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Did you know that there is memory bias? That is, memory can be changed, boosted, or impaired. So, if this is the case: What makes building occupants form stronger architectural memories than others?

Well, according to a Memory Bias article in Science Daily, there are many ways that memory bias can occur – but there are three main aspects. They are humor, positivity, and self-generated memories. Each of these latter aspects can boost memory in people. So, with this, I wonder how these play a role in architectural design.

After all, there are times where a design can be funny (or fun). There are times when a design can accentuate the positive over the negative. And there are times when a design can help an occupant self-generate information to remember through the act of engaging with them more interactively. So, does it then become safe to assume that architecture that does these things will be more memorable? And memorable at the exact moment where these memory boosters occur?

As you design, you should ask yourself how your occupants are likely to remember your building and their experiences there after they have left. Are there places within your building where it is fun? Positive? Or engaging?

Thus, to design and build a memorable building you may want to strive for those three goals: a design that is fun, positive, and engaging. Your building will likely be more enjoyable to experience, will function better, and will leave a longer lasting impression on your occupants. And of course, a great reason to be concerned with leaving an impression upon your occupants is that it can be one of value, that brings them benefit well after they have left your building.

So, remember: Fun + Positive + Engaging = Memory Boost

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

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In recent lab tests, studies are showing that it is possible to replay memories within a rat’s brain to restore its memory. By using an implant, signals are sent to the hippocampus part of the brain by recording and replaying electrical activity of neurons. (1) Here is a brief excerpt describing this process a bit more:

This implant operates on the same principles as other neural prosthetics, communicating with the nervous system using electrical signals. Instead of sending signals from the brain to control a prosthetic arm or a computer cursor, however, this system sends the signals to another part of the brain. (1)

So what does this have to do with architecture you may ask?

In thinking about how architecture affects the humans that experience it, I wonder what effects on the brain such buildings as museums, memorials, ruins or other historical buildings might bring. And in this line of thinking, I would like to know how architectural symbols impact architectural perception — whether that architecture is meant to represent an event (present , past, or future), a thing or even a person.

Is designing and building an architectural symbol a way to “replay a memory”?

In theory, such architectural symbols have opportunity to teach memories, where a collective event, or a relationship can be better understood, explored further and even built upon.

When you design, do you ever consider what within your work might become such an architectural symbol? Even if it is not an overt grand gesture like the Taj Mahal, perhaps even a significant detail within your architectural built work might serve as a symbol for someone that experiences your building. And in the end, that does give it a form of meaning.

If so, ask yourself what your architectural symbols mean to your building occupant? What is it that they “replay” in their memories (whether positive or negative). Then understand why and how those architectural moments work. After all, by dissecting what about your architectural designs become symbolic for people, you will take on a much deeper understanding about what your current architectural designs are doing for your occupants, as well as how to build upon them in your future projects.

So in the end, perhaps architectural symbols are one way to replay a memory for occupants. How can you use this to your advantage as an architect? And at what times would you choose not to?

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I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter and Facebook followers by clicking on the “re-tweet” and “like” button at the beginning of this page.

(1) Ross, Valerie. Brain Implant Restores Memories in Rats by Recording & Playing Them Back. Discover. June 20, 2011.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: D'Arcy Norman | Flickr

Architects often look at where their occupants travel within their building, what makes them decide to go wherever they are going, and what behaviors they engage in once they arrive. But what actually happens to building occupants as they move through your building? Does the speed at which they move through your building have impact on their experiences while they are there? And upon how those experiences are remembered?

In a recent research article published by Science Daily, it was cited that the Society for Neuroscience studied and found evidence that “activity in rats’ memory-related brain areas varies with how quickly they move to explore their environments”. (1) So, for our purposes, we can begin to deduce that the speed at which a subject moves, can alter their memory of the setting within which they moved. (1)

Here is a slightly more detailed description of why this happens in the first place:

“They found that the pathway associated with storing and consolidating memories was most active when the animals moved slowly. At faster speeds, the balance shifted from these circuits to circuits bringing in info from the outside world.” (1)

Speeding Your Occupants Up Versus Slowing Them Down

So, within your own building projects, how might you go about designing for the way in which your occupants move? And what about your design solutions might benefit them as they engage in their real-time activities within your building?

