occurs between 20 weeks & 6 months

Critical period for auditory development:

Tuning to receive signals of specific frequencies and intensities:

Hair cells of the cochlea Axons of the auditory nerve Neurons of the temporal lobe Auditory cortex

Development is compromised with background noise >60dB in NICU

Architecture and Neuroscience

Development sequence of the fetal sensory system Visual system Structural development occurs throughout gestation

Neurosensory development occurs between 34 weeks & 2 to 3 years

Critical period for visual development:

Retina (24 weeks to 3 to 4 months)

REM Sleep (starts at 28-30 weeks) affects

development of visual system

Cortical connections (up to 6 years)

Exogenous stimulation (starts at 40 weeks)

Appropriate light levels & visual stimulation are required in NICU

Architecture and Neuroscience

Brain development and sleep Sleep states Sleep & sleep cycles are essential for the sensory & motor development of the fetus & neonate:

Long term memory & learning

Brain plasticity over the lifetime

Sleep cycles begin around 28 weeks

Protection of sleep cycles is critical

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The implications for design Issues critical for neonate development: Light characteristics: ambient lighting levels color rendition lighting controls daylighting

Sound characteristics: background & operational sound levels noise criteria sound transmission criteria volume control on devices

Touch and connection: family room kangaroo care

Architecture and Neuroscience

The implications for design Issues critical to families

Touch and connection family room kangaroo care support facilities

Privacy visual and acoustical

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Issues critical to medical staff Task lighting ambient lighting procedure lighting general task lighting

Sightlines view from nurses’ station room layouts

Sound comprehension speech intelligibility

Implications for design Boekelheide NICU Environmental Research Program

Single family room environmentally controlled BNICU Median (unoccupied) sound level 37.6 dBA Maximum illumination 357 lux Median illumination 6.4 lux Neonate: periodic breathing 14% & awake time 17.6%

vs

Conventional open bay CNICU Median (unoccupied) sound level 42.1 dBA Maximum illumination 402 lux Median illumination 48.4 lux Neonate: periodic breathing 21% & awake time 29.3%

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Implications for design Boekelheide NICU Project Sanford Children’s Hospital, Sioux Falls, SD

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Photos by permission: Sanford Children’s Hospital

Photography: George Heinrich

Today’s design standards

Recommended standards for Newborn ICU Design • Report on 7th Consensus Conference on Newborn ICU Design 2007 • Guidelines for Design & Construction of Healthcare facilities, 2010,

Facilities Guidelines Institute, Pub. ASHE (previously AIA)

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So…,

WHAT RESEARCH TECHNIQUES ARE AVAILABLE?

Architecture and Neuroscience

Calit 2 UCSD

Technology

fMRI Portable EEG Immersive navigable virtual reality

The UCSD Calit2 Research Team Eduardo Macagno

Lelin Zhang Jurgen Schulze

Cathy Hughes Eve Edelstein

Gert Cauwenberghs Tzzy-Ping Jung

Scott Makeig Mike Chi

Cory Stevenson Eric Hamdan

Peter Otto Joachim Gossman

Architecture and Neuroscience

Courtesy: Mike Chi, Cognionics

Current developments

Visual tracking 3D sound Wireless, light, dry electrode, EEG cap

Architecture and Neuroscience

What has ANFA done about this?

• Interdisciplinary outreach and dialog

• Workshops to develop hypotheses based on various building types

• Championed emerging professionals

• Developed interdisciplinary college courses

• Created web site knowledge base www.anfarch.org

• Facilitating Interdisciplinary investigations

• Initiated a program to sponsor research

• 2012 Conference

• Working toward goal of creating a database

Architecture and Neuroscience

Questions/comments?

Architecture and Neuroscience

Suggested Reading • “Mapping the Mind”.

– Carter, Rita. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1998. • “Brain Landscape”.

– Eberhard, John Paul. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. • “Architecture and the Brain: A Knowledge Base from Neuroscience.”

– Eberhard, John Paul. Atlanta: Greenway Communications, LLC, 2007 • “Design Informed: Driving Innovation with Evidence-Based Design.” Chong, Gordon H., Brandt, Robert, and Martin W. Mike. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010. “Inquiry by Design”.

– Zeisel, John. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. • “Healing Spaces: The Science of Place and Well-Being”.

– Sternberg, Esther. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009 • “The Astonishing Hypothesis”.

– Crick, Francis. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994. • “Descartes' Error - Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain”.

– Damasio, Antonio R. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons (Penguin Putnam), 1994. • “Bright Air, Brilliant Fire - On the Matter of the Mind”.

– Edelman, Gerald M. New York: Basic Books, A Division of Harper Collins Publishers, 1992. • “Wider than the Sky. The phenomenal gift of consciousness”

– Gerald Edelman. Yale University Press, 2004.