ABSTRACT
Recent findings in the cognitive and neurosciences are revealing the profound way in which architectural settings influence the human organism, and are challenging the boundaries that have traditionally separated inside from outside, the built from the natural, and culture from nature. We now know that we experience architecture at a visceral, emotional, precognitive level—and that this experience importantly shapes and even to some extent determines our memories, our desires, and our behavior. Grounded in these neuroscientific findings, this essay explores architecture’s potential to engage the emotions, and the human capacity for empathy.
