Customer Reviews

Architecture and the Brain: A New Knowledge Base from Neuroscience

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I was extremely disapointed in the scholarly quality and depth of this work, as evidenced by its minimal bibliography. Since I had devoted a chapter of my PhD thesis to the neurological perception of the Classical city in the Late Roman East, I was anticipating a substantial supporting source that connects up-to-date neurological studies to the perception of architectural space and form. Instead there is very little, but a few cursery paragraphs on architecture itself. The chapters, despite possessing drawings of varied architectural forms (cover art is pretty, page art is poor), primarily give a very basic overview of the brain systems and sensory functions that seem to leave it up to the reader to make the architectural leap beyond the one page, six-point discussion under the subtitle 'What Does this Have to Do with Architecture (p. 47)? Afterward I was left asking the same question. Further, the concluding remarks by Dr. Eric R. Kandel does not speak in anyway directly with architecture and seems as disconnected as the text. There were enough substantial quotations along with the cover alcolade from Rita Carter ("Mapping the Mind") where I would have hoped that she had written it. This was too much money for the result. If I had not highlighted a few lines I would have returned this for a refund.

This book does not aim to explicitly tie together concepts of neuroscience and architecture (for that, see /Brain Landscape/). Rather, Eberhard simply outlines some of the more basic concepts of neuroscience. With that said, /Architecture and the Brain/ is a nice little overview, but I wonder whether an architect with no familiarity with biology or neuroscience will find it useful. Though Eberhard does in the end mention how neuroscience can inform architecture, this is not the overarching theme. I would ultimately recommend purchasing a neuroscience textbook if the topics discussed in /Architecture and the Brain/ are of interest to you.

This book is a pioneering effort to introduce architects to ways of improving the design of buildings by better understanding how and why users of buildings respond to colors, light, textures, and spaces. It explains the workings of the brain to stimuli by which individuals experience feelings of delight or awe or depression. The book describes the relatively new discipline of neuroscience and how architects can better understand the effects of their design decisions on their cliects, through collaboration with neuroscientists

I did not have an interest in this subject prior to reading the book. As I began reading it I found that it explained the way the brain works and what this means to experiencing architectural settings. I was able to read through the entire book and enjoy the illustrations within a few days. I found it entertaining, educational and worthwhile.

The reviewer who objected to the content seenms to be an academic with little or no tolerence for learning outside his limited field of study.

Sue&Bill