Research Article

Short- and long-term effects of architecture on the brain: Toward theoretical formalization

  • Andréa de Paiva , 1 ,
  • Richard Jedon 2
Expand
  • 1. Institute for Educational Development,Fundação Getulio Vargas, FGV, São Paulo, Brazil
  • 2. Urban Planning and Development Institute of the City of Pilsen, Pilsen, Czech Republic

Received date: 30 Mar 2019

Revised date: 15 Jul 2019

Accepted date: 21 Jul 2019

Published date: 15 Dec 2019

Copyright

2019 2019 Higher Education Press Limited Company. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi. This is an open access article under the CCBY-NC-ND license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Abstract

The physical environment affects people’s behavior and wellbeing. Some effects can be easily noticed through observation, whereas others require an in-depth study to be understood and measured. Although many alterations can be positive, some can also negatively influence wellbeing, decision-making, and mental and physical health. Some of these effects are not easily associated with physical space. Thus, people may be unaware of the real triggers for changes in behavior, mood, and wellbeing. Although many studies have been performed on environmental psychology, detailed research to understand the impacts of architecture on the brain using neuroscience is limited. Some difficulties experienced by researchers in this field are on the isolation of each stimulus to understand its effects individually and measurement of brain changes in people interacting with the environment because some brain scans, such as fMRI, require people to be inside the machine. Nonetheless, the several ways a space can impact its users should be discussed to understand how architecture influences individuals and to help architects and urban planners in designing efficient and healthy spaces. This study aims to describe and analyze the results of previous research works and propose a way of organizing them to facilitate further investigation on this field.

Cite this article

Andréa de Paiva , Richard Jedon . Short- and long-term effects of architecture on the brain: Toward theoretical formalization[J]. Frontiers of Architectural Research, 2019 , 8(4) : 564 -571 . DOI: 10.1016/j.foar.2019.07.004

Outlines

/