Julio Bermudez, associate professor, architecture, had a study mentioned in a Spirituality Health article on how architecture influences mood, emotion, and experience.
... An interview with the lead researcher of a recent study, published in The Atlantic, shows the science behind our architectural experience. Researchers from the Catholic University of America and Utah University wanted to test the meditative ability of architecture. Working with a homogenous pool of 12 architects who had never meditated, researchers used fMRI scans to calculate the effect of space on the brain.
Participants were shown photographs of six “regular” buildings and six “contemplative” spaces. The resulting scans documented the following responses to the “contemplative” buildings: activated cortical brain regions associated with emotional and motor-sensitive integration; triggered regions related to concrete representation and absence of judgment; reduced anxiety; and lowered the tendency to become distracted. ...
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