Jonas Salk claimed that it wasn’t until he left his basement lab in the States and went to clear his head in a monastery in Assisi that he became able to solve the puzzle of polio. He thought that Assisi’s colonnaded walks, serene architecture and hillside views had provided the right mental conditions for the necessary creative and intellectual leap. This story is from the April edition of Scientific American, in an article on neuroscience by Emily Anthes titled “How Room Designs Affect Your Work and Mood.” Salk was so certain of the effect of Assisi’s architecture on his work that he later hired Louis Kahn to build the now famous Salk Institute (photos below), and the influence of Assisi is clearly visible – the simple, harmonious colonnades, the long vistas, the pale buttery colour of the stone. Some of the scientific findings in the article confirm what we might already have guessed, while others are more surprising. Lighter, brighter spaces with full-spectrum lighting increase alertness and help guard against depression and, later in life, against cognitive decline. Conversely, rooms intended mainly for relaxation should feature darker colours, dimmer lighting, fewer sharp edges on furniture and bookshelves (these activate the part of the brain that alerts us to danger), and more carpeting. Lower ceilings improve performance in detail-oriented tasks, whereas high ceilings encourage abstract creative thought. Views of nature, particularly distant trees and green space, are proven to significantly aid in creativity, concentration and memory (and in combatting ADD in children). It’s worth reading the whole article (click below).

It seems obvious that architecture would affect human behaviour and capabilities, and it’s exasperating that in the West we so often have to reinvent the wheel, usually by employing science to restore such knowledge – in this case architectural and kinaesthetic knowledge – that has been developed over centuries and even millennia in other places. I’m thinking of the carefully worked-out design of monasteries and churches as places that generate inspiration and contemplation for example, or the genius of  Japanese house design. But if we have to reinvent the wheel, then I guess we have to reinvent the wheel. In the 60s and 70s the field of environmental psychology made a lot of headway in this area, and now after a long lull, interest in the effect of architectural design on human behaviour seems to be on the rise again. The BC Cancer research building in Vancouver was built with these ideas in mind.

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Selgas Cano is a Spanish architecture firm, and this long glass tube in a little wooded ravine is the Madrid office they’ve built for themselves. The shutters over the clear roof are retractable (see the photo of the pulleys at bottom). The building seems to have inspired some wildly varying reactions from those who either find it beautiful and inspiring or who feel it’s a cramped, claustrophobic, unventilated bunker or train car – see the archdaily link to see what I mean. The superb photos are by architectural photographer Iwan Baan. Via archdaily via kenmat and maxchad. PS Both fans and detractors of this space may want to read a recent Scientific American article on the neuroscience of how room design affects work, creativity and mood. Two relevant points are that low ceilings facilitate detail work while high ceilings facilitate abstraction; and that views of nature improve creativity, focus and memory. This space offers all of those advantages – natural views, as well as ceilings that are both low and high, depending on the retraction of the roof and on which part of the room you’re in.