History

The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA) took shape in 2002 as a Legacy Project to the national American Institute of Architects (AIA) Convention. Held in San Diego and hosted by the local AIA Chapter in cooperation with its Architectural Foundation, the June 2003 Convention featured a keynote address on architecture and neuroscience by Dr. Fred Gage, a principal investigator at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla. The acknowledgement of ANFA was then made official. At the time of this debut, the College of Fellows of the AIA announced that ANFA and its founding President, John Paul Eberhard, FAIA, had won the Latrobe Prize – a biennial award of $100,000 for research that would lead to significant advances in the architectural profession.

The two year study would lead to workshops among cross disciplines, reports, articles and books. ANFA would obtain its certification as a 501 (c) (3) corporation from the State of California in February, 2003. Articles of Incorporation became binding and a Board of Directors, established by the adoption of Bylaws, assumed the responsibility of the organization’s mission. The Academy is grateful to those people who were instrumental in bringing the concept of the organization to fruition (note that titles and associations apply to 2003).