First, you must ask yourself how you would go about slowing them down versus speeding them up as they travel to and fro within your built environment. For instance, might putting in a sloping floor impact their travel speed and behavior? Might there also be impact if you changed the material composition, color or pattern with which the floor is made? And by juxtaposing the rising and declining slopes, while also transitioning between flooring materials, might that serve as a “friction” or “smoothing” process that would yield different occupant travel speeds?

On the other hand, you could take a more generalized approach, where perhaps, a change in lighting color, strategically positioned architectural features, or a certain amount of contemplation or learning space might serve to give building occupants more to sensorially take in, and thus, causing them to linger. Whereas having a more subdued design fabric that is more goal-oriented and efficiency-based might make occupants move about more quickly.

Of course, this all could be taken to an uncomfortable extreme — if perhaps an architectural space has a superfluous amount of design activity that becomes too busy, and in fact, overwhelms occupants.

The Journey Your Occupants Take and The Memories That Form

In the end, speed of occupant travel really impacts the behaviors that they engage in once within a space, thus impacting the benefits they get from those behaviors. Subsequently, memories are formed, and as the Society of Neuroscience study implies, the way in which they are stored is now thought to be determined significantly by their motion and speed.

So, how can you as an architect begin to apply all of this to your work?

Perhaps within your designs you can re-assess the overall intended function that you are planning to hone in upon within your designs. Then, you can assess what role memory will play both while your occupants are engaging in their behaviors and once they have left the space. For instance, will learning be a key component while within your space? If so, at what spatial and experiential points within your design do you want your occupants to learn? How will you get them there? What will they do while they are learning to help them with memory formation (which is linked with learning)? And how will you design for the way in which they leave?

As a preliminary step, I would recommend assessing whether it be beneficial for your occupants to engage in a more exploratory travel experience within your building, or a more targeted goal-driven one. Think about how much they might need to absorb while they are there, and what they should remember once they have left. Then think of ways that you might design for all of this — floor slope, feature materials, lighting colors, goal-driven versus contemplation space, and so on.

In short, think about what your occupants actually engage in while within your building, then think about their “motion” while engaging in those behaviors — both of these will impact what they remember, and that may very well push your architecture from being simply good, toward being great.

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I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter and Facebook followers by clicking on the “re-tweet” and “like” button at the beginning of this page.

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© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Instinctively, do you this such connections exist? Have you ever listened to a song and instantly been transported back to a certain time and place in your memory that this song seems to be unexplainably linked to? Or have you ever walked into a room that has a certain smell which instantly reminds you of an experience you had a long time ago? Or what about seeing something that triggers your memory, reminding you of a conversation you once had or a place you once visited? And in each case, did an emotion surface as a result of the sensorial memory trigger? Well, such is the research by neuroscientist Benetto Sacchetti which focuses on those possible “links” which are like narrow bridge-like connections tying together emotional memory and the senses.

If there were such a neural “link”, what would this mean for you as an architect and your building design? Would you purposefully embed certain smells in a school to encourage comforting home-like emotional ease to help foster learning? Or might you play certain sounds (or songs) while at work to help boost productivity and/or creativity to yield more frequent and better quality results with less stress?

It is important for you to realize that such positive outcomes can result from the materials and other sensorial stimuli you put into your buildings — especially in the details. Thus, certain material properties, lighting displays and even geometric architectural arrangements are likely to serve as acute triggers for powerful emotions in occupants. Through their senses and into their emotional memory, you can think of the effect of an inspirational museum or a touching memorial where architectural moments lead visitors on a journey through their senses and into their emotional memory.

In other words, as an architect, you need to understand that what you put in, you will get out…and this will have either a positive or negative effect (with consequences) for your occupant.

Of course, designing to purposely trigger memory can be a tricky thing, and some may say that it is an art to be able to do this well — and at a high level. So, even if there is a definitive link between the senses and emotional memories which they may bring to the surface, I think it is your job as an architect to act as a surgeon at times, knowing how to extract and guide those memories within your designs, so they can resurface, form, be realized, felt and appreciated by your occupants.

