'Beauty is in the BRAIN of the beholder': Talking neuro-aesthetics with Don Ruggles

Architecture and design can improve our health, wellness, and longevity. So why is the modern world having the opposite effect?

Every moment of everyday, your environment is either making you calm, relaxed, and restive, or making you stressed, excited, and on-edge (in other words, putting you in fight-or-flight mode).

Based on a new understanding of neuroscience, we now understand how certain patterns and geometry that we humans take in visually can affect us on a subconscious level. That means our built environments - our towns, cities, houses, schools, or offices - can be used to improve our health, wellbeing, and even our longevity.

Unfortunately, most of the built environments in the modern world are doing the exact opposite.

In the latest episode of The Fresh Start Project, I speak with Donald H. Ruggles, an architect, author, and CEO of Ruggles Mabe Studio, a full-service architecture and interior design firm based in Denver, Colorado.

We spoke about the growing field of neuro-aesthetics and how architects and designers now have the chance (and perhaps the obligation) to build a world that improves the health and wellness of all.

Check it out below.