[WTI-trainee] Fw: Seeking neuroscientist/psychologist for Architectural Ornament & Neuroscience course

[Wu Tsai Institute Student and Postdoc Committee]

________________________________
From: Remole, Kelley <kelley.remole at yale.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2023 8:11 PM
To: Wu Tsai Institute Student and Postdoc Committee <wti.spc at yale.edu>
Subject: Seeking neuroscientist/psychologist for Architectural Ornament & Neuroscience course


Hello –



See below if you are interested in contributing your scientific expertise to an art and architecture course this fall. Contact Misha and Kas if interested.





Kelley







Kelley Remole, PhD, MS

Managing Director

Wu Tsai Institute<https://wti.yale.edu/>, Yale University

kelley.remole at yale.edu<mailto:kelley.remole at yale.edu>

O: 203-432-8863

C: 917-254-2992





From: Misha Semënov-Leiva misha.semenov at yale.edu<mailto:misha.semenov at yale.edu>
Cc: Kassandra Semënov-Leiva kassandra.leiva at aya.yale.edu<mailto:kassandra.leiva at aya.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: Architectural Ornament & Neuroscience







We are looking for neuroscience researchers who can collaborate with us on enhancing coursework and research for ARCH 306, "Ornamenting Architecture: Cosmos, Nature, Neuroaesthetics," a new course at the Yale School of Architecture.



In the course, we propose to pair a study of architectural ornament of the past with a deep dive into biometrics and the ways in which our neurological/physiological responses to ornament can be quantified, assessed, and related back to the structure of our visual processing system. We want our students to:

a) understand what ornament on the buildings they analyze is doing to our perceptual systems and how exactly its presence changes the way we look at a building

b) use biometric tools (such as eye tracking) in analyzing their own ornament designs, in models or virtual reality



As one crude example of the ways in which ornament transforms the perception of a structure, consider the Getty Tomb by designer Louis Sullivan, in its beautiful ornamented state versus with the ornament removed:

[cid:image001.png at 01D98810.45E24010]



We would love to collaborate with a researcher at Yale who could help us analyze examples like the one above using relevant biometrics methods. On a most basic level, eye tracking both these photographs and comparing the results would start to show us how the ornament is guiding the fixations and saccades of the eye. If reasonable within the scope of the course and capabilities available to the researcher, we would also love to compare EEG, fMRI, facial expressions, and other relevant metrics as well. On an even more advanced level, we could have the students create 3D VR models of ornament and then look at the responses of subjects immersed in a VR environment.



Our working hypothesis for the class is that ornament, by providing secondary levels of fractals and centers within a larger structure, makes buildings more easily legible and mentally stimulating/engaging (ie, the eye moves more quickly to important elements, such as the building entrance, and fixates longer on the building than it would on an unornamented box), allowing designers to direct attention in targeted ways. We also hypothesize that fractal ornament on a building reduces stress responses and has a calming effect. These are all things we would love to test, to the extent possible, with neuroimaging equipment.



We have taught a less neuroscience-focused version of this class before at the University of Hartford, and we used 3M's Visual Attention Software. While we may end up using this tool again because it allows for quick, unlimited iteration, we are hoping that through our collaboration with Yale researchers we can have the students actually do at least a few live eye tracking and/or other biometrics experiments themselves. One example here of how we used this tool to look at "hotspots" and fixations in ornamented buildings:

[cid:image002.png at 01D98810.45E24010] [cid:image003.png at 01D98810.45E24010]



We realize that our goals are ambitious, but we would be thrilled to cooperate with any interested researchers at the scale they find relevant and realistic.








--

Misha Semënov-Leiva, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, CPHC

Senior Architect & Sustainability Coordinator / Centerbrook Architects and Planners

Adjunct Professor / University of Hartford, Department of Architecture

Associate Fellow / Trumbull College at Yale University

www.mishasemenov.com<http://www.mishasemenov.com/>

he/him/his


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