Architectural Myopia: Designing for Industry, Not People

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The following article originally appeared on Shareable.

 

We highlight a
little-understood cognitive phenomenon that may play a key role in the
maladaptive failures of the modern human environment. There are implications
for the future ability to integrate built environments into sustainable
ecosystems. By discussing vision we mean how architects interpret what they see
in front of them, not the brave new world they envision populated with their
own designs.

 

1.
Seeing the World Differently.

Have you ever looked at a bizarre building design and
wondered, "what were the architects thinking?" Have you looked at a supposedly
"ecological" industrial-looking building, and questioned how it could be truly
ecological? Or have you simply felt frustrated by a building that made you
uncomfortable, or felt anger when a beautiful old building was razed and
replaced with a contemporary eyesore? You might be forgiven for thinking "these
architects must be blind!" New research shows that in a real sense, you might
actually be right.

Environmental psychologists have long known about this
widespread and puzzling phenomenon. Laboratory results show conclusively that
architects literally see the world differently from non-architects. Not
only do architects notice and look for different aspects of the environment
than other people; their brains seem to synthesize an understanding of the
world that has notable differences from natural reality. Instead of a contextual
world of harmonious geometric relationships and connectedness, architects tend
to see a world of objects set apart from their contexts, with distinctive,
attention-getting qualities.

Photo by Cooky Yoon.

There are many such confirming studies. For example,
Gifford et al. (2002) surveyed other research and noted that "architects did
not merely disagree with laypersons about the aesthetic qualities of buildings,
they were unable to predict how laypersons would assess buildings, even when
they were explicitly asked to do so." The researchers traced this disagreement
to well-known cognitive differences in the two populations: "Evidence that
certain cognitive properties are related to building preference [was] found."

This phenomenon has important consequences for the
kinds of structures that architects produce – consequences whose seriousness we
believe are largely under-appreciated, and, very likely in some cases,
repressed. We can begin to explain common contradictions as, for example, when
architects produce a building they clearly think is wonderful, but a large
majority of non-architects are found to hate it. The phenomenon of "architectural
myopia" may also explain the repeated mistakes that architects make in
fashioning built environments for others, which turn out to be woefully unsuccessful
in what may seem obvious ways to laypeople. Lastly, "architectural myopia"
explains the often-disastrous attempts that architects have made to fashion
urban schemes for entire neighborhoods and cities. Architects do not see how
certain designs disconnect and isolate people and create hostile environments
that cannot be shared.

We hasten to add that we do not use this observation
to criticize architects as a group. Rather, we raise it as a cautionary alert.
Every profession suffers from its own narrow perspective – its tendency to
behave like the carpenter with a hammer, who sees every problem as a nail.
Architects may only have a particularly strong variety of this narrowed view.
In that sense, "architectural myopia" may prove to be a helpful model to explain
some of the things that have gone wrong with the built environment, and ways
that we can correct them with effective compensating remedies. At a time when
we are faced with economic challenges, declining urban health, resource
depletion, climate change and a host of other ills, it seems these issues are
not trivial.

 

2. Academic Training is Rooted in Industrial Design.

Why do architects see the world in this unique way? In
part this seems to be because of the peculiar environment in which students of
architecture are educated (Gifford et al.,
2002). Students are typically asked to produce drawings that are pinned up next
to one another, and then evaluated in a "crit" (or critique). In such an
abstract setting, it is difficult for anyone to evaluate how well a project
integrates with its context, if at all. Moreover, projects that are especially
distinctive – object designs that stand out visually in an imaginative way by
presenting an unusual structure – tend to get more attention from the faculty,
and often, better grades. Those architects get rewarded, and selected out to be
the later stars of the profession.

This focus on object-design has a deeper history in
architecture. Up to about 1900, architects were understood to be practicing an
adaptive craft, in which a building was an inseparable part of a dynamic streetscape
and a neighborhood. "Blending in" respects the extant complex connective
geometry, where components contribute to overall coherence. A building was
assumed to meet the physiological and social needs of the people of that
neighborhood first and foremost, and only then it would express its artistic
qualities.

With the coming of the industrial revolution, and its
emphasis on interchangeable parts, the traditional conception of architecture
that was adaptive to context began to change. A building became an
interchangeable industrial design product, conveying an image, and it mattered
a great deal how attention-getting that image was. The building itself became a
kind of advertisement for the client company and for the architect (and in the
case of residences, for the homeowner seeking a status symbol). The context was
at best a side issue, and at worst a distraction, from the visual excitement
generated by the object.

Peter Behrens, the father of corporate branding, was
given the challenge of developing the first architectural "branding" for the buildings of the German
Electrical Equipment Firm AEG. He did so by using elementary industrial
geometries, formed into a romantic and iconic expressive shape. The building
itself was now a kind of billboard for the company – an attention-getting new
product design in its own right. It was not a coincidence that three of his
young colleagues went on to profoundly shape architecture in the 20th
Century: Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Walter Gropius.

