Don Ruggles

In this session, the presenter suggests a new, urgent effort is needed to refocus the direction of design to include the quality of beauty as a fundamental, overarching theme in two of man’s most important fields — the built and artistic environments. Beauty, Neuroscience & Architecture: Timeless Patterns & Their Impact on Our Well-Being, Don Ruggles’ first book on the subject and winner of a Bronze Medal IPPY Award, details the neuroscientific connection between spending time in beautiful spaces and the impact on our well-being.

In his presentation, he suggests deciphering the beautiful use of materials and methods is more than traditional or contemporary, classical or modern. It’s about creating something that’s focused on the well-being and health of those who will be experiencing the design. He puts architects, builders and designers on notice to pay attention and use neuroscience, biology, psychology and architecture to create the new discipline of neuro-architectology. This method balances what is beautiful with what is exciting, allowing designers to begin to conceptualize our built environment to make us healthier and to improve our sense of well-being.

1. Use the concepts outlined in the new design discipline of neuro-architectology to design with the well-being of inhabitants in mind by utilizing the concept of homeostasis to properly balance subliminal neurological processing of external stimuli resulting in a stress-free built environment.

2. Apply beauty as an important part of functional architectural design by highlighting recent research identifying beauty as a pleasure response that results in a physical hormonal response improving important biometric and neurological criteria that leads to a healthier life.

3. Recognize the patterns of nature that have been asserted in timeless architectural design for millennia by focusing on the evolutionary history of humankind and how recognition of biophilic patterns that create a pleasure response have been passed on in our DNA over millions of years resulting a common set of subliminal reactions that all of humankind reacts positively to.

4. Identify resources for further study of the nexus between architecture and neuroscience. Specifically addressing how neuroscience is providing architects with the ability to quantify qualitative aspects of the built environment resulting in the ability to create environments where humankind can excel and thrive and avoid creating stress-inducing environments.