As an architect, with the right ingredients, you can create such a vessel — delivering the right environmental stimuli to the senses, and thus, triggering not only memory, but also profound emotion.

Please Tell Me What You Think

I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter and Facebook followers by clicking on the “re-tweet” and “like” button at the beginning of this page.

(1) Found: Possible Link Between Emotional Memories and Sensory Triggers. Discover.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: claude.attard.bezzina | Flickr

I came across an interesting article recently entitled Scent as Design. In it, the author discusses topics that were brought up during a recent symposium that was held to promote thought on the implications of using scent in design. To no surprise, it was shared that within today’s “modern lifestyle” we typically tend to “cover up” and “clean up” scent — without tapping into the vast potential which it holds. It seems that many of today’s cultures trend toward eliminating scent, without accentuating it — even though everything has a smell.

Just think about that for a moment, everything has a smell. Don’t you think that architects today should uncover what this widely underestimated sensorial stimuli can hold for their designs? But now that we know that the olfactory sense is significant, what should we begin to do as designers to make our creations even better?

When Scent Can Enhance the Visual

I was particularly struck by a particular thought from the above mentioned article that says that stimulating the olfactory sense in your design can help your occupants be more present. So, if your occupants were more present within your design — might your occupants function better and feel better when within it? Also, might the incorporation of scent help you as an architect attract your occupant’s attention at a certain moment during your occupant’s experience of your designed built environment?

In the article Scent as Design, it was noted that when experiencing scent, an occupant may inadvertently “tag” an object or make “associations” with it. Of course, you can see proof of this already by simply thinking about the branded scent of a particular perfume or the smell of a new car. In and of themselves, scents can actually become part of a brand, a style or even a culture. If you look hard enough, you can see many examples of this in today’s world, and certainly, I think there is much untapped potential when you really begin to delve into what designing for your occupant’s olfactory sense can do for your work.

As architects, it is time to think about smell as more than just being good or bad, associated with food, a new car or even perfume. Tapping into the power of the olfactory sense will mean a refinement of your own “palette”. As you go through each day, you should start to become consciously aware of the different scents you experience both while outdoors and indoors. Soon, you will begin to realize that there is an almost “invisible” dimension which you can integrate into your design work to make your architecture pop in all the right places.

Think of Traveling Through a Space With Only Your Nose

With this post, I will leave you with one last question for you to ask yourself:

If you were to travel through your architectural built project using only your sense of smell — would you be able to find your way? How would you distinguish transition between spaces? And how would you know what to do and when? Also, how would different scents make you feel, think or behave?

Already, you are probably thinking of some basic smells which you identify with certain spaces. For instance, what smell do you think of when you envision a bathroom? A bakery? A church? Or a school?

Now, push the boundaries of the “default” smells that come pre-attached with your building materials. You should use smell on purpose to create entire olfactory environments. Escape from the “cover-up” mentality. Go beyond simply making everything smell clean. Use your design talents to push the envelope — what might different scents do for a school for instance? Furthermore, what might different scents do for different classroom types within that school? Should the art room smell different from the math room or even the computer lab?

Then, start to think about how smell can impact not only emotional and intellectual associations, but then be processed through to occupant behavior. In short, it is time for you as an architect to get re-acquainted with your sense of smell — the often underestimated and untapped design resource with so much potential.

Please Tell Me What You Think

I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter followers by “tweeting” it using the re-tweet button on this page.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: JoshuaDavisPhotography. COM | Flickr

The notion of having dispositions, or records, that your brain keeps as it experiences architecture is quite an interesting thought. If every time your occupant has an architecture experience that can later be rewritten, then your role as an architect is to design for more than a real-time experience. You must also design for your occupants by incorporating what your architecture will say to them — what they will store in their memory, and how that memory will influence their future experiences.

Here is a quote discussing such dispositions from an article entitled, Science Studies How Architecture Affects the Brain:

“Architectural experience is recorded in what Antonio Damasio calls “dispositions” — records in our brain of a combination of sensory inputs, memories, emotions and any related muscle memories. Just below the surface of consciousness these dispositions wait for the next experience with which they can be paired. For example, each time we enter the office in which we work we are recalling a dispositional record of our last visit — including any emotional experiences we may have had. When we leave our office at the end of the day, our brain creates a new dispositional record that updates the one we came with that morning.”

The key word here is “update”. Previous architecture experiences impact the current, and the current will influence those which have not yet happened. Does this mean that you should design spaces that are less predictable? Or spaces where repetition and routine abound?

As an architect, it might be difficult to make a blanket statement about such questions. For example, I cannot say that a classroom in an elementary school needs to be predictable, while a meeting room in an office building needs to be unpredictable. So much is linked to occupant and architectural context, objectives and need for evolution and change.

Do Your Occupants Judge Your Buildings Before Ever Going In?

Wouldn’t it be nice to know what your occupant “dispositions” say? How can you, as an architect, design for such occupant brain records?

The ultimate goal for you as an architect should be to design spaces that ultimately foster the experiences your occupant wants and needs. Sounds simple, right? Well, complexity enters the picture when you consider that key word “update”.

Your occupants collect experiences involving your design (sometimes many of your designs) into their perception. Their records get modified with each visit — whether it be physical, virtual or by simply hearing about another’s experience within your building. In some ways, yes, your occupant does “judge” what their experience will be like, but “judge” is such a strong word. It might be better to say that they form a perception (which can often lead to an opinion).

Of course, you may have the opportunity to prove false impressions wrong, even erasing what they once thought they experienced. You may ask yourself…”What tone should my architecture have?” Should it be an unexpected surprise? Comfortingly predictable? Inconspicuously silent? Well, you get the idea.

I challenge you to think about what message your building conveys, not only when occupants are within it, but also before they ever come in and long after they have left. Your building forms more than a real-time experience. It stamps an impression. Use that to your advantage.

Please Tell Me What You Think

I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter followers by “tweeting” it using the re-tweet button on this page.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

image: Manky Maxblack | Flickr

As you design your building, do you ever think about what will remain “standing” both physically and in the minds of those that experience it in the future?

Yes, buildings weather and must pass certain “tests of time”, but do you ever consider whether your building will be worth “saving”, or will even be in use as time passes? It has been said that “[i]t takes a lot of money to build a building, but it doesn’t cost that much more to get it right”.

Thus, you should think about how to gain the most “design leverage” to ensure that your architecture will not only “stand” in the future, but will also be of value to those that experience it.

What Makes a Building Stand the Test of Time?

Eventually as time passes, you will reach a point in your career where you will need to expand, preserve or even tear down a building as occupant’s needs change or even as zoning or codes change. Needless to say, it can be quite tricky if you are the architect who must resurrect or modernize the “old” to give way to the “new”.

So, what is your design philosophy when tackling this set of challenges? How do you integrate the collective memory of the people who have experienced the old? And then turn around to rise above the collective expectations of those that want their “site” to receive that proverbial “facelift”?

Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to architecturally exploring, integrating, deconstructing, demolishing or preserving what once was into what will become. However, one ideal goal might be to reach true architectural innovation that brings a site’s potential forward so architecture can leap toward elevating the lifestyles of the people it serves.

It is your job as an architect to pay attention to what came before, with much attention to what is needed now — and how you will rise to the needs of occupants in the future, with your foresight today.

Designing a building that stands the test of time takes much ingenuity and insight. But in the end, it seems that great architecture usually resonates with its occupants not only in their everyday individual memories, but within their collective memories — which are shared and passed on — as they contribute to overarching cultures.

Please Tell Me What You Think

I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter followers by “tweeting” it using the re-tweet button on this page.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: Miss_Colleen | Flickr

As an architect, you probably spend much of your time designing and preparing for programmatic functions and the aesthetic beauty to be experienced by future building occupants. But, did you know that your design ultimately is “interpreted” into what is frequently called the “mind’s eye”? Simply stated, this is a mental map that is said to be responsible for your own personal view-point and how you perceive the world.

The process behind the mental map is very important for you, as an architect, to understand — or at least be aware of. You see, your occupants accumulate information about places and then visualize this information to help with memory and learning. In effect, such spatial information is collected from all kinds of sources, and such sources influence their mental map — thus, their impression of your architectural design.

Miss Colleen | Flickr

For example, if an image of a building becomes iconic and people see and hear about this image over and over again. This influences their mental map of your architecture. This image will help (or hurt) your architecture’s success in the minds of your occupants.

