25 This insight echoes the scale proportions found in views to nature that offer prospect and refuge, where the observer enjoys unimpeded visual and spatial access from a small, safe spot such as a balcony, a secluded outlook, or a room overlooking a panorama. Furthermore, a breathtaking view to nature is not only a poetic way of describing the swing of awareness that humans find intrinsically enticing and healing. It also aptly describes the physiological transformation that occurs during biophilic engagement. When the breath slows down or is momentarily suspended, it’s the direct result of the quieting of the mind and reflects an experience of the deep connection between the observer and the observed. This visceral recognition and conscious amazement are further evidence of the innate kinship between living systems, humankind and nature, defined by Biophilia. Exposure to spatial polarity is restorative to cognitive function. Photo by Jenn Evelyn Ann, Unsplash. When we perceive a small relative scale (our body) in the context of a much larger relative scale (environment or geography), we recalibrate our sense of self, which creates an experience of expansion and wholeness — a perceptual experience conducive to contemplation, mental clarity, emotional balance and relaxation. When we experience vastness, time appears to slow down. Time becomes abundant and feels infinite. In this experience of infinity, the mind finds much more than solace; it discovers its own unrestricted nature as the filtering process of observation itself dissolves, revealing the observer’s “body schema” as both “self” and “environment.” On the other hand, smaller spaces, particularly enclosed artificial spaces, tend to crowd us. Our perceived sense of time speeds up, leading to the common experience of time pressure, task-related stress and anxiety. As a matter of fact, small, enclosed spaces make occupants feel like the walls are closing in, which might be understood as an accurate expression of their cognitive perception. Furthermore, a body of research indicates that space-time interactions in human vision are asymmetrical. Spatial cognition has a larger effect on temporal cognition than the other way around (Merritt et al., 2010 as cited in Homma and Ashida, 2015).8 b This is the end of part 1. The remainder of this paper will be printed in the next edition of REFLEXION. References (Continued in Part 2) 1Robinson, Sarah (2015). Nestled Bodies. In Robinson, S and Pallasmaa, J (eds.), Mind in Architecture. Ch. 7, p139. 2Gallese, V., and Alessandro Gattara (2015). Embodied Simulation, Aesthetics, and Architecture: An Experimental Aesthetic Approach. In Robinson, S and Pallasmaa, J (eds.), Mind in Architecture. Ch. 9, p164. 3Groh, J (2014). Making Space, How the Brain Knows Where Things Are. Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Ch. 9, p189. 4Murphy, Kate (2014). Stephen Kellert. The New York Times. Retrieved Oct. 31, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/opinion/sunday/ stephen-kellert.html 5Macknik, SL and Martinez-Conde, S. (2011). Sleights of Mind. New York, Henry Holt & Company. 6Groh, J (2014). Making Space, How the Brain Knows Where Things Are. Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Ch. 9, p190; p196. 7DeLong, AJ and Lubar, JF. (1979). ‘Effect of environmental scale of subjects on spectral EEG output.’ Society for Neuroscience Abstracts 5:203. In Kellert, S, Heerwagen, J and Mador, M (eds). (2008). Biophilic Design: The Theory, Science and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life. Wiley & Sons, NJ. 8Merritt, DJ, Cassanto, D and Brannon, EM. (2010). Do monkeys think in metaphors? Representations of space and time in monkeys and humans. Cognition 117; 191-202. Retrieved Dec. 8, 2015, from http://www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2952654/ Authors David A. Navarrete is the director of research initiatives and accredited education at Sky Factory. He’s a member of The Center for Education (ACE) at the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA) and a fellow at The Centre for Conscious Design. He and Bill have coauthored articles on Cognitive Biophilia to diverse publications, including Conscious Cities Journal and Conscious Cities Anthology (2018, 2020), Radiology Today, Salus Global Journal, and Work/Design magazine. Bill Witherspoon is the founder and Chief Designer at Sky Factory, Inc. Sky Factory’s published, peer-reviewed research has earned multiple awards, including the International Academy of Design & Health, Planetree International, and the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA).
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