Neurology & Architecture (again)

"Imagine the brain, that shiny mound of being, that mouse-gray parliament of cells, that dream factory, that petite tyrant inside a ball of bone, that huddle of neurons calling all the plays, that little everywhere, that fickle pleasuredome, that wrinkled wardrobe of selves stuffed into the skull like too many clothes into a gym bag. ... The art of the brain is to live and learn, never resist a mystery, and question everything, even itself."

- Ackerman (2004)

[Ackerman, D. An Alchemy of Mind. The Marvel and Mystery of the Brain. New York: Sribner: 2004]


Using Thorncrown Chapel as an example, John Eberhard explains how good design impacts our mind. As a result of it's construction (elaborate trusses within a largely glass structure, surrounded by trees), light, shadow and reflections play a major role in the ambience or atmosphere of the Chapel.
These shadows and reflections are constantly changing during the day and night. Eberhard explains the cognitive and emotional experiences associated with the chapel in neurological terms:

• our sense of awe is influenced partly by having space above our head that is not visible until we move our eyes upwards; perhaps raising our eyes upwards provokes some primal notion of something ethereal

• the sensitivity of our suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) to light (which influences our circadian rhythms) influences our alertness. Moving light and shadow may trigger the SCN to 'play with alertness' in a way that we find stimulating NB. The SCN is a tiny region located in the hypothalamus, situated directly above the optic chiasm. It is responsible for controlling circadian rhythms. 

• the quiet setting in the woods is soothing - perhaps more so in urban dwellers than rural...

Eberhard discusses the hypothesis that our brain is hard wired to respond to proportions based on the golden section, or golden mean.

Eberhard, John. Brain Landscape: the Coexistence of Neuroscience and Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Eberhard, John. 'Applying Neuroscience to Architecture.' Neuron 62, Issue 6, (25 June 2009): 753-756. 

Some additions for the thesis argument

Environmental Psychopharmacology...

According to Golembiewski, the idea that the environment should make a difference in mental health has led to a possibly misguided trend to redecorate psychiatric facilities with the aim of making spaces more homely. However, as discussed earlier, this is at odds with the common thought that much if not most psychogenesis of mental illness occurs at home. However, what has been reinforced by recent studies is that psychiatric patients are much more reactive to the physical environment than healthy controls, which indicates that the environment is probably a good target for psychiatric interventions (Jan A Golembiewski.'A Review of Mental Health Facility Design: the Case for Person-Centred Care.' Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (IN PRESS) 2014).

G proposes a prescription for 'psychopharmacology' in the form of patient centred spaces and 'designing the experience'.

Key points for designing the experience:

• psychiatric patients have amplified perceptions of their environment so the environment should be much better than merely domestic - it should exceed the expectations of the patient's experience by maximising (1) quality (2) choice of 'therapeutic' activities (3) aesthetic values (4) provisions for privacy, dignity and sanctuary, comprehensibility and meaningfulness.
• this will be a complex combination of things, not just (eg) colour or materials. Things that indicate a place is safe and nice (?) are: (1) open windows looking out over some natural landscape/water (2) comfortable furnishings (3) appropriately soft lighting (4) natural pleasant sounds and smells
• meaningful activities may include gardening, art, sports, music, kitchens they can use, computers with internet access

Layout of spaces: patient vs staff centred

Te tahuhu: Improving Mental Health 2005-2015: The Second New Zealand Mental Health and Addiction Plan (Ministry of Health, 2005) defines recovery in mental health in terms of a cultural change in services provided, plus an emphasis on the service being person-centred (rather than centred around the expertise of psychiatry).
This is reflected in recent texts (including the one by Golembiewski) on how mental health units are generally still staff-centred with the nurses station being a central element in the design of these buildings. Golembiewksi proposes a more patient centred approach with patient spaces being privileged over staff spaces (Jan A Golembiewski.'A Review of Mental Health Facility Design: the Case for Person-Centred Care.' Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (IN PRESS))

Science + magic revisited

Science = applied environmental psychology, evidence based design, functional requirements, also including salutogenic theory
Magic = atmosphere, explained by phenomenology, sensory design,

Intuitive

Instinct, perception, intuition, inherent, visceral, spontaneously conceived without conscious thought

Reason

Calculated, science, objective

More notes on gardening, reuse and...

