Category Archives: Biology

Webinar: Designing for the Subliminal Brain

Posted on April 2, 2021 by Genetics of Design

Curious to understand how we see the world like animals? Want to learn how evolution presets what we focus on, and how we take in our surroundings? Here’s link for public media event from WSKG, an NPR-radio affiliate in New … Continue reading →

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Webinar: Architecture + the 21st-Century Paradigm Shift: Designing for the Subliminal Brain, February 25

Posted on February 25, 2021 by Genetics of Design

This talk was part of a WELLbeing Seminar Series, organized by Prof. Robin Z Puttock, RA of the School of Architecture + Planning at Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington DC.  In it Ann Sussman discussed how new findings about … Continue reading →

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Seeing How Cars + People Grab Us

Posted on February 20, 2021 by Genetics of Design

With eye tracking we can ‘see’ how humans take in the world. This biometric tool gives an inside view of our remarkable subliminal activity, including what’s really going on when we do something seemingly simple, like walking down a city … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Design, Eye Tracking, Walkability | Leave a comment

Open Invitation to Urban Experience and Design Book Launch: Friday, January 15, 2021, 3PM EST

Posted on January 7, 2021 by Genetics of Design

The Human Architecture and Planning Institute, Tufts UEP, and Routledge invite you to a global, virtual event to celebrate the publication of the new book Urban Experience and Design: Contemporary Perspectives on Improving the Public Realm on January 15, 2021, 3PM-4PM Eastern Time. Editors Justin Hollander and Ann … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Biology, City Planning, Design | Tagged | 3 Comments

‘Built Beautiful,’ the Movie on Architecture + Neuroscience Streaming Live at Boston Architectural College on Dec. 7, 2020

Posted on December 2, 2020 by Genetics of Design

Built Beautiful – Trailer from Mariel Rodriguez-McGill on Vimeo. The Boston Architectural College (BAC) announced it will screen this new documentary which bridges the arts + sciences on Monday, December 7, 2020 at 7 PM EST. All are invited to … Continue reading →

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Faces: The Key to Making Happy Places

Posted on September 8, 2020 by Genetics of Design

Do you see faces in these gingerbread cottages in Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard, a popular summer retreat on this island ten miles off the coast of Massachusetts? Does it seem like they are looking at you? Built as part of … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Biology, Design, Neuroscience, People-centric Design | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Case Against All-Glass Facades

Posted on July 18, 2020 by Genetics of Design

The pictures tell the story. And make the case. Biometric studies explain why. At left, is a photo of MassArt Design and Media Center, (c. 2016), a public college of applied art in downtown Boston; at right, the George Wythe … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Biology, Design, Eye Tracking, Neuroscience, People-centric Design | Tagged | 4 Comments

Empathy in Design: Measuring the Impact of Biophilia

Posted on May 26, 2020 by Genetics of Design

Is home your happy place? Does it make you feel warm and welcome? Now that a pandemic has turned our homes into multipurpose spaces that double as offices, gyms, schools, playgrounds and safe havens from a virus, feelings matter more than … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Biology, Design, Eye Tracking, Health, People-centric Design | Tagged | 2 Comments

Why eye-track the Mona Lisa? To see your brain at work!

Posted on July 1, 2019 by Genetics of Design

Humans are pattern recognition experts. And looking at Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (c. 1503) below, listed as the world’s most viewed painting,  is a good way to see the pattern we’re most cut out to see. It’s the face, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Biology, Eye Tracking, Patterns, People-centric Design | 2 Comments

‘Ux+Design’ Conference Take-aways: Biometrics Can Tell Us a lot about Buildings …and Ourselves

Posted on May 8, 2019 by Genetics of Design

A good turnout at the 1st International Urban Experience and Design (Ux+Design/2019) conference at Tufts last month, which drew architects, planners, researchers and students from around the world interested in improving the built environment and better understanding our responses to … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Biology, City Planning, Eye Tracking, STEM, Walkability | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment