by Wanda Lau

Describing how we experience a space moment by moment and step by step is impossible even for the most well-versed of architects and planners. Simply too much information inundates us that can be perceived and processed consciously. This spring, the Cloud Lab at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP) and the Van Alen Institute tackled the challenge of assessing and mapping how people respond to their environment as a part of Van Alen’s Elsewhere series on wellness in the city.

Instead of the typical focus groups and surveys, however, the researchers tracked brainwaves to gauge the mental activities of nearly 100 volunteers who, in response to a call by Van Alen, navigated their way through New York. The cross-section of participants surprised the researchers. “We expected mostly architects and then … in every group there were artists and neuroscientists,” says Cloud Lab co-director Mark Collins.