Pallasmaa also talks about how formal architectural logic is weakened when buildings are reused and renovated. The insertion of new functional/symbolic structures over rides the original architectural logic and opens up new unexpected ranges of experience. "Architectural settings that layer contradictory ingredients project a special sensory richness and empathetic charm." (p37 Architectural Atmospheres...)

He then goes on to say that "Gardening is an art form inherently engaged with time, change, atmosphere, and fragile image."

More rationale for using narratives, thought experiments..

Space & Imagination 

(Juhani Pallasma, Architectural Atmospheres, previously mentioned, pp27-32)

When we read a novel, we are constantly creating the settings and situations in our imagination merely at the suggestion of the author's words. We move effortlessly from one scene to the next as though these settings existed before we sat down to read. We experience these imaginary spaces in full spatiality and atmosphere, not as pictures. Entirely products of our imagination.
What is amazing about this is the completeness of this - as we read a novel, we create cities and landscapes as well as the buildings, the rooms and their ambience all without knowing the details. The totality dominates the detail.

Pallasmaa suggests that we seek historically dense settings because they connect us imaginatively with past life and it makes us feel safe and enriched to be part of that temporal continuum - traces of life support images of safety and continued life.

Experiencing, memorising and imagining spaces engages our imagination. Memories feel similar to actual experience.

..or perhaps peripheral vision...

In the previously quoted book (Architectural Atmospheres), Juhani Pallasmaa discusses the importance of peripheral vision in the perception of atmosphere.

Looking at perspectives in architectural representations leave us as outsiders but multi-perspectival and atmospheric spaces, emulating or using our peripheral vision, enclose us and "...enfolds us in its embrace."

For example, the way that Impressionist, Cubist and Expressionist artists pull us into their spaces.

In contrast, a photograph is a momentary focused fragment in time. The perceptual realm that we sense beyond the our focused vision is as important as the focused image frozen by a camera. Though photographs can be put together in this way, as demonstrated by a favourite of mine, David Hockney..

Pallasmaa argues that perhaps a poverty of peripheral vision is why contemporary spaces often alienate us compared with historical settings. Focused vision makes us just observers, outsiders, while unfocused or peripheral perceptions draw on our other senses to 'fill in the gaps' that we cannot see.

"Peripheral perception is the perceptival mode through which we grasp atmospheres. The importance of the senses...for atmospheric perception arises from their essence as non-directional senses and their embracing character. The role of peripheral and unconscious perception explains why a photographic image is usually an unreliable witness of true architectural quality." (p39)

"The richest experiences happen long before the soul takes notice. And when we being to open our eyes to the visible, we have already been supporters of the invisible for a long time"

- Gabriele d'Annunzio, as quoted in: Bachelard, Gaston. Water and Dreams. An Essay on the Imagination of Matter. Dallas: The Pegasus Foundation. (p16)

This also gave me some ideas for how I should/shouldn't try and represent my final design in the thesis presentation.

The answer is in the air (atmosphere)...

'Rain, Steam, and Speed - The Great Western Railway' (1844) by William Turner, quoted as saying "Atmosphere is my style"

The creation of 'atmosphere' (not in the weather sense) is probably the answer to creating spaces that provide reassurance, and places for mental health patients to restore their mental health.

The following is taken from:  Atmospheres. On the Experience and Politics of Architecture, edited by Christian Borch, 19-41. Basel: Birkhauser, 2014.

What is 'atmosphere'?

"My central argument is that atmospheres are not only numinous, they are also produced by us, and there are professions whose very tasks it is to produce them. As a result, for me the art of stage-setting became the paradigm for the production of atmospheres, an attempt that you can also find in architecture, marketing, and various strategies of design, as well as in the stage-setting of commodities."
- Gernot Bohme (p91)

"I conceive of atmospheres as spaces...with a mood, or emotionally felt spaces. This is an important definition, because it underlines that emotions do not always have to be in your heart or in your soul, something internal. Emotions can be on the outside, they can strike you." - Olafur Eliasson (p96)

Juhani Pallasmaa describes experiential atmosphere as the whole perceptual, sensory and emotive impression of a space or setting. Atmosphere is the unifying character of a room (or place, or landscape or social encounter). It is an experiential property suspended between the object and the subject.

The intuitive and emotive capacity to sense the atmosphere of a place before we identify any details or process it intellectually is probably the result of evolutionary biology and neurology. It is suggested that we are genetically and culturally conditioned to seek or avoid certain atmospheres. For example, our universal pleasure in being in the shadow of large trees looking out into a sunlit open field can be explained on the basis of evolutionary programming (Edward Wilson. 'The Right Place' in Biophilia: the Human Bond with Other Species, 103-118. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984). The ability to instantly differentiate a scene of potential danger with one of safety implies obvious evolutionary advantages. The main thing to note is that this is not consciously deduced from details but from the scene as a whole.

