ABSTRACT
By way of a critique of mid century building practices, Richard Neutra promoted a science of design performance that was inclusive of human perception and responsive to embodied sentience. Neutra was determined to resituate the measure of architectural quality within an understanding of the built environment that was both responsive to nature and responsible for its continued health. In Survival through Design, Neutra acknowledged, in a brief but comprehensive review of the origins of rationalism in European architectural theory, the continued absence of agreed to metrics for architectural excellence. According to Neutra, when designs are constructed they are capable of generating pleasure as well as inflicting pain. The capacity of the brain's neuro-receptors to decipher one from the other is essential for the practice of design, as it is for the survival of humankind. For Neutra, a detailed examination of the human sensory apparatus was absolutely necessary for defining a veritable science of design.
