Architecture as Art and Neuroaesthetics

The Healing Power of Architecture and the New American Style  

I want to explore the practical application of Neuroaesthetics to Architecture as Art. Art has the ability to heal through beauty and a connection with the human spirit. I also want to dig into the need for the United States culture to develop a brand-new architectural style for civic and residential buildings, aiding in connection with the American Spirit. Classical, Revivalist and Modern Architecture need to experience a revolution. 

Neuroaesthetics is a multidisciplinary field exploring the neural mechanisms behind aesthetic experiences—how the brain processes beauty, art, and design. It merges neuroscience, psychology, and art, demonstrating how viewing art activates sensory-motor, emotional, and reward centers (like the orbitofrontal cortex) and has healing effects.

In my last blog I explored the concepts of Architectural DNA and a city’s brain/mind. I made a connection between the human mind/brain and the city’s mind/brain. Similar to the unique human DNA, every city has unique DNA, and it is collective. Following the principles of Neuroscience, positive rewiring and renewing can be triggered in the minds of the city dwellers, and the collective city itself, by adding to its built-scape beautiful architecture.

Beautiful buildings can bring healing

Classical music has long been known to aid in the healing of minds and bodies. Beautiful architecture can definitely play a larger role, because more physical senses are used when visiting buildings and experiencing their exteriors (relationship with the site) and interiors. You only need to visit the Cologne Cathedral or Notre Dame in Paris to feel the healing power of architectural beauty—whether you are standing outside or walking through the nave towards the altar. Civic and public buildings are viewed daily by masses of people. For contrast, homes are experienced by individuals but can have comparatively deeper effects due to the extended exposure to its design. Every house or church, apartment or public building, can positively (or negatively) contribute to the healing of individuals and the community.  

The Modern movement has succeeded in breaking through, but in some ways has failed in creating beauty that relates to individuals in the USA.  This is the main reason why so many people refuse to go modern and revert back to revivalist or classical architecture.  

I believe we need to make architecture beautiful again, considering past styles, but developing a completely new style.

The administration of the 47th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump has addressed the importance of beauty in civic buildings as a way to improve the collective spirit of American citizens.

From the White House website:

The "Make Federal Architecture Beautiful Again" initiative, driven by a 2025 executive order, mandates that new federal buildings, particularly in Washington D.C., adhere to classical and traditional styles (Neoclassical, Georgian, Beaux-Arts) rather than modernism or brutalism. This policy aims to foster civic pride by emphasizing beauty, proportion, and harmony reminiscent of America’s founding, reversing the 1962 policy that previously favored modernist designs.

I feel the "Make Federal Architecture Beautiful Again" initiative might be slightly off track here. 

In 1994, I graduated from Tulane Architecture School, at the time one of the top 14 ranking architecture schools in the USA. Besides the great teachers and students, I believe we were encouraged to understand architecture at a great depth. New Orleans embodied an architectural legacy from the Spaniards, French, Victorian Era, etc. and gave us a physical lesson on past cultures and their values (the French Quarter, St Charles Ave, the plantation homes). In class, our teachers pledged allegiance to different modern movements, typically globalist. However, many opposed this approach and wanted to develop a modernity based on vernacular architecture—a local, national style.

In that back and forth “fight” I felt that Art Deco, Streamline, and Googie architecture were somehow neglected in our history of architecture classes.  This is where I feel the origins of our unique DNA style begins.

For architecture to be beautiful, it does NOT need to be classical. Classic architecture is the past. While it is fine to honor and learn from its forms embodying ‘perfect’ proportions, we cannot live in the past. Remaining in the past is not honoring the present and the future—we cannot be bound by classicism. Classical style was developed in Europe, we love it, but we are not Europeans, we are Americans moving toward conquering the stars. We as a country must move forward.

Let’s talk about the Design Golden Age in the USA and its mother: Art Deco.

Art Deco design spanned roughly 20 years from1919 to1939. It established the American 20th century Golden Age, influencing architecture, interior design, industrial and graphic design. Some of its best examples are New York City’s Chrysler Building, and the Miami Beach Historic District.

Why is Art Deco important? 

Art Deco became the hallmark of the American Spirit. This style expressed a New Mental Attitude, a New Aesthetic. Art Deco welcomed bold, streamlined, and futuristic designs that embraced speed, technology and industrial advancements using geometric shapes, and industrial themes. Materials like aluminum, chrome-plated steel, and Bakelite allowed the production of beautifully conceptualized objects and building ornaments.

In my view, Art Deco is in the same DNA strand as Streamline Moderne, Miami Modern, and Googie Architecture.  

Streamline Moderne (also known as Art Moderne) is an international architectural style that emerged in the 1930s as a late, machine-inspired branch of Art Deco. Born during the economic austerity of the Great Depression, it rejected the lavish vertical ornamentation of early Art Deco in favor of a clean, functional aesthetic inspired by aerodynamics, automation, and modern transportation. Architects designed buildings with smooth, continuous lines to evoke a sense of "immobile speed," optimism, and progress. In the USA, Art Deco birthed the Streamline Moderne and Miami Modern (MIMO).

MiMo (Miami Modern) architecture is a playful, mid-century architectural style that emerged in South Florida from the late 1940s through the 1960s. It serves as a glamorous, tropical response to the stark International Style, featuring bold curves, geometric shapes, and dynamic elements designed for the postwar automobile culture. 

Googie architecture is a futuristic mid-century design style inspired by car culture, the Atomic Age, and space exploration. Originating in Southern California in the late 1940s, the style features dramatic angles, neon lighting, and bold materials, all designed to grab the attention of passing motorists.

Today our DNA brings us to a new form of Futurism. Architecture must fly and conquer the air, reaching to the stars. When it comes back to earth, it should be dramatically received into the garden. Architecture is a vessel. 

The New Golden Age of the USA requires re-designing the Status Quo—defining a New Style that embodies the American Spirit. Architecture of the future will be using new materials and defying gravity. 

Even though Classical architecture is part of our DNA, we must craft a new definition of beauty (outside the classical orders). This new style will speak about freedom to the world. I believe Miami is the place where this style will be born, from this artistic epicenter of the United States. The new style will speak of beauty, hope and a future beyond our earthbound dreams.