Designing Space

How do we experience space? And what does this mean for the spaces we design? We explore these questions by bringing together speakers from Architecture, Neuroscience, and Virtual Reality, with two specific aims: First, we explore what Architecture and Virtual Reality can learn from each other, as two distinct approaches to “spatial design”. Whilst spatial experience has long been a central question of Architecture, Virtual Reality is only beginning to grapple with these questions, as technology transitions from 2D screens to 3D spatial interfaces. Second, we explore the nature of spatial experience itself, with two approaches to understanding the human mind. Whilst contemporary Architecture is influenced by Philosophy (specifically the “Phenomenological” tradition), the tools of Neuroscience are increasingly being applied to questions of Architecture as well. Through this multidisciplinary exchange, we hope to deepen our understanding of spatial experience, and how it informs the physical and virtual spaces we design.

Event Speakers

• Nitzan Bartov, Designer, Meta Reality Labs Research
• Anjan Chatterjee, Professor of Neurology, Psychology, and Architecture, University of Pennsylvania
• Steven Holl, Professor at Columbia GSAPP
• Moderated by Paul Linton, Presidential Scholar in Society and Neuroscience and Fellow of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University Event Information

Free and open to the public. Registration is required via Eventbrite. Online attendees will receive a Zoom link from Eventbrite. Please email presidentialscholars@columbia.edu with any questions.

This event is hosted by Presidential Scholars in Society and Neuroscience as part of the Seminars in Society and Neuroscience series. Co-sponsored by Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, and the Zuckerman Institute at Columbia University.

More information is available on the Presidential Scholars in Society and Neuroscience website.