Their buildings all certainly celebrated the
individuated form, as objects standing dramatically apart from context. To
heighten this drama, those architects masterfully employed the then-alien new
language of early industrial technology (cubes, planes, cylinders, repeated rectangles,
etc). As we have written elsewhere, this was a kind of "geometrical
fundamentalism", combining these elementary forms to create dramatic,
attention-getting objects, fundamentally different from the model for
architecture up to that time (Salingaros, 2006). Coherence was abandoned.

Since the early modernists saw their work as a
revolution, this radical break was an important symbolic element of their
agenda. Previously, architects took relatively straightforward, human-adaptive
building types, and created elaborate ornamentations of them. These artistic
ornamentations were fantastic, exciting, moving; yet they remained within the
discipline of a human-adapted building. After the caesura of the Bauhaus, one
could mutate the entire structure to create some kind of extravagant dramatic
visual statement – perhaps sheer size, or daring engineering feats of
cantilevers and the like. Those would show our technological prowess, our
economic prosperity, or our status as enlightened moderns.

This "Novelty Spectacle" approach has become the
dominant model for architecture, remaining very much with us up to the present
day. However surprising and novel the forms of today's new architecture might appear,
they remain tightly bound within this almost century-old model. Indeed, the
Novelty Spectacle became the model not just for buildings, but also for whole
cities.

Jane Jacobs, in her classic 1961 book The Death and
Life of Great American Cities
,
was not kind to Le Corbusier in particular for employing this seductive (to
other architects) form of architectural drama:

"Le Corbusier's dream city has had an immense impact on our
cities. It was hailed deliriously by architects, and has gradually been
embodied in scores of projects… His city was like a wonderful mechanical toy.
Furthermore, his conception, as an architectural work, had a dazzling clarity,
simplicity and harmony. It was so orderly, so visible, so easy to understand.
It said everything in a flash, like a good advertisement."

But she went on to say that, as to how the city
actually works, Le Corbusier's city told "nothing but lies". This was because
it was not a contextual solution within a real, living city, but rather, an
object inserted onto the landscape for mostly visual effect. It was an
imaginary vision of a city drawn on paper by someone who had no idea of how a
living city functions: namely, that it operates not through the power of
abstract imagery but through networks and connectivity, information exchange,
and energy flows on different scales (Salingaros, 2005). People will connect only
if a city's human-scale geometry creates shared spaces with the right
complexity.

A related disorder confuses between the structures of
life and the structures of art. As Jacobs also noted, art is an enormously
important part of city life – but it is
not the same as city life
.
We cannot treat the fabric of buildings and neighborhoods as mere canvas for
our art, and expect that if the art is great enough (by whose criterion?), all
will be well. This is not unlike the "magical thinking" of ancient cave
dwellers who drew bison on the walls, hoping to ensure a successful hunt. Yet
many architects today seem wholly ignorant and even disdainful of the real
social and psychological needs of the human beings in their care, and much more
concerned with the look of their buildings as expressive objects of art. Jacobs
noted later in her book, "to seek for the look of things as a primary purpose
or the main drama is apt to make nothing but trouble." And the trouble, as she
documented, came in torrents.

In the last half-century, the clear result of "architectural
myopia" is buildings whose makers have been so concerned with the drama of
their appearance that they fail on the most fundamental human criteria. They
isolate people; they do not provide enough light; or provide a poor quality of
light; they provide a hostile pedestrian environment at their edges; they cause
excessive shade; or create winds in what is known as a "canyon effect"; or they
trap pollutants in the "sick building syndrome"; they use resources wastefully;
etc. Moreover, the buildings themselves are a wasteful use of resources,
because they are not likely to be well-loved, cared for, repaired, modified,
and re-used over many years. In short, it is not just that people find them
ugly, but they represent a fundamentally unsustainable way of building human
environments.

 

3.
Training to See a Parallel Reality.

Training is required to induce "architectural myopia"
in a student, as the research suggests. The reason is that the peculiar
industrial aesthetic now considered normal within architecture runs contrary to
our physiological needs (Salingaros, 2006). We humans have evolved inside a
complex, fractal, structurally hierarchical environment, so that our
neurophysiology responds positively to and receives sensory pleasure from
natural environments. Traditional architecture and urbanism in all of their
multiple variations manifested over millennia and across geographical distances
precisely follow this natural geometry, which is why our brains recognize them
and respond to them.

Training adds additional layers of preference on top
of our instinctive, evolved responses. Architecture school invests several
years conditioning the student to respond preferentially to abstract industrial
forms and surfaces. At the same time, this industrial aesthetic is touted as
superior to all previous, traditional expressions of built geometry. Elaborate
theories of history and technology are given as apologias for this now-correct
aesthetic, solely appropriate to this wholly unique climax period in history (Banham,
1960; Giedion, 1941; Gropius, 1965). All of this effort creates individuals
that see things differently from the rest of us.

This long-term program of psychological conditioning,
has, since its development in the original Bauhaus, turned out to be
extraordinarily effective. An architect experiences the world in a very
different manner to any person who has not undergone the same training. By
internalizing preferences derived from abstract images that override our
neurological structure, over time, responses become automatic and crowd out
other, more innate responses. The result of this aesthetic hegemony is the
phenomenon of "architectural myopia", an interpretation of reality that
conforms to ingrained beliefs.

In those situations where emotion isn't triggered
instinctively by human physiology, our evolutionary makeup is not decisive and
can be bypassed. Thus, in front of drawings or designs on a computer screen
there is sufficient emotional isolation, and an architect judges the
industrial, minimalist, "contemporary" designs positively as isolated objects
possessing a pleasing clarity and monadic legibility. (As Jacobs put it, the
designs "say everything in a flash, like a good advertisement.") At the same
time, anything that resembles the complexity of traditional architecture is
automatically judged negatively (its meaning is supposedly associated with
reactionary or philistine culture) and it is rejected without any reflection.

The situation becomes much more complicated, however,
whenever the architect experiences a structure in person, immediately,
physically, at full scale. Here, cognitive dissonance comes into play any time
he/she physically confronts a structure. For example, in front or inside a building
sporting a contemporary "look" with minimalist industrial characteristics and
perhaps deliberate structural imbalances, the architect's body gives definite
signals of alarm, whereas his/her mind recalls the positive prejudgment imprinted
during training. In the opposite instance, in front or inside a traditional
building with all the human-scale complexity contributing to compositional
harmony, the architect's body receives positive signals of wellbeing and informational
nourishment, while at the same time his/her mind is retrieving the acquired negative
prejudgment.

In both these situations the architect is receiving
mixed signals – in fact mutually contradictory ones – from the built
environment. Whenever ordinary intuition is short-circuited, our organism can
no longer trust its visceral interpretation of the world. Our self experiences
an alarming sensation of disembodiment. The brain thus turns to stored
reference images in order to interpret reality – it is forced to adopt whatever
lies at hand, in this case, the images of an abstract industrial modernity
assimilated during training. From that point on, many architects do not "see"
the connective, coherent complexity of the world, but instead substitute their
eyes' visual image with an alternative artificial reality constructed in their
minds.

 

4.
How Architects Justify Cognitive Dissonance.

Discordant signals will continue to clamor for
attention during the entire time the architect physically experiences a
building, producing stress that could lead to physical illness. The same stress
is felt, however, by the non-architect who is forced to experience a building
embodying alien, non-adaptive geometries.

Architects have managed to adapt to this resulting
stress in a rather disturbing way. They have embraced it as an actual goal of
the work of art itself, rationalized as a way to provoke deeper thought and
experience (Eisenman, 1982). This is a common rationalization of what was once
called Deconstructivist architecture. Of course it's one thing to provoke such
stress in a gallery setting where viewers have some preparation and choice to
attend, and quite another to do so at the scale of a neighborhood or city.

Yes, our architect friends share much of the blame,
but let us remember that city officials, corporate executives, urban
developers, mortgage bankers, and many others were part of this process of
"architectural commodification", creating attention-getting product design
rather than good sustainable environmental design. Clients, following what they
took to be general consensus on what is great architecture, commissioned
architects to build inhuman structures.

There is abundant evidence that individuals will go
along with the herd to an extraordinary degree, and with what they perceive as
credible authority. Psychologist Stanley Milgram's famous study showed that
people surprisingly suspend their own moral judgments, beliefs, and ethics in
the presence of perceived authority (Salingaros, 2011). The same is true with
perception and aesthetic preferences in the presence of others. Group opinion
can override one's own senses. People will decide that they see or like
something merely because they think others see it or like it. But the "others"
may be doing exactly the same thing – meaning that no one really believes or likes
what they see!

This effect echoes the old fable of "the emperor's new
clothes". No one wants to be the one to say the emperor has no clothes, for
fear of being laughed at. Only the little child has the nerve to do so, shaming
all the adults around him. In a similar vein, many non-architects are frankly
afraid to speak out – afraid of being seen as architectural philistines,
ignorant of "good design", ignorant of "professional excellence", or simply out
of step with what they perceive to be the majority. In fact, they may have
their fingers on real issues of concern that the architects, in their zeal to
make a "statement" or an attention-getting sculptural object, have ignored or
repressed: such matters as whether people feel well in the building, or can
find their way to the entrance, or find it disagreeable to walk down the street
in front of it.

