Recent News
SAVE THE DATE: ANFA's first Annual Conference is happening September 21 - 22, 2012 at the Salk Institute in La Jolla,
California. In addition to presentations of established projects at this
interface, we seek presentations of work in either neuroscience or architecture
that will lay the basis for possible interaction and integration between the
disciplines. Interested in presenting, click here to learn how to
apply!
Dr. Rusty Gage, ANFA board member and renowned neuroscientist, is joining forces with colleagues in La Jolla's newest research "collaboratory." This innovative facility, the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, will unite 335 professionals with the goal of catalizing medical advancements using stem cells. More
The wait is over, Sustainable Environmental Design in Architecture: Impacts on Health is now available! The edited volume opens with a chapter by John Eberhard, ANFA's Founding President, entitled "Sustainability and Neuroscience." Shortly following, chapter three: "Form Follows Function: Bridging Neuroscience and Architecture" was written by Dr. Eduardo Macagno, ANFA's Immediate Past President, and Dr. Eve Edelstein, ANFA Research Associate.
ANFA board members Eduardo Macagno and Randal Peterson have been collaborating with ANFA reasearch associate Eve Edelstein and others on innovative research at UC San Diego's Calit2. Click here to learn about some of the recent findings that Dr. Macagno will be sharing at the Spatial Cognition for Architectural Design Symposium in November 2011.
The verdict is in and the book, Design Informed: Driving Innovation with Evidence Based Design is a hit! Click here to see why
this book, co-authored by ANFA board member Gordon Chong, and featuring a case
study of ANFA board member John Zeisel, is innovating the architectural
industry.
ANFA Board Member Michael Arbib of the University of Southern California gave a plenary address on "Brains, Machines and Buildings" as the opening talk of the NSF-sponsored symposium "From Brains to Machines" on Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at the 2011 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, San Jose, California.
Dr. Tom Albright, ANFA’s current Vice President and Director of the Vision Center Laboratory at the Salk Institute of Biological Sciences, was recently awarded "The Conrad T. Prebys Chair in Vision Research." A philanthropist and trustee of the Salk Institute, Conrad T. Prebys was inspired by the cutting-edge research Albright and his colleagues are doing, and therefore, donated $2 million dollars to establish the chair. Joan and Irwin Jacobs have also generously contributed $1 million dollars to fund Albright’s research. Regarding this tremendous honor, Albright humbly said, “I'm very honored by the gift from Conrad Prebys and the Jacobs, and by the support of my colleagues. We're very fortunate to have people like this in our community.” Albright plans to use this endowment to continue his impactful studies of the neural bases of visual perception, visual memory and visually-guided behavior. More Information
The Johns Hopkins Medicine Brain Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland hosted a Speaker Series on October 20-21, 2010 called The Science of the Arts. The intention of the program was to “stimulate new questions and approaches to understanding the converging fields of perceptual brain science and aesthetics.” Six collaborative conversations took place between neuroscientists and painters, musicians, architects, composers, choreographers and sculptors. Their discussions were titled: Visual Art & Color; Neural Mechanisms of Musical Improvisation; Spatial Representation & Architecture; Harmonic Representation & Musical Pitch; Motor Systems & Dance; and Perception & Design.
Some of the invited researchers were conducting studies with the artists in their group. Most of the scientists lectured on current findings in their respective field and then allowed the artists to try to describe their performance experience from a cognitive, physiological, psychological and spiritual point of view. There was a mutual agreement that both scientists and artists are driven by curiosity and often find themselves breaking conventional rules that result in positive outcomes for the general public.
The program concluded with a panel discussion on emerging trends. Participating was ANFA’s founding president John Eberhard, FAIA, who has established a liaison with the Brain Science Institute that hopefully will lead to a future program dedicated to human behavior and the built environment. ANFA was also represented by Board members Alison Whitelaw, John Zeisel and Frederick Marks, who were among the audience.
Gordon Chong, ANFA Past President and current board member, co-wrote Design Informed: Driving Innovation with Evidence-Based Design (ISBN 9780470916407). The book was released in September 2010 and is currently available both in print and electronic reader formats.
Construction on a new National Intrepid Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (NICoE) is complete.This 72,000 square foot Department of Defense (DOD) facility located at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland was opened in October 2010. Currently, the space is being utilized for outpatient diagnostic and treatment services, as well as, research and testing of new protocols for comprehensive training and education to assist patients, providers and families.
Beginning in July 2008, ANFA began conversations with the DOD about sharing its knowledge from research taking place at UCSD Calit2 on navigation using conventional and prototype EEG devices in conjunction with virtual reality. On separate occasions, DOD representatives have spoken with ANFA Board members Eduardo Macagno and Frederick Marks, along with project scientists Peter Otto and Eve Edelstein, and Scott Makeig, Director of the Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience.
On November 4, 2009 Board Member Fred Marks presented at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC as part of the a U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Program.
Board Member John Zeisel, PhD, and colleague Steven Post gave a lecture titled, "Is Feng Shui in the Mind?" as part of the Brainwave Series hosted by the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City.
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Former Board Member Esther Sternberg, M.D., released a new book titled, "Healing Spaces", and is the host of a new PBS series, "The Science of Healing".
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