Smell is a powerful element of atmosphere. Pallasmaa observes that '...the most persistent memory of any space is often its' smell.' (Eyes of the Skin, p54)

Quasi-objective

Atmosphere is not necessarily a wholly subjective or individual experience. A room may produce a certain feeling which is felt more or less similarly regardless of who experiences it. For example, much religious architecture is based on creating an atmosphere of reverence, reflection, quiet spirituality in all who enter the spaces.As such, it assumes a quasi-objective quality. Entering these spaces influences the basic mood of a person entering them.

Kevin McClouds' Words of Wisdom...

I've always liked Kevin McCloud, even though at times I've been nervous to admit this at university where you'd hear comments like 'Oh have you actually seen any of his buildings? What has he built, it looks like rubbish' etc...as people tend to do with commercially popular people. His documentary on Dharvi was fantastic and brave (for him, I thought, taking him far from his comfort zone it seemed).

I find some of his views and commentaries really useful. There are many things in his 43 Principles of Home that I think are worth pursuing or making sure they are seen in my designs.

Principle 11
Our experience of architecture should improve the closer we get to it. And for that matter the longer we use it.

Principle 14
As good buildings age, the bond with their sites strengthens. A beautiful, interesting or simple ancient building still belongs where it stands, however corrupted that place may have become. Use and adaption of these buildings leave their marks and these, in time, we also see as aspets of he building's integrity
(this one is taken from the philosophy of the Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings, or SPAB)

Principle 15
The strongest visual links with place, the strongest contextual ties, are expressed in the way humans claim territory and populate a place. (eg. the mountain may be big but it's not as important as the enclosed field or whitewashed homestead nearby, likewise a river can be a fabulous visual asset but it functions as context only when used to boat on or cross. Otherwise it's just nature)

Principle 18
New work should express modern needs in a modern language.

Principle 20
Respect the character of old buildings and cherish their idiosyncrasies and imperfections. The character of a place consists of a thousand tiny details which can carelessly be 'improved' with mediocrity.

Principle 23
Finding comfort - the joy of a comfortable chair or door handle - is to be prized above fashion, style and image. Comfort is the most civilising aspect of design or architecture. Seek it out.

Notes from Pezo von Ellrichshausen

An interview with these Chilean architects caught my attention in the similarities between their philosophy and perhaps what mine is/is becoming.

(Interview was in Sensing Spaces. London: Royal Academy of Arts (2014): 112-133)

- emphasis is on the proportions of rooms, their sequence and they way they open
- complexity, integrity, unitary, coherent

"We believe that architecture is a balance between continuity and rupture: for instance, our Poli House and Cien House use ordinary windows, doors and materials but still provide something unexpected. We like the notion of familiar materials within a new spatial logic."

The Dark Horse - metaphors and illness

Of course the narrative for Jubliee was written after watching The Dark Horse...
(Written & Directed by James Napier Robertson, Produced by Tom Hern and Four Knights Film, distributed in NZ by Transmission Films. Released in 2014).

This beautiful and at times hard to watch film is based on the true story of Genesis Potini, trying to find a purpose after being released form a mental institution. He was a gifted chess champion who battled bipolar disease all his life. He died in 2011 leaving behind a legacy of local chess fanatics in Gisborne. The authenticity was reinforced by one of the main characters, Genesis's brother Ariki, played by Wayne Hapi whose real life mirrored the role he played (his first only acting role- see this link).

The opening scene with the gentle rain falling on Potini reinforces the significance of environment - people with mental illness are often more acutely aware of and effected by details in their surroundings. Subsequent scenes also demonstrate why their family and immediate community is not always the best place for them to go back to. Although in Potini's case, this is where he reuites with his refuge, chess.

His manic mind found a kind of refuge in chess, and it became the thing that grounds his crazy emotional instability. Chess, combined with the sense of purpose, helping others, his sense of self and his own cultural identity ("these chess pieces are warriors"). When Potini finds himself homeless, he curls up on the steps of the Fallen Heroes memorial on Gisborne's Kaiti Hill, an obelisk resembling a giant chess piece.