All of these things are not, of course, trivial. They
are the essence of a functional whole urbanism, in which people are able to
walk, navigate, feel well, and even feel any desire to live there in the first
place. In short, the desires and gut reactions of the community are the very
essence of a great, living city, as opposed to a banal and dysfunctional one.
The dysfunction of such image-based urban places – sadly all too common in the
post-war era – is what has sent many people fleeing for the suburbs, with their
simplistic ideas of retreat into a private garden. (Generations of developers
have made fortunes by encouraging this suburban flight through the opposite
misleading images: of mansions sitting in vast lawns). This too has turned into
a dysfunctional failure of traffic congestion, blighted strip development, and
isolated, car-dependent homes.

Clearly, if we want a sustainable form of settlement,
our buildings will have to work much harder to create a convivial, salubrious
environment for all
human beings – not just appease the elite connoisseurs of object-buildings.
This means, among other things, that the problem of "architectural myopia" be
taken seriously, just as we take night blindness seriously among drivers. We
need corrective lenses.

 

5. The "Corrective Lenses" for Architectural myopia.

What are these corrective lenses? First of all, re-integrate
the needs of human beings, their sensory experience of the world, and their
participation into the process of designing buildings. Leading design theory
today advocates "co-design", in which the users become part of the design team,
and guide it through the evolutionary adaptations to make a more successful,
optimal kind of design. Architects spend more time talking to their users,
sharing their perception and understanding their needs: not just the
architect's selfish need for artistic self-expression, or worse, his/her need
to impress other architects and elite connoisseur-critics. We are not dealing
with objects in a sculpture gallery, which can be regarded or not by those who
choose to do so, or do not. Clients, academia, politicians, and the media have
forgotten this basic fact, which is the key to constructing living urban
fabric.

We are now dealing with an environment in which such
image-based sculptural buildings are imposed upon people, whether they choose
them or not. Very simply put, architects have a professional duty of care to
their clients and users. They are not
artists free of all responsibility
, contrary to all of their academic
training that encourages aspirations to become the new "starchitect". If their
image-based sculptural buildings fall down, they are responsible. Likewise, if
such buildings "fall down on the job" of meeting human needs – if they are
unduly stressful, or damaging to the quality of life – then that is a kind of
architectural malpractice, and nothing less.

Second, the obsolete model of architecture as a kind
of product, mutated in dramatic sculptural ways to attract attention, gives way
to a model of architecture as an integral part of a living human landscape.
It's not enough to initiate this change merely by speaking out: it is up to
clients, politicians, and common people to insist upon an adaptive criterion
for all buildings from this point onward, otherwise we will only see a
continuation of business as usual. There is still ample scope for the adventure
of art, for the dramatic illumination of real structural qualities, in place of
the abstract expressionism that is far too close to product design and
marketing.

Third, we can learn from the processes that nature
uses to create complex adaptive forms. By comparison, those of our own time are
crude and primitive, and no amount of imaginative artistry or "magical
thinking" will make up for this fundamental weakness. An inherently dangerous
arrogance is noticeable among contemporary architects who wish to defy nature.
Such an attitude does not prepare a practitioner to learn from nature.
Architects need a new way of celebrating the majesty and the beauty of the
city, and its place in the natural scheme of things. This new way of designing is
integrated with our own innate needs as human beings. That is "the place of
art" within architecture – not as master, but as servant, to life.

The promising new field of biophilia suggests that
human beings have evolved with certain basic aesthetic and physiological needs:
the presence of vegetation, water, sunlight, animals, and also the geometric
relationships that have accompanied our evolutionary experiences with these
structures. By tapping into this rich vocabulary of biophilic design elements,
we can have an extremely rich variety of design possibilities – a rich range of
artistic expression – while still meeting the needs of human beings. And within
the same life-affirming process, we can meet the ecological needs of the
environment too.

 

6.
A Problem of Opposites.

So often we have debated the phenomenon of "architectural
myopia" with architects, who dismiss it and insist that is all about aesthetics,
or a matter of opinion. But that old relativist narrative is flatly
contradicted by a growing body of modern scientific findings. True, people have
enormous varieties of experiences and tastes – and it's wonderful that they do –
but these phenomena are generated by a common set of structural processes that
are identifiable and sharable. Some experiences are unquestionably damaging to
health and wellbeing, in the same way that, say, the structure of car exhaust
molecules is damaging to health and wellbeing. It does no good to say our
narrative about car exhaust is such and such, we want people to experience it
and be provoked by it – that will not change the fact that we are making people
unwell.

We can readily appreciate this point by imagining
artwork being introduced into a psychiatric ward where suicidal depression is
being treated. Imagine an artist who said, "I am an artist, and I have the
right to put up my disturbing, dark forms wherever I like." We would likely
say, "No you don't, not here." But how is the rest of the city, with its mix of
people in varying states of health, really any different?