Just take a look at the “Modern Art” starred area in the History of Art mental map drawing (below). You can see here the personal viewpoint and relationship this person has with modern art — interpreted spatially.

Image: atduskgreg | Flickr

To better design by being aware of the importance of mental mapping, it is best to be conscious of the journey your occupants take arriving to, going through and leaving your building. Focus on what collective order, series and accumulation of stimuli he or she will experience. Furthermore, you should be aware of social, climate, zoning and other cultural stimuli that might affect your occupant’s perception of your work.

In some ways many of you already design for the cognitive mapping process. You, as a designer, use mental maps to visualize and synthesis your own architectural designs. The next step; however, is to work backwards. Think about what you would want remembered or learned about your building.

After all, your building may have a ripple effect — connecting with those far beyond just those that physically visit the space. This is particularly possible now with advancing technologies related to the internet, virtual reality and so on.

Please Tell Me What You Think

I would really like to get your feedback on my post today, so please leave me a comment in the form below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter followers by “tweeting” it using the re-tweet button on this page.

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

Image: © Dianka | Dreamstime.com

You walk into a room. You notice a certain aroma. You smell fresh cookies baking in the kitchen. Immediately, you remember your childhood days when your mother brought you fresh chocolate chip cookies.

Ok, this may seem a bit idealistic but smell and memory are linked. The article entitled Smell and Memory explains that of all the human senses, the process of smelling takes the longest to reach the brain, and once you do smell, the smell lasts longer than other senses. This leads to the assumption that smell and memory are linked in different ways as compared to the other senses; and yes, this is an important differentiation.

If the latter is true, then when you design, you instantly trigger memory the moment someone walks into your building. You see, memory is intrinsically linked with learning. So, the minute someone actually smells within your space, they begin to learn, and the olfactory process can play a meaningful role.

So, how can you design better now that you know this knowledge?

SENSE OF SMELL CAN OPTIMIZE YOUR DESIGNS

Perhaps you can be more proactive as you design. Instead of letting the scent within your space just sort of happen as a by-product of all your other design decisions, you can instead think about what effect you want to have with your space.

This doesn’t mean that you need to go ahead and inject strange aromas with hopes that suddenly your design will be more pleasing without proof that this will work. However, did you know that some hospitals are beginning to design for the olfactory sense? Patients in some facilities are already benefiting from aromas (circulated through the air systems) that are more soothing, anxiety reducing and calming.

Think of what you want your occupants to experience within your architectural space, how you want them to navigate though it and where you may want them to stop and engage in activity. As a designer, think about ways to tap into the olfactory sense — use it to spark occupant behavior, thought, emotion and intellect. There are so many opportunities to capitalize on this sense: think hotel, restaurant, stores or even an airport.

I WOULD LOVE YOUR FEEDBACK…

I would love to hear your feedback on this post today, so leave me a comment down below. And if you enjoyed it, make sure you share it with your Twitter followers by “tweeting” it using the re-tweet button! Thanks so much!

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman

As you design architecture, it is important to consider your occupant’s memory. You should consider not only what your occupants remember, but also how they remember.

Why?

Just after experiencing your building design, your occupant will be full of a large portion of the information they just absorbed. The memory of walking through your design will be fresh in their mind and the nuances about their experience will be easy to recall. But, what do you want them to remember about their experience? Do you have any control over what they remember as a great moment? Do you want to have a say?

HOW OCCUPANTS REMEMBER

When your occupant processes an architectural “scene”, they actually dismiss a lot that they don’t think is important…. In the video below you will watch a scholar from Princeton University further explain that the brain uses processes (like shortcuts) to help people remember things in a certain way.

Thus, your occupant can only pay attention to the things they think are important.

Your client will convey their functional needs, but you need to figure out how best they can carry out those functions. It is in this design orchestration that their experience will be not only functional, but also more beautiful, meaningful and personalized.

If you can strike this chord within your occupants, then your architecture will become a beautiful catalyst for meaningful experiences.

It is likely that those are the moments your occupants will remember.

VIDEO: The Ups and Downs of Forgetting

© 2008-2011 Sensing Architecture by Maria Lorena Lehman