(The memorial is in honour of Kaiti freezing workers who fought in WWI - erected in 1923 by workers from the Kaiti Freezing Works)

The latter is interesting as this was a place he felt safe, somewhere he could sleep - up high looking out over Gisborne with his back to the giant 'chess piece'. It held some meaning for him. It was a refuge, somewhere he felt safe playing chess, his other 'refuge' with Mana. Away from the gangs and violence of Mana's domestic life.

'The Dark Horse' Similar to 'The Black Dog'? 'Black dog' was the term Winston Churchill used to describe depression

Jubilee's narratives - arrival

Arrival I. Jubilee [acute psychiatric ward, to be treated]

The phoenix palms welcome me back - I've been here so many times. I know the drill, I can be calm now, it's my home. Hoki mai ki te wā kāinga.

The outdoor courtyard is where I go, if they have one. Day or night, sitting outside with my eyes closed hearing only the sounds of bees and cicadas, or crickets, smelling the warm earth of the garden, and feeling the heat of the sun or the fresh night air on my bare skin. I imagine I'm somewhere far away from the hospital with it's glaring walls and shiny floors. I'm back on the land, at the river me and my brother used to play in. I can almost smell the ozone and feel the water rushing around my feet griping the smooth river stones.

I'm led inside where needles prick then sweet pharmaceutical release dampens all those thoughts in my head, the mantras which hold me up and stop the collapse. But I can fall here. It's safe.

Arrival II. Jubilee [kingseat, to live]

I've been here before. The trees, the colours and stern mouth of the building from memories of when I was still just a scared kid. Later the buildings were modern and bland. But I'd always be taken to the side entrance, the one for loonies. This time we keep driving right around to the back, to a different looking entrance but I know it'll be the same inside. They all are. I always eventually end up in a place like this.

They talk to me with dignity and respect here, not like some mental patient. I like that. But I don't need the props, I can walk by myself. They take me upstairs (upstairs?) to my new home - we're up in the sky, I can see so much up here, I'm part of the sky looking down on all those other people. Like Maui. I feel so light up here. The path slopes and is paved with smooth round stones and walking needs my concentration. The sound of rushing water somewhere (where?) - perhaps I'm imagining a river. Cicadas, and pigeons. A new place.

They tell me there's space for my whanau to stay with me sometimes, whenever I want. But not for good, aye, anyhow they wouldn't like staying too long in a loony bin - it's not really though, I guess. Doesn't feel like one up here.

Glancing up the next flight of stairs I catch a glimpse of something and the jittering in my fingers slows. There are 2 people up there sitting in the sun, playing chess...

Atmospheres - Zumthor, Philipe Starck et al.

Time & time again I refer back to my favourite books - including the small beautifully bound rich brown and silver embossed 'Atmospheres' (Peter Zumthor). I love the feel of this book - the weight of it, the texture of the cover and the smell of the paper (you don't get this added pleasure from reading a kindle!).

According to Zumthor, atmosphere is an aesthetic category.

Atmosphere is crafted as an architectural quality that provokes a spontaneous response - whether this is emotional or something more basic, though, I'm not sure. Perhaps atmosphere is something that unlocks memory of another place and time? In any case, I agree with him that it is a quality, an impression, sensed in a fraction of a second, something you're not consciously aware of until you try and analyse it.

Atmosphere requires material presence plus a person experiencing or sensing this presence via sound, light, temperature and spatial recognition resulting from a distinct tension between inside and out.

Reading another book (not so nice to hold and smell but nice enough, nonetheless: Architectural Design: Interior Atmospheres. Julieanna Preston (Ed) Profile no. 103, v78, no. 3 May/June 2008), I was struck by Philippe Starck's treatment of the ceilings in Le Lan restaurant, Beijing.

As someone who is always complaining about ceilings in healthcare settings (we spend so much time looking at them), this was refreshing but perhaps not what I'll be striving for necessarily...

I love the richness without being stuffy, the baroque theatricality of this compared with more restrained examples of atmosphere such as seen in, for example, Japanese interiors.

Architecture described as being defined by a certain atmosphere celebrates a 'Romantic' sensibility in which emotion and sensory perceptions overshadow the rational and the intellectual (p5, editorial by Helen Castle).

NB. Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement toward the end of the 18th century, at its peak during 1800 to 1850. It was during this time that the term 'atmosphere' expanded from planetary gases to include a 'sense of surrounding influence, mental or moral environment.' It validated intense emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience.

Sound - The MIX house -see http://www.joelsandersarchitect.com/