Doctors have learned that certain aspects of the
patient environment promote wellbeing, and they now use this "evidence-based
design" to improve the quality of life of their patients. In the same way,
adaptive, human-scale architecture and urbanism rely upon discoverable rules of
design. We proposed the existence of such rules (Salingaros, 2005; 2006) while
at the same time conjecturing that a non-adaptive aesthetic is easily reached
from the adaptive design rules by simply reversing them. That is, since guidelines
for designing adaptive, contextual environments are known instinctively, do the
opposite to generate a form that strikes an observer by its visual novelty and
lack of context.

Our colleague Jaap Dawson recently reinforced this
idea in telling us of his teaching experience:

"The unconscious
rules us, however hard we try to become conscious of a little bit of our lives.
What I've also discovered in working with students the last 27 years is that
they pick up the design rules of Modernism very quickly – without consulting
their own experience of buildings or spaces. And if you look at those rules,
then you simply have to conclude something else: in order to follow them, you
need to know the normal, vernacular, classical, archetypal language of building.
If you know that language, then you simply do its opposite in order to get
Modernism. My conclusion: awareness of the timeless language is present in
people, but they learn to suppress it. But there's something underneath
groupthink, I think; and that's a fear of trusting your own experience – in
body and soul – of buildings and spaces. Any child trusts that experience."

And thus we conclude that "architectural myopia" is a
symptom of adopting a contradictory and opposite way of viewing the world. It
also explains architects' insistence – continuous, strident, and bordering on
the obsessive – of the need to "educate" the public. For every time public
debate focuses upon the basic dichotomy in perceiving architectural form
between architects and non-architects, the standard response by the former is
to beg for more "education" of ordinary citizens, and to dismiss natural human
responses to their work as being "unsophisticated" and "philistine". Architects
really wish that normal people would undergo the same reversal, and then
everyone might agree on the same non-contextual, non-adaptive building
aesthetics.

Since the non-indoctrinated continue to see complexity
and coherence in the living environment and refuse to accept "architectural
myopia", the architect's strategy is simply to replace the built environment so
that it no longer contains those essential elements of living structure.

Many of today's leading architects feel compelled to
change the world drastically to make it conform to their preferred lifeless
industrial paradigm. Unless non-architects (i.e. the rest of the population)
stand up to this pressure, we risk the slow loss from attrition of all of
humankind's most emotionally-nourishing creations. For example, architects see
a well-functioning and beloved urban space but perceive it as ugly and
offensive, desperately in need of immediate "re-qualification" to turn it into
a contemporary hard industrial object. Politicians are happy to go along so as
to please construction companies who profit from the unnecessary tearing down
and rebuilding. The result is a sterile open space, unused, dysfunctional, and
dead – but in the eyes of the architects, the operation has been a success!

A culture based upon an abstract, disconnected
conception of space is re-shaping our world right now for the worse. The
parallel reality is replacing the living one. Enthusiastically supported by
politicians and the building industry, architects have been commissioned to
destroy historic buildings and urban spaces worldwide. Because "architectural
myopia" is justified as perfectly normal in the press, such interventions are
praised by their promoters but turn out disastrous for the urban fabric, and
are hated by potential users. Those projects all tend to look and feel the same.
This is not surprising, since the designs are generated by the same abstract
modernist images in the minds of architects oblivious of the connective
geometry that would catalyze the eventual life in such a space.

The architect Rem Koolhaas has recently argued that one-off icons do not add up to higher quality, but in fact degrade from urban quality.
This slide appeared in a presentation by Koolhaas, and later a post on the ArchitectureWeek blog.

 

7. The New Architect.

We desperately need a new kind of architect: one more
focused on process than on product, on context rather than on objects.
Preparing our new type of architect for practice, we should re-examine the ways
that architects are rewarded today: the corrupt and incestuous system of
financial incentives, corporate branding, and image-making that rewards the
extravagant "starchitect" over the contextual practitioner. Once we have
created a consensus for radical change, it will be straightforward to find new
ways of compensating good work, through more incentives such as awards,
commissions, scientific research that identifies both successes and failures,
and other, stronger feedback.

Most important of all, we must reform the architecture
schools without further delay, and place a new emphasis on design that is
evidence-based, that pays attention to post-occupancy evaluations, and that, in
short, values the outcome for human beings and takes their needs seriously. It
is a democratic society's duty to teach students to see and interpret the world
without ideological blinders.

Last but not least, we applaud medically blind architects
who courageously practice despite their handicap. Giving an example to the rest
of the profession, they visualize spaces in their "mind's eye", experience with
their fingers a building's plan as printed on embossed paper, and physically
walk through a building to optimize the user's experience. Those blind
architects put to shame their colleagues who, blessed with the gift of sight,
refuse to use their eyes.

 

For more information read The Metropolis Essays here

 

REFERENCES.

