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Vitruvian vs. Circadian Body

 

The Hyperesthetic Office
The role of media ecology in evaluating
the sensory bias of workplace design

In support of the well known McLuhanism ‘the media is the message’, a growing number of studies into the cognitive effects of workplace design suggest the distractive nature of digital media is changing the way we think. Compounding these effects, workplace design has itself largely remained unchanged since the 1950s, with Taylorist models designing-out opportunity for cognitive divergence. Moreover, the effects are not solely cognitive. Indeed, office designs are increasingly linked to muscular disabilities, mental disorders and cancers.

Tracing the cognitive effects of four spatial media (acoustic, climatic, ergonomic and spectral), this thesis posits that if governments and industry are to succeed in what Daniel Pink recently defined as the Conceptual Age, workplace architecture must include spaces which encourage cognitive diversity. To support the hypothesis, a solution emerges from two perspectives. First, identifying architectural design through the lens of McLuhan’s history of media ecology, and second, via the spatial media analyses of 8 award-winning workplace designs.

Based on cognitive research and case study analyses, a model for the Circadian Body is developed, providing a biochemical framework for a hyperesthetic design tool. Contrasting the anthropomorphism of Vitruvian Man which prioritizes one architectural system (i.e. visual space) whilst subordinating other sensory faculties, the hyperesthetic tool offers architects a guide for optimizing sensory equilibrium, and ultimately cognitive health.

Keywords: workplace architecture, spatial media, cognition, chronobiology, hyperesthetic design

crossmodal interaction

In collaboration with Heston Blumenthal, the Crossmodal Research Laboratory in Oxford has shown that the flavours of bacon and egg ice cream can be switched by altering the background sound. For example the ice cream tastes more “bacony” with the sound of sizzling bacon, and more “eggy” with the sound of clucking chickens. In the above video, the flavour of oysters is shown to increase with the sound of seagulls and crashing waves. In testing the freshness response of Univlever’s Pringles the lab also confirmed that by altering the volume or frequency (above 2 KHz) of the crunching sound in real-time via a microphone and headset, people rated Pringles 15% fresher and crisper.

Head of research at the Crossmodal laboratory, Charles Spence notes that ‘taken together, these results suggest that our perception and evaluation of food and drink depends not just on the taste, smell, sight touch and sound of the food itself, but also on the packaging, and even on the environment in which those foods are eaten.’

Office Meditation

Dr. Martin Seligman is selling happiness to corporations saying its "Not how to get rich, but how to stay prosperous in all aspects of life: work, home and body. We need to look at a gross wellbeing indicator, not Gross Domestic Product so we can get ahead without illness, depression, anxiety and fear stopping us in this new, positive paradigm." CEO Gordon Cairns says "The Body is the new frontier, business with a spiritual edge. "I don't use the word spiritual. It is about transformation. To get the most out of your business and people, you have to work on yourself first. Buddhism has given me a profound sense of meaning and purpose." Human resources executives have also validated this positive psychology by saying that after recently putting selected staff members through a Work-Life Balance program sick days dropped by 25 per cent and staff turnover was down dramatically, saving the company in excess of AUS$250,000 annually. For more go to: The Australian

The Healing Brain

Photography by Mark Miller
Joining the reaction against Cartesian separation of mind and body and belief in "magic bullets," Robert Ornstein believes that the brain's primary function is not to think but to maintain and restore health to the body. The brain also activates the body's own immune system and alleviates pain using hypnosis or morphine-like analgesics. Medical intervention, they claim, is less vital to disease prevention than are nutrition, hygiene, environment, behavior and social stability. The brain alone is aware of and stimulated by all these factors, and using a combination of regulators like the hypothalamus and chemical and electrical impulses, it coordinates the body's inner functions and relates them to the external world.

Maria Montessori

"Scientific observation has established that education is not what the teacher gives; education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment. The task of the teacher becomes that of preparing a series of motives of cultural activity, spread over a specially prepared environment, and then refraining from obtrusive interference. Human teachers can only help the great work that is being done, as servants help the master. Doing so, they will be witnesses to the unfolding of the human soul and to the rising of a New Man who will not be a victim of events, but will have the clarity of vision to direct and shape the future of human society." Maria Montessori

During the early 1900’s Maria Montessori (1870-1952) developed a new teaching method for the children of Rome. In schools known as Casa Dei Bambini (The Children’s House) she successfully applied her teaching philosophy that has since spread far and wide across the world, with increasing popularity. The "prepared environment" concept facilitates maximum independent learning and exploration by the child. In the prepared environment, there is a variety of activity as well as a great deal of movement. In a preschool classroom, for example, a three-year-old may be washing clothes by hand while a four-year-old nearby is composing words and phrases with letters known as the movable alphabet, and a five-year-old is performing multiplication using a specially designed set of beads. In an elementary classroom, a small group of six to nine-year-old children may be using a timeline to learn about extinct animals while another child chooses to work alone, analyzing a poem using special grammar symbols. Sometimes an entire class may be involved in a group activity, such as storytelling, singing, or movement. In the calm, ordered space of the Montessori prepared environment, children work on activities of their own choice at their own pace. They experience a blend of freedom and self-discipline in a place especially designed to meet their developmental needs.

Anthroposophy

The Goetheanum by Rudolf Steiner 1919-28
The anthroposophical movement originated by Rudolf Steiner arose from the dissatisfaction with an increasingly rationalistic, technological bias in approaches to society and culture at the beginning of the twentieth century. Seeking to return modern culture to a holistic attitude toward human creativity and the environment, Steiner was particularly interested in the challenge of architecture at once the shaper of the physical context and one of the preeminent forms of artistic endeavor. Architecture was essential in creating the anthroposophical community at Dornach, not simply to erect buildings but to express the principles of anthroposophy. Steiner was the designer of the Goetheanum, the central structure of his Dornach ensemble. Steiner believed Goethe was the supreme embodiment of the union of intellectual, emotional, and spiritual aspects of humanity.

Steiner’s approach to integrative architecture arose from a rejection of urban architecture during the late industrial period, with its pastiche of decorative elements masking a box frame. In this he was not alone. European architecture at the turn of the twentieth century demonstrated numerous attempts to restore elements of craftsmanship and non-standardized design in modern architecture. From John Ruskin and the Arts and Crafts Movement (and its successor Charles Rennie Mackintosh) to the organic elements of Art Nouveau and Jugendstil design to the idiosyncratic exuberance of Antonio Gaudi, many architects and designers used sinuosity of form as a liberation from the predictable and from the prison of the urban grid. Steiner conceived of the liberation of form as part of a much broader quest that would define the spiritual essence in modern existence. Free form and organic motifs in architecture were intended to contribute to an environment of healing in a technological age. Architecture was both context and catalyst for a higher state of human development.

Biomapping

Biomapping is a research project which explores new ways that we as individuals can make use of the information we can gather about our own bodies. The project envisages new tools that allows people to selectively share and interpret this information. The current version of the Bio Mapping system allows people to measure their Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) as a simple indicator of emotional arousal in conjunction with their geographical location. By sharing this data we can construct maps that visualise where we as a community feel stressed and excited.

conceptual age

Lunch time at Electronic City, Infosys Ltd., Bangalore

Companies are increasingly coming to terms with the idea that the workspace, is an under-utilized brand asset. According to Daniel Pink's book A Whole New Mind we have now entered the Conceptual Economy, where creativity and right brain thinking is defining successful business in the Western markets.