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Emplacement

The utopian Mind Expander (1983) by Haus Rucker Co, both neural sanctuary and atopic habitat, promises to deliver us from the corporate matrix.

In Empire of the Senses David Howes introduces an extended model of cognition for the cultural reader: "while the paradigm of embodiment implies an integration of mind and body, the emergent paradigm of emplacement suggests the sensuous interrelationship of body-mind-environment." Echoing Andy Clarke's work on the Extended Mind a decade earlier, Howes also reminds us of its counter imperative - displacement. 

Historically, architectural discourse has favoured textual analysis, an approach which has arguably offered up some of the least endearing environments on the planet. Love 'em or loathe 'em, these spaces are now the dominating forces in contemporary corporate life - the non-places in which we permanently dwell; the terminal, the mall and the office.

VisLab

Rain steam and speed, the Great Western Railway by J.M.W. Turner
Prof. Semir Zeki's VisLab is a laboratory concerned with studies of the visual brain, its structure and function relating to health and disease. In his book Inner Visions he focuses on new ideas about the visual brain, distinguishing fact from fantasy he uncovers some of the mysterious connections that exist between the brain and visual art. Some of the book touches on hypothetical scenarios simply because we are still in the dark about much of its function.

Architecture Principe

Villa Drusch by Virilio & Parent
In 1963 Claude Parent and Paul Virilio formed the "Architecture Principe" group with the aim of investigating a new kind of architectural and urban order. The Function of the Oblique describes the experimental, provocative and largely undocumented collaboration between the architect Claude Parent and the cultural theorist Paul Virilio, who investigated a new kind of architectural and urban order which forced the body to adapt to disequilibrium, encouraging vertigo and promoting fluid, continuous movement.

ANFA

The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA) is a unique research venture between architects and neuroscientists. John Eberhard, FAIA, has been a driving force behind ANFA since its inception. “Architecture stands on the threshold of a new era,” says Eberhard. “The enormous body of knowledge being created by neuroscientists is about to dramatically change what it means to be a professional designer. Architects will benefit from the new knowledge base made possible by neuroscience, but the real beneficiaries are future generations of school children, hospital patients, and office workers who will have their environments more carefully tuned to their needs and desires.” In his paper “Architecture and the Mind,” Eberhard writes, “The research results emerging from neuroscience provide knowledge of the basic biology of the brain, of how our minds use the brain to process experiences, and of why the human brain has evolved in this way.” Among the recent discoveries, for example, is a finding by Fred Gage, Ph.D., president of ANFA, that enrichment and exercise can lead to a re-tooling of the adult brain. Gage is a professor at the Salk Institute’s Laboratory of Genetics. Tools that didn’t exist as recently as 10 years ago are available now to study brain function. Scientists can employ imaging techniques to see what’s happening inside the brain, including which areas of a person’s brain are in use or being stimulated. New brain scanning devices can trace mental processes as a person moves, sees, hears, meditates or experiences emotions. Unlocking the Brain for Better Architecture & Design

Zen Neuroscience

500 year old Ryoanji temple garden, Kyoto.
In 2002 Gert Van Tonder of Kyoto University discovered 500-year-old rock patterns suggest 'tree' to our subconscious mind. The beauty of one of Japan's most popular Zen gardens has long eluded explanation. Now neuroscientists have discovered its minimalist design suggests a pleasing picture to our subconcious. Using symmetry calculations the objects imply a tree image in the empty space. The finding suggests that Japanese garden designers - originally priests - "balanced forces from visual science," says study leader Van Tonder. Repeating the calculations with random rock groups failed to generate any similar patterns. Earlier work by Ilona Kovács, a visual scientist at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, showed that the human brain uses similar symmetry lines, like those of a child's stick figure, to make sense of shapes. See also gestalt theory.