Banham, R. (1960) Theory
and Design in the First Machine Age
, Praeger, New York.

Eisenman, P. (1982) "The Alexander-Eisenman Debate", Katarxis 3, 2004
<http://www.katarxis3.com/Alexander_Eisenman_Debate.htm>

Giedion, S. (1941) Space,
Time and Architecture
, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Gifford, R., Hine, D. W., Muller-Clemm, W. & Shaw,
K. T. (2002) "Why Architects and Laypersons Judge Buildings Differently", J. Architecture and Planning Research, Vol.
19, No. 2, pages 131-148.

Gropius, W. (1965) The
New Architecture and The Bauhaus
, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Jacobs, J. (1961) The Death and Life of Great
American Cities
, Random House, New
York.

Salingaros, N. A. (2005) Principles of Urban Structure, Techne Press, Amsterdam, Holland.

Salingaros, N. A. (2006) A Theory of Architecture, Umbau-Verlag, Solingen, Germany.

Salingaros, N. A. (2011) "Cognitive Dissonance and
Non-adaptive Architecture", P2P
Foundation
, 2 February 2011; reprinted by the Permaculture Research Institute, 9 February 2011; reprinted by
INTBAU Essays, 17 March 2011. <http://p2pfoundation.net/Cognitive_Dissonance_and_Non-adaptive_Architecture>

 

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license.

 

 

 

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Microdosing nasal spray with psilocybin, is that possible?! Oregan a start-up Silo Wellness believes so and has created this new option for PTSD treatment.

Mazatec Mushroom Usage: Notes on Approach, Setting and Species for Curious Psilonauts
A look at traditional Mazatec psilocybin mushroom usage, and a comparison to the cliniical therapeutic approach, with an examination of the Mazatec setting and species used in veladas.

María Sabina: The Mazatec Magic Mushroom Woman
Magic mushrooms are incredibly popular today. How they became introduced to into American culture isn’t usually a topic discussed while tripping on psilocybin fungi. We all may have María Sabina to thank for exposing the Western world to the healing properties of the psilocybin mushroom.

Guide to Magic Mushroom Strains
Are there different types of psilocybin? Read our guide to learn about the different magic mushroom strains and their individual effects.

Kilindi Iyi: Mycologist, Traveler, Teacher
Learn about traveler and mycologist Kilindi Iyi known in the psychedelic community for his research and exploration of psilocybin.

How to Store Shrooms: Best Practices
How do you store shrooms for optimal shelf life? Learn how and why the proper storage method is so important.

Shroom Chocolate Recipes: How to Make Magic Mushroom Chocolates
This recipe provides step by step directions on how you can make mushroom chocolates with the necessary ingredients. Read to learn more!

Why Do People Use Psilocybin? New Johns Hopkins Study
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicines has just published a new study on psychoactive effects of psilocybin. Read here to learn more.

How-To Lemon Tek: Ultimate Guide and Recipe
This master guide will teach you how to lemon tek, preventing the onset of negative effects after consuming psilocybin. Read to learn more!

How to Intensify a Mushroom Trip
Learn about techniques like Lemon tekking, or discover the right time to consume cannabis if you are looking to intensify a mushroom trip.

How to Grow Magic Mushrooms: Step-by-Step
This step-by-step guide will show you how to grow magic mushrooms at home. Read this guide before trying it on your own.

How to Dry Magic Mushrooms: Best Practices
Read to learn more about specifics for the best practices on how to dry magic mushrooms after harvesting season.

How to Buy Psilocybin Spores
Interested in psilocybin mushrooms? We’ll walk you through all you need to know to obtain mushroom spores. Nosh on this delish How To guide.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

Having Sex on Shrooms: Good or Bad Idea?
Is having sex on shrooms a good idea or an accident waiting to happen? Find out in our guide to sex on magic mushrooms.

Gold Cap Shrooms Guide: Spores, Effects, Identification
Read this guide to learn more about the different characteristics of gold cap mushrooms, and how they differ from other psilocybin species.

Guide to Cooking with Magic Mushrooms
From cookies to smoothies and sandwiches, we cover various methods of cooking with magic mushrooms for the ultimate snack.

2020 Election: The Decriminalize Psilocybin Movement
Are you curious if mushrooms will follow in marijuana’s footsteps? Read to learn about how the U.S. is moving to decriminalize psilocybin.

Oregon’s Initiative to Legalize Mushrooms | Initiative Petition 34
Oregon continues to push ahead with their initiative to legalize Psilocybin in 2020. The measure received its official title and now needs signatures.

Canada Approves Psilocybin Treatment for Terminally-Ill Cancer Patients
Canada’s Minister of Health, Patty Hajdu approved the use of psilocybin to help ease anxiety and depression of four terminal cancer patients.

Mapping the DMT Experience
With only firsthand experiences to share, how can we fully map the DMT experience? Let’s explore what we know about this powerful psychedelic.

Guide to Machine Elves and Other DMT Entities
This guide discusses machine elves, clockwork elves, and other common DMT entities that people experience during a DMT trip.

Is the DMT Experience a Hallucination? 
What if the DMT realm was the real world, and our everyday lives were merely a game we had chosen to play?

How to Store DMT
Not sure how to store DMT? Read this piece to learn the best practices and elements of advice to keep your stuff fresh.

What Does 5-MeO-DMT Show Us About Consciousness?
How does our brain differentiate between what’s real and what’s not? Read to learn what can 5-MeO-DMT show us about consciousness.

How to Smoke DMT: Processes Explained
There are many ways to smoke DMT and we’ve outlined some of the best processes to consider before embarking on your journey.

How to Ground After DMT
Knowing what to expect from a DMT comedown can help you integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible from your journey.

How To Get DMT
What kind of plants contain DMT? Are there other ways to access this psychedelic? Read on to learn more about how to get DMT.

How DMT is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make DMT? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how DMT is made.

Having Sex on DMT: What You Need to Know
Have you ever wondered about sex on DMT? Learn how the God Molecule can influence your intimate experiences.

Does the Human Brain Make DMT? 
With scientific evidence showing us DMT in the brain, what can we conclude it is there for? Read on to learn more.

How to Use DMT Vape Pens
Read to learn all about DMT vape pens including: what to know when vaping, what to expect when purchasing a DMT cartridge, and vaping safely.

DMT Resources
This article is a comprehensive DMT resource providing extensive information from studies, books, documentaries, and more. Check it out!

Differentiating DMT and Near-Death Experiences
Some say there are similarities between a DMT trip and death. Read our guide on differentiating DMT and near-death experiences to find out.

DMT Research from 1956 to the Edge of Time
From a representative sample of a suitably psychedelic crowd, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who couldn’t tell you all about Albert Hofmann’s enchanted bicycle ride after swallowing what turned out to be a massive dose of LSD. Far fewer, however, could tell you much about the world’s first DMT trip.

The Ultimate Guide to DMT Pricing
Check out our ultimate guide on DMT pricing to learn what to expect when purchasing DMT for your first time.

DMT Milking | Reality Sandwich
Indigenous cultures have used 5-MeO-DMT for centuries. With the surge in demand for psychedelic toad milk, is DMT Milking harming the frogs?

Why Does DMT Pervade Nature?
With the presence of DMT in nature everywhere – including human brains – why does it continue to baffle science?

DMT Substance Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to DMT has everything you want to know about this powerful psychedelic referred to as “the spirit molecule”.

DMT for Depression: Paving the Way for New Medicine
We’ve been waiting for an effective depression treatment. Studies show DMT for depression works even for treatment resistant patients.

Beating Addiction with DMT
Psychedelics have been studied for their help overcoming addiction. Read how DMT is helping addicts beat their substance abuse issues.

DMT Extraction: Behind the Scientific Process
Take a look at DMT extraction and the scientific process involved. Learn all you need to know including procedures and safety.

Microdosing DMT & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing DMT.

DMT Art: A Look Behind Visionary Creations
An entire genre of artwork is inspired by psychedelic trips with DMT. Read to learn about the entities and visions behind DMT art.

Changa vs. DMT: What You Need to Know
While similar (changa contains DMT), each drug has its own unique effect and feeling. Let’s compare and contrast changa vs DMT.

5-MeO-DMT Guide: Effects, Benefits, Safety, and Legality
5-Meo-DMT comes from the Sonora Desert toad. Here is everything you want to know about 5-Meo-DMT and how it compares to 4-AcO-DMT.

4-AcO-DMT Guide: Benefits, Effects, Safety, and Legality
This guide tells you everything about 4 AcO DMT & 5 MeO DMT, that belong to the tryptamine class, and are similar but slightly different to DMT.

How Much Does LSD Cost? When shopping around for that magical psychedelic substance, there can be many uncertainties when new to buying LSD. You may be wondering how much does LSD cost? In this article, we will discuss what to expect when purchasing LSD on the black market, what forms LSD is sold in, and the standard breakdown of buying LSD in quantity.   Navy Use of LSD on the Dark Web The dark web is increasingly popular for purchasing illegal substances. The US Navy has now noticed this trend with their staff. Read to learn more.   Having Sex on LSD: What You Need to Know Can you have sex on LSD? Read our guide to learn everything about sex on acid, from lowered inhibitions to LSD users quotes on sex while tripping.   A Drug That Switches off an LSD Trip A pharmaceutical company is developing an “off-switch” drug for an LSD trip, in the case that a bad trip can happen. Some would say there is no such thing.   Queen of Hearts: An Interview with Liz Elliot on Tim Leary and LSD The history of psychedelia, particularly the British experience, has been almost totally written by men. Of the women involved, especially those who were in the thick of it, little has been written either by or about them. A notable exception is Liz Elliot.   LSD Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety LSD, Lysergic acid diethylamide, or just acid is one of the most important psychedelics ever discovered. What did history teach us?   Microdosing LSD & Common Dosage Explained Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing LSD.   LSD Resources Curious to learn more about LSD? This guide includes comprehensive LSD resources containing books, studies and more.   LSD as a Spiritual Aid There is common consent that the evolution of mankind is paralleled by the increase and expansion of consciousness. From the described process of how consciousness originates and develops, it becomes evident that its growth depends on its faculty of perception. Therefore every means of improving this faculty should be used.   Legendary LSD Blotter Art: A Hidden Craftsmanship Have you ever heard of LSD blotter art? Explore the trippy world of LSD art and some of the top artists of LSD blotter art.   LSD and Exercise: Does it Work? LSD and exercise? Learn why high-performing athletes are taking hits of LSD to improve their overall potential.   Jan Bastiaans Treated Holocaust Survivors with LSD Dutch psychiatrist, Jan Bastiaans administered LSD-assisted therapy to survivors of the Holocaust. A true war hero and pioneer of psychedelic-therapy.   LSD and Spiritual Awakening I give thanks for LSD, which provided the opening that led me to India in 1971 and brought me to Neem Karoli Baba, known as Maharajji. Maharajji is described by the Indians as a “knower of hearts.”   How LSD is Made: Everything You Need to Know Ever wonder how to make LSD? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how LSD is made.   How to Store LSD: Best Practices Learn the best way to store LSD, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long LSD lasts when stored.   Bicycle Day: The Discovery of LSD Every year on April 19th, psychonauts join forces to celebrate Bicycle Day. Learn about the famous day when Albert Hoffman first discovered the effects of LSD.   Cary Grant: A Hollywood Legend On LSD Cary Grant was a famous actor during the 1930’s-60’s But did you know Grant experimented with LSD? Read our guide to learn more.   Albert Hofmann: LSD — My Problem Child Learn about Albert Hofmann and his discovery of LSD, along with the story of Bicycle Day and why it marks a historic milestone.   Babies are High: What Does LSD Do To Your Brain What do LSD and babies have in common? Researchers at the Imperial College in London discover that an adult’s brain on LSD looks like a baby’s brain.   1P LSD: Effects, Benefits, Safety Explained 1P LSD is an analogue of LSD and homologue of ALD-25. Here is everything you want to know about 1P LSD and how it compares to LSD.   Francis Crick, DNA & LSD Type ‘Francis Crick LSD’ into Google, and the result will be 30,000 links. Many sites claim that Crick (one of the two men responsible for discovering the structure of DNA), was either under the influence of LSD at the time of his revelation or used the drug to help with his thought processes during his research. Is this true?   What Happens If You Overdose on LSD? A recent article presented three individuals who overdosed on LSD. Though the experience was unpleasant, the outcomes were remarkably positive.

The Ayahuasca Experience
Ayahuasca is both a medicine and a visionary aid. You can employ ayahuasca for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual repair, and you can engage with the power of ayahuasca for deeper insight and realization. If you consider attainment of knowledge in the broadest perspective, you can say that at all times, ayahuasca heals.

 

Trippy Talk: Meet Ayahuasca with Sitaramaya Sita and PlantTeachers
Sitaramaya Sita is a spiritual herbalist, pusangera, and plant wisdom practitioner formally trained in the Shipibo ayahuasca tradition.

 

The Therapeutic Value of Ayahuasca
My best description of the impact of ayahuasca is that it’s a rocket boost to psychospiritual growth and unfolding, my professional specialty during my thirty-five years of private practice.

 

Microdosing Ayahuasca: Common Dosage Explained
What is ayahuasca made of and what is considered a microdose? Explore insights with an experienced Peruvian brewmaster and learn more about this practice.

 

Ayahuasca Makes Neuron Babies in Your Brain
Researchers from Beckley/Sant Pau Research Program have shared the latest findings in their study on the effects of ayahuasca on neurogenesis.

 

The Fatimiya Sufi Order and Ayahuasca
In this interview, the founder of the Fatimiya Sufi Order,  N. Wahid Azal, discusses the history and uses of plant medicines in Islamic and pre-Islamic mystery schools.

 

Consideration Ayahuasca for Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Research indicates that ayahuasca mimics mechanisms of currently accepted treatments for PTSD. In order to understand the implications of ayahuasca treatment, we need to understand how PTSD develops.

 

Brainwaves on Ayahuasca: A Waking Dream State
In a study researchers shared discoveries showing ingredients found in Ayahuasca impact the brainwaves causing a “waking dream” state.

 

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a pro cannabis Peruvian Shaman.

 

Ayahuasca Retreