Neuroarchitecture

Book excerpt: Applying the insights of neuroscience to architecture has the potential to deliver buildings and spaces that measurably promote well-being and create healthier or more effective environments for specific activities. There is, however, a risk that neuroarchitecture will become just another buzzword, a passing architectural fashion or a marketing exercise just as 'eco', 'green' and 'sustainable' have become. This issue of AD offers the reader an alternative to 'neuro' sound-bites and exposes them to the thinking which led to the design of the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour (SWC), a pioneering medical research facility designed to foster collaboration between researchers. Multi award winning, the SWC was one of the first buildings in the world designed to take into account what has been learned about how the work space affects behaviour and is a highly effective building in which to work. Readers will gain a richer, deeper insight into the complex mental and existential aspects of architecture, design, and our many senses, how they interact and might interact in the future, and how that knowledge can be used to design more effective buildings and built environments.