Our Brain Loves Curvy Architecture

[HendryTan]

Why Our Brains Love Curvy Architecture

http://www.fastcodesign.com/3020075/why-our-brains-love-curvy-architecture

PEOPLE ARE FAR MORE LIKELY TO CALL A ROOM BEAUTIFUL WHEN ITS DESIGN IS ROUND INSTEAD OF LINEAR. THE REASON MAY BE HARD-WIRED INTO THE BRAIN.

 

When the great architect Philip Johnson first visited the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, designed by Frank Gehry, he started to cry. "Architecture is not about words. It's about tears," Johnson reportedly said. Something about the museum's majestic curves moved him at an emotional level. Many others must get a similar feeling, because the building is usually ranked among the most important in modern times.

Whether or not Johnson and Gehry realized it, the Bilbao and its swirling façade tapped into a primal human emotional network. Time and again, when people are asked to choose between an object that's linear and one that's curved, they prefer the latter. That goes for watches with circular faces, letters rendered in a curly font, couches with smooth cushions--even dental floss with round packaging.

The Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at Harvard Medical SchoolThe Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at Harvard Medical School

Recently neuroscientists have shown that this affection for curves isn't just a matter of personal taste; it's hard-wired into the brain. Working in tandem with designers in Europe, a research team led by psychologist Oshin Vartanian of the University of Toronto at Scarborough compiled 200 images of interior architecture. Some of the rooms had a round style like this:

Courtesy of Oshin Vartanian

Others had a rectilinear form, like this:

Courtesy of Oshin Vartanian

Vartanian and collaborators slid people into a brain imaging machine, showed them these pictures, and asked them to label each room as "beautiful" or "not beautiful." In a study published earlier this year, they reported that test participants were far more likely to consider a room beautiful when it was flush with curves rather than full of straight lines. Oblong couches, oval rugs, looping floor patterns--these features got our aesthetic engines going.

It's worth noting this isn't a men-love-curves thing; twice as many women as men took part in the study. Roundness seems to be a universal human pleasure.

Beauty ratings were just the first step in the study. The researchers also captured the brain activity that occurred when the study participants in the imaging machine considered the pictures. Turns out people looking at curved design had significantly more activity in a brain area called the anterior cingulate cortex, compared to people who were looking at linear decorations. The ACC has many cognitive functions, but one is especially noteworthy in the context of Vartanian's study: its involvement in emotion.

WE PREFER CURVES BECAUSE THEY SIGNAL LACK OF THREAT.

So curved design uses our brains to tug at our hearts. Some of us cry outside great buildings as a result. Some of us reach for another brand of dental floss. Some of us, beyond all rational judgment, type inComic Sans font. "Our preference for curves can not be explained entirely in terms of a 'cold' cognitive assessment of the qualities of curved objects," Vartanian tells Co.Design. "Curvature appears to affect our feelings, which in turn could drive our preference."

The Bilbao-sized question is why exactly curves give us a visceral pleasure. Some neuroscientists believe the answer may have adaptive roots.

Another brain imaging study, conducted several years ago by Moshe Bar of Harvard Medical School, found that viewing objects with sharp elements--once again, square watches, pointy couches, and the like--activated the amygdala. That's the part of the brain that processes fear. Bar and collaborator Maital Neta proposed that since sharp objects have long signaled physical danger, human brains now associate sharp lines with a threat. Curves, meanwhile, may be seen as harmless by comparison.

"In other words," says Vartanian, "we prefer curves because they signal lack of threat, i.e. safety."

There's a nice clarity to that explanation, but it certainly has some limitations. The most basic of these is that some sharp lines feel warm and welcoming (see: the New York City skyline, or Ikea furniture) and some curves are plenty scary (see: a rattlesnake, or Nicki Minaj). Not every straight-versus-curve contest is as clear as knife versus spoon. Culture, context, and familiarity can all influence our perception of contour.

It's also critical to point out that just because people have a natural neural affinity for curves doesn't mean round design is always superior. If researchers asked people to rate architecture based on functionality instead of beauty, for instance, they might get different results. (In fact, Vartanian says he's studying that question next.) The Bilbao in all its sinuous glory may bring tears to the eye, but it probably took a very rectangular truck to bring construction material to the Bilbao.

[takeitoff]

Eh I personally like things that are angular. They just look cleaner.

Edited October 18, 2013 by takeitoff

[HendryTan]

We have got deep into the era of Modern Design with its nice straight clean lines.

Maybe it is time to swing back to curves

 

See Apple's planned HQ.

 

 

   

[muddywill]

Explains why zaha hadid is so popular. Lol.

When u talk about architectural history, the most primitive and early forms had simple post and lintel designs. But now, with technology, we are able to make buildings that have crazy shapes. Without a doubt, the most progressive and new forms will always try to outdo what was done before and therefore take on very strange proportions and aesthetics but practically speaking, the buildings with straight edges and lines will always be the norm. It's just easier and more space efficient.

And saying that, our brains are more likely to like what we are familar with. So people who are not constantly surrounded by circular shaped buildings may actually find such architecture troublesome. Explains why frank lloyd wright was so initally controversial when he finished the guggenheim museum - many people found the shape of the musuem too unconventional although now people generally seem to like it. So I wouldn't necessarily think that all people would automatically fall in love with all curvy things even if we have a predisposition for circular things.

[gz69a]

Then visit Barcelona and admire the world-famous architecture of Gaudi...curvy and brilliant.

 

https://www.google.com.sg/search?q=famous+spanish+architect+gaudi&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=8nRiUsD-KIeVrAfR4YDQDQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEsQsAQ&biw=1438&bih=661

 

Visit the Familia Sagrada that is still being constructed after more than a hundred years.  Simply fabulous to stand inside and admire the soaring arches.

[darkflame]

I like angled objects personally. Even for my smartphone, I prefer Sony to Samsung for the angular look.

[Exynos]

then why do people prefer lean guys to overweight guys

[Allegro]

then why do people prefer lean guys to overweight guys

 

Cause we like them hard, always 

 

[MeowPrince]

Linear and angular tends to represent the masculine, while curves tend to represent the feminine side.  In architecture, in art, in science and psychology.

 

Industrial age architecture and much of Singapore's earlier HDB styles tend toward the linear.  Though curves have been around for a looong time.  Art deco, eg Empire State, Tiong Bahru (pre-war only) flats, Jalan Besar, are but just some examples that precede HDB.  Later designs started to incorporate curves.  Effectively used, curves, even discreetly, can "tone down" a harsh building.  Take Singapore's post-WW2 flats, they are largely industrial architecture, yet their architects back then tried to incorporate little curving features like ledges and so on to soften the structure.

 

To further gz69a's post - Spain does have a lot of gorgeous curves.  And so does the Loire, Bavaria, and even in ancient Greece.  Look closely, even those cubist blocky houses down in the Cyclades or over in Turkey have rounded walls or roofs, just to break up the hard lines of their cubic blocks.  And aren't they sweet to look at!

 

On the point about the human body, painters, sculptors and photographers all enjoy using a blend of the linear aspects and the curvatures of the body.  A lean body is NOT linear.  But can be debated to accentuate the interaction of lines and curves more distinctly, at least, when compared to an obese form.

 

Oh well, wait till Dec, I'll be back with pics I hope. 

[Guest guest]

I don't really like curvy structures, it's makes measuring the stress load harder :/ yeah, architecture/civil engineering student here.

[Exynos]

I can think of one example where angular structure OWNS curvy structure flat flat!