Research Projects

Descriptions of Projects and Workshops

Healthcare Facilities and Neuroscience Workshop II (August 2004)

The goal of the 2nd Woods Hole Neuroscience and Healthcare Facilities Workshop was to develop specific hypotheses regarding brain mechanisms through which spaces and places affect cognition, learning, creativity, mood and ultimately productivity. The setting was the stimulating conference facilities of National Academy of Sciences in Woods Hole Massachusetts. The participants consisted of thirteen architects (including several AIA Presidents, past presidents, and executives), seven neuroscientists, and nine participants from the research and academic communities. Eleven participants had attended the first workshop at Woods Hole in August 2002. The combination of participants with complementary expertise and points of view, as well as the setting and weather, all contributed to making this a most successful workshop.

SfN Study:

This project is organized around a systematic study of the response of the 60+ staff members of the Society for Neuroscience to their working spaces. Since they will be moving into new offices at the end of 2005, the study is intended to record their responses to the working spaces before and after the move. The study is being managed by ANFA Board member Dr. John Zeisel. The Groupe de recherche sur les environnements de travail (GRET) at the University of Montreal is conducting the actual tests with an interactive Internet questionairre. ANFA intends to provide an "overlay" of neuroscience studies during the second stage.