Why do we feel good in a beautiful church or in the cloisters of a spacious monastery? Why do students who learn in classes with huge windows and lots of light get better results? Why do patients recover better and faster in some modern hospitals where everything is natural and green? Why do certain environments in cities, homes or work generate discontent and aggression? (...) Have we been wrong so far and possibly built our environment away from the most primitive codes of our brain built for thousands of years? "
The human brain was formed millions of years ago to live in the savannah, surrounded by light, sky and nature. It seems that we have forgotten, but life did not program us to live locked up in small, reduced spaces, far from natural life. We ended up like this due to the prevailing social and economic pressures ... Do we pay a price for it? How does our brain perceive the spaces in which we currently live? How do they affect our mood or our performance? Is there a relationship between brain and space?
About 5,000 years ago, the ancient Chinese developed a discipline called "feng-shui," which literally means "wind-water," inspired by a mix of intuitions about how we relate to our environment. Today, some of these insights are finding a scientific explanation in the emerging neuro-architecture, which aims to design environments where we not only function well physically, but also mentally. Neuroarchitecture begins to find interesting clues to help us understand how the habitat in which we live affects our physical and mental health. It is not only about intuiting that color or space has an impact on our mood, but going one step further and inquiring about what specific effect spaces have on stress, hormones and the type of thoughts we generate . The relationship between wide spaces and creative thinking is currently being investigated; also about the mysterious power of nature to stimulate both concentration and healing of people after illness; or on the impact of buildings and furniture with sharp angles on the amygdala, involved in the defense and aggression processes of the brain. It is about getting to know ourselves from the inside in order to conceive buildings and spaces in line with our not only physical but also mental well-being.
At first, something is very clear: we manufacture more oxytocin and serotonin, related to relaxation and enjoyment, if our environments are pleasant.
It is doubtful that the type of design that we have been applying for years to our homes, schools, hospitals or residences for the elderly, to mention some of those that have been more punished by the lack of space and the denial of the need for any element of formal beauty, help the people who live there feel better. We must be rational and pragmatic, without a doubt, but without denying that the architectural elements of the different spaces, public and private, affect the spirit and the way of thinking of its inhabitants. Although this has always been taken into account for the design and construction of great monuments, it has been denied in the daily life of most humans, so focused on the survival of the physical and the abandonment of the emotional. It is therefore about consciously discovering and recognizing the impact, positive or negative, of the space that surrounds us in our lives, in our creativity, in our spirit.
From a very practical point of view, can we improve our environments simply by reorganizing what we already have? In many cases, the answer is that we can.