In November, TArch—the research laboratory of the Venice-based architecture firm TA Office—publicly launched a research project investigating the intersection of neuroscience and architecture by tracking human emotional responses to the built environment.

Neurologist Vittorio Gallese, physiology professor at the University of Parma in Italy and adjunct senior research scholar in Columbia University’s department of art and art history, and Davide Ruzzon, founder and director of TA Office, are co-curating the crowd-funded study, called ROOMS, which will assess observers’ emotional responses to images of airport lounges, classrooms, hospital rooms, and assembly halls.