Allied neurosciences to redesign spaces

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The crucial question comes from afar, at the crossroads of architectural history and philosophy: why does a school, an office or a public institution take on a specific form, different from the others? What is the appropriate form? More generally, is there a right form? Now the neurosciences help to put some firm points. «The turning point of my investigation was a tree» explains Davide Ruzzon, architect, professor at the Iuav in Venice and scientific director of Tuned (Lombardini22).

« There are studies according to which there is an innate preference (regardless of cultural context ed.) for a certain type of landscape, the African savannah, dominated by the acacia which has a clear low fork that allows man to climb easily – continues Ruzzon – This tree is a device that triggers a motor activity, a jump. So I asked myself: is it possible that this universal dimension, this innate motor disposition, is limited to trees? Obviously not”.

How do we perceive space?

Ruzzon hypothesized that the interaction with space produces and settles a pattern. And he analyzed the spatial devices that exist in an evolutionary key in human history: from the act of sitting down to diving into the water, from climbing to the top to descending a slope. Each of these patterns – which the architect analyzes in the book «Tuning Architecture with humans» published by Mimesis International (cover photo, by Chiara Rango, above) – has physiological connotations in terms of heartbeat, breathing, muscle tension, etc. And, as confirmed by both the philosophy of language and the body (from George Lakoff to Mark Johnson) and physiology with the studies of Vittorio Gallese, the whole conceptual, abstract dimension arises from this physiological, bodily dimension. In short, knowledge is always incorporated. So: how do we perceive the different types of spaces? What are the reactions?

Interaction with the environment and forms

To give an answer, Ruzzon conducted a series of studies – funded by Cnr and Lombardini22 – together with Giovanni Vecchiato, Paolo Presti, Fausto Caruana and Pietro Avanzini, under the supervision of the neuroscientist Giacomo Rizzolatti, who was the first to identify mirror neurons. The team observed a group of people, equipped with an EEG helmet (which detects the electrical activity of the brain), in a virtual reality environment together with different avatars that reproduced specific motor expressions (and used as a control group). Participants experienced dozens of different environments so that the researchers could see reactions in both high and low arousal spaces (heartbeat, breath, etc.). «Space influences the emotional perception of bodies. We are activated and deactivated according to what we see and experience with the body. It is proof that navigating a space changes our emotional state. It’s a dynamic perception: we don’t perceive architecture as a photograph, it’s not an instantaneous visual perception. Rather it is this dynamic navigation of space, in which we are immersed, that influences us. It is a profound interaction within the architecture».

Designing while mitigating stress

This affirmation brings with it profound consequences for those who design, because there are spaces that can increase stress or mitigate it. Ruzzon is working inside the Bassone prison in Como with the psychologist Emanuela Saita of the Catholic University, the architect Cesare Burdese, and with Pietro Buffa, superintendent of the Lombardy penitentiary administration. “We are carrying out a feasibility study to change the prison, based on an experiment conducted on a hundred people including prisoners and prison staff to understand how space affects the state of well-being”.