The neuroscience behind design

This article was recently published in the Village Voice June 2026 New Farm edition under the 'No Place Like Home section (online pp. 29-29).

We hope you enjoy this piece, it's always difficult to describe experimental work in a way that is easily understood by the lay person, however we may have nailed it! The role of neuroscience within the field of architecture and design is becoming more robust. This article describes what is being measured and some of the questions that should be answered for future experimention. We hope you enjoy it, and always value feedback.

Why should I use an interior designer? This is a question we often hear, and our response has its origins in cognitive neuroscience.

Understanding how you visualise, perceive and feel about a room or new build is crucial to the design process, and is often subconscious in nature. When appraising a space, the trained designer will use a cognitive approach that is holistic in nature. A holistic view combines contextual information from prior knowledge, and allows the senses to perceive new information quickly. This ‘conceptual’ approach is what the neuroscientist Earl K. Miller calls top-down processing. In comparison, the lay person usually focuses on the most salient, physical aspects of a room. This stimulus-driven process is known as bottom-up processing. For example, the type of furniture, or colour of the walls, becomes the focus.

To date much of what we know about the built environment depends on subjective experiences. The relatively new field of neuroarchitecture is now challenging that premise. Scientific measures such as eye tracking and physiological responses are focusing on real time data to measure how we perceive curves, ceiling design and even window size. Experiments using fMRI scans have compared how the brain reacts to open and enclosed spaces. Those findings show that open rooms activate visuospatial activity, a region of the brain that allows us to process distance and space. In contrast, enclosed rooms show brain activation in regions directly related to the amygdala – the area that processes our fight or flight response.

Of course the big question we need to ask about these ‘real time’ measures relates to the gap between controlled experiments and the lived experience. Some interior designers, architects and artists may argue that a scientific approach stifles creativity. Do we really need this as part of our tool kit? Adopting such a framework takes time, effort and considerable expertise. We believe that asking the right questions is key to bridging this gap – and should provide us with a deeper understanding of the design process. Furthermore, we have found that research-related design topics facilitate our communication with clients around the why and how for design and architectural choices.

If you need advice on how to enhance a space in the home, speak to a designer who can back up their recommendations with neuroscientific evidence. For example, someone who can tell you ‘Did you know that our neuroscientific response to curves evokes a sense of comfort and beauty? What more could you want for your home…’

Dr Sacha DeVelle June 2026

#neuroscience #interiordesign #architecture #sdvinteriorsdesignstudio