Inquiry by Design: Environment/Behavior/Neuroscience in Architecture, Interiors, Landscape, and Planning

This update of a classic text folds the new field of neuroscience for design into well-established environment-behavior (E-B) methods and approaches.

Illustrated evidence-based building and open space case studies demonstrate E-B’s continuing design impact. Fundamental theory and practical research methods are presented for planning, programming, designing, and evaluating the effects of physical environments in use. Part I describes how designers and researchers employ a similar creative process that promotes collaboration and yields greater design creativity and research effectiveness. Part II focuses on research methods to understand how buildings and spaces work: observing behavior and the physical environment, asking questions in interviews and surveys, and employing archival records that include data and physical plans. 50 illustrations

John Zeisel is president of Hearthstone Alzheimer Care in Lexington, Massachusetts, and lives in New York City.