Architecture and Human Sciences: Organizations and Networks

Neuroarchitecture research is produced and funded mostly through nonprofit associations and university labs rather than a single institute. This page introduces the organizations most often referenced on this site, with links to their own public pages.

Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA)

ANFA is the organization most closely associated with the term "neuroscience for architecture." It took shape in 2002 as a legacy project tied to the American Institute of Architects' 2003 convention in San Diego and was certified as a nonprofit the same year, with architect John Paul Eberhard as founding president. ANFA now runs a biennial conference and funds research grants connecting neuroscience labs with architecture schools; see faculty and researchers for individual researchers associated with its conferences.

International Association for People-Environment Studies (IAPS)

IAPS is a broader, older association covering the relationship between people and their physical surroundings generally, not architecture and neuroscience specifically. It was formally founded in 1981, building on a series of conferences held across Europe between 1969 and 1979. Its membership spans environmental psychology, architecture, geography, urban design, sociology and planning, and it holds a biennial international conference - the 2026 meeting, themed around sustainability and wellbeing, is scheduled for the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom (iaps-association.org).

Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA)

EDRA is a separate, older association covering the same broad territory as IAPS: the relationship between people and their designed and natural surroundings. EDRA was formed by Henry Sanoff in August 1968 (edra.org, "The EDRA Legacy"). Like IAPS, it draws members from architecture, psychology, planning and related fields rather than organizing specifically around architecture and neuroscience.

University laboratories

Much of the primary research behind this field comes out of specific university labs rather than the membership associations above. The faculty and researchers page covers Sergei Gepshtein's work at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies as one example; readers interested in current academic work should check a lab's own publication list rather than relying on secondary summaries, including the ones on this site.

A note on how these organizations relate to each other

ANFA and IAPS are independent organizations with different histories and scopes, and membership or participation in one does not imply anything about the other. Treat this page as a directory of starting points, not as a map of a single, unified field - neuroarchitecture research is genuinely distributed across psychology, neuroscience, architecture and design departments with varying degrees of contact between them.