Juan Baumgartner, Founder of spAce, Unveils the Science Behind Neuroarchitecture

For most of history, architecture has been judged by what it looks like. Today, a growing group of designers and researchers is asking the industry a broader question: what does architecture actually do to us?

According to Mexican architect and founder of the award-winning studio spAce, Juan Baumgartner, the built environment (human-made or modified physical spaces) is getting more attention from scientific researchers. Advances across fields such as neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and chronobiology are showing something architects always sensed, but very rarely measured. Space is not inert. It is biologically active.

Which means that buildings, in other words, do far more than shelter us. They regulate us.

From stress hormones to attention spans and sleep cycles, the spaces people inhabit continually interact with their nervous systems. As this approach gains attention in architecture, these effects can be measured.

The end of neutral space

Even a few years back, architectural movements focused solely on structure.

“Modernism promised functional efficiency. Postmodernism brought symbolism. The digital era delivered spectacle,” Baumgartner explains. “But none of these movements seriously addressed the nervous system.”

“The idea that architecture might influence cortisol levels, executive function, or inflammatory responses would have sounded exaggerated a generation ago,” he continues. “Today, it sounds inevitable.”

In the 1980s, environmental psychologist Roger Ulrich published a landmark hospital study demonstrating that patients who were in rooms with tree views were able to heal faster than those in rooms whose windows faced brick walls. 

Around the same time, researchers Stephen Kaplan and Rachel Kaplan developed what became known as the Attention Restoration Theory, suggesting that exposure to natural environments may support cognitive performance by helping restore directed attention.

More recently, interdisciplinary research in architectural neuroimmunology has begun exploring whether biophilic design strategies can influence biomarkers associated with stress and neuroinflammation, hinting at a deeper link between environment and immune regulation.

To Baumgartner, these findings represent a larger change in the way architects have to approach their field. “The environments we inhabit continuously shape the state of our bodies and brains,” he says.

Rethinking where thinking happens

Part of the shift stems from evolving ideas about how cognition works. For decades, cognition was considered something that happened inside the skull. That assumption is now being challenged by theories such as Embodied Cognition and the Extended Mind Hypothesis.

According to these frameworks, cognition is distributed throughout the brain, body, and environment. That is to say, the surrounding spaces may influence how people think.

Cluttered environments, for example, can increase cognitive load, making concentration more difficult. Ceiling height may also influence patterns of thought. Daylight exposure, meanwhile, synchronizes circadian rhythms and may help support the body’s hormonal rhythms.

“Architecture is not background,” Baumgartner says. “It is cognitive infrastructure.”

“If we accept that smartphones reshape attention, why would we assume that buildings do not?” he argues.

Turning science into design

While much of the research has emerged from academic disciplines, a small number of architectural practices are beginning to translate these insights into real-world design strategies.

Baumgartner’s studio, spAce, has been among the early adopters of this approach. Founded in 1999, the studio developed structured frameworks that use neuroscience, environmental psychology, and physiological studies in the design process.

“The ambition has never been to ‘design neuroscience,’” Baumgartner says, “but to design with a deeper understanding of how humans actually function biologically and cognitively.”

For business owners, a practical starting point is to ask employees which features of their workspace make it easier or harder to concentrate, then trial one manageable change, such as reducing desk clutter or creating a quieter area for focused work. Gathering feedback before and after the change can help identify whether it is useful before committing to a larger redesign.

From aesthetics to evidence

For Baumgartner, the rise of neuroarchitecture does not mean abandoning creativity. Instead, he sees science as a tool that deepens design rather than restricting it.

“When architects understand how the hippocampus encodes memory or how the amygdala processes threat, design becomes more intentional,” he says.

The future of architecture, Baumgartner believes, may increasingly be assessed by both its visual qualities and its potential to support thinking, recovery, and connection.

And in a century defined by mental strain and environmental pressure, that shift may be one of the most important evolutions the discipline has ever faced.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider.

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