Anticipation in architectural experience: a computational neurophenomenology for architecture?

TL;DR

This paper proposes a computational neurophenomenology framework linking architectural design with perceptual experience and neuronal processes, integrating neuroscience and architectural phenomenology for future research.

Contribution

It introduces a novel framework combining computational neuroscience and architectural phenomenology to study perceptual experience in architecture.

Findings

Framework enables interdisciplinary studies of architecture and neuroscience

Highlights the role of bodily affordances in architectural perception

Lays groundwork for future neuroarchitectural research

Abstract

The perceptual experience of architecture is enacted by the sensory and motor system. When we act, we change the perceived environment according to a set of expectations that depend on our body and the built environment. The continuous process of collecting sensory information is thus based on bodily affordances. Affordances characterize the fit between the physical structure of the body and capacities for movement in the built environment. Since little has been done regarding the role of architectural design in the emergence of perceptual experience on a neuronal level, this paper offers a first step towards the role of architectural design in perceptual experience. An approach to synthesize concepts from computational neuroscience with architectural phenomenology into a computational neurophenomenology is considered. The outcome is a framework under which studies of architecture and cognitive neuroscience can be cast.