Tag Archives: Neurobiology

Traditional design is healthier

Posted on January 28, 2022 by David Brussat

Without thinking much about it, most people prefer traditional architecture. Now it seems as if more detailed and ornamental styles of design for buildings and cities are not only more popular but more natural and more healthy. A new study … Continue reading →

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Take Sussman’s fish test here

Posted on April 5, 2020 by David Brussat

Ann Sussman, the Concord, Mass., architect and researcher, asked me to take a test a few days ago. I was to look at a set of illustrations of fishes and note what my eyes do. I took her test, and … Continue reading →

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“Building with biophilia”

Posted on February 19, 2018 by David Brussat

Philosopher/mountaineer Damien François interviewed mathematician/ theorist Nikos Salingaros for The Clarion Review. Salingaros’s thinking has inspired much of the writing in this blog. His work has, among many other things, identified some of the neurobiological factors that predispose humans to … Continue reading →

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Beauty, nature or nurture?

Posted on July 4, 2017 by David Brussat

I often repeat the idea that our love for beauty – and for architecture whose ornament stimulates that love – arises from our prehistoric neurobiology. Primitive man on the savannah needed to be aware of details revealing dangers to be … Continue reading →

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Salingaros’s way forward

Posted on March 22, 2017 by David Brussat

Common/Edge may the most edgy design website because of its willingness to engage traditional viewpoints. Most such sites altogether ignore tradition in architecture. One of its editors, Martin C. Pedersen, has assembled an intriguing digital interview with Nikos Salingaros, the … Continue reading →

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Sussman on Corbu’s autism

Posted on March 1, 2017 by David Brussat

One reason people prefer traditional to modern architecture is that their eyes literally refuse to look at blank walls. Shown a picture of a building with a blank wall, the eye of an observer will linger anywhere – on a … Continue reading →

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Facing the faces in facades

Posted on October 12, 2016 by David Brussat

Most architects don’t get it. The brain is hardwired to prefer traditional buildings over modernist buildings because building facades with more things going on – windows and doors clearly marked, ornament and detail at a range of scales – make … Continue reading →

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Hart’s humanist architecture

Posted on April 27, 2016 by David Brussat

The Lincoln Memorial – The dignity humanity, and success of a man framed in classical virtue, reminding us of how much we’ve forgotten about building monuments. [Sketches by Albrecht Pichler] Robert Lamb Hart has sent me A New Look at … Continue reading →

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Rhode Island turning point

Posted on October 30, 2015 by David Brussat

Rhode Island is at a turning point. Going forward it can encourage new development that strengthens its brand of beauty or it can throw away a competitive advantage by allowing developers to build projects that will transform the Ocean State … Continue reading →

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Hurricane season thoughts

Posted on August 31, 2015 by David Brussat

As we remember Hurricane Katrina, sigh in relief at Tropical Storm Erika, which took lives in the Caribbean before dissipating south of Florida, worry about Hurricane Fred as it threatens Cape Verde in the Atlantic, and ponder the three hurricanes … Continue reading →

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