Welcome to Your World

Why I picked it up: A few years ago, when I visited the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, there was a moment when I stopped to enjoy the sunlight. And then I realized I was in a science museum, and I was enjoying the sunlight. I loved visiting that museum, I stayed a long time, and I found the exhibitions more memorable than typical.

You see, I have a pet peeve. What I call "black caves." Those yawning exhibition spaces, typically painted black, with no natural light whatsoever. They are particularly prevalent in science centers and museums. And they have always confounded me. I find them oppressive. But it has also always seemed odd that science centers, which typically have no collections, are so dark while art museums are typically filled with light.

Which brings me to Welcome to Your World. A review of this book in The Nation queried "what is the science behind how we experience architecture?" That piqued my interest, not only because of my experience in North Carolina, but also because museum-goers sometimes share with me their emotional and physical responses to museum buildings and spaces.

Main thesis of book: More than 90% of our time is spent in human-made spaces, and "[design shapes] our cognitions, emotions, and actions, and even powerfully influences our well-being." Thus, it is incumbent on all of us to make sure our built environments support human welfare as a health and well-being issue. This seems pretty obvious to me, to design for people (it's my attitude towards museums, after all).

​Fun fact: There is an Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture. Who knew?

Three most important takeaways:

1. Museums can have an "ennobling" quality. The author quotes architect Louis Kahn, who said, "If you look at the Baths of Caracalla … we all know that we can bathe just as well under an eight-foot ceiling as we can under a 150-foot ceiling … [but] there's something about a 150-foot ceiling that makes a different kind of man." Sure, but what does that have to do with museums? Well, that "ennobling" quality the author refers to is similar to what some museums-goers have shared with me about their most meaningful museum experiences (especially from their childhoods; from my 2017 Annual Survey of Museum-Goers). The idea that by being welcomed into grand spaces, like some museums are, ennobles them in some way, giving them the idea that this is for them, and they are worthy of such grandeur. Pretty powerful for a kid. But there is one challenge with it: you actually have to be welcoming. To everyone.
2. Architecture affects our ability to learn. A recent study out of the United Kingdom found that "built environmental factors impact a student's learning progress by an astonishing 25 percent." If learning is our mission (typically) and what people value from us (97% of Americans do, as seen in my recent work with AAM), we should consider how our physical spaces promote or prevent learning. The evidence in this book would indicate that the black caves I hate so much may actually inhibit learning, preventing us from actually fulfilling our mission.
3. Design affects individual capacity. Those of you who follow my work closely know I think a lot about individual capacities to engage with not just museums, but communities and the broader world.  I appreciate this approach for building up what a person can be, providing them the freedom to grow, rather than casting judgements and making character assessments. (The book American Generosity highly influenced my thinking about capacity.) This book also considers capacity, making a case that many built environments negatively affect the capacity for children, and adults, to fulfill their potential. In some cases, it is poor design. In others, environmental issues (think lead exposure to low-income children). 

Read or skip: Here's a sample sentence: "Carefully devised, skillfully deployed metaphors mitigate the build environment's stasis and our tendency to habituate to it, through the many overlapping associations they elicit." If this sentence excites you, this book is for you. If it makes your eyes roll back in your head, well, consider my review sufficient.

But if you are considering a new building or a remodeling, and you truly care about how visitors (and your staff) will respond in the new space you are creating, the book may be worth picking up and reading.


Full citation: Goldhagen, Sarah Williams. Welcome to Your World: How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives. New York: Harper Collins, 2017.



Have a suggestion for my reading list?  Email it to me at susie (at) wilkeningconsulting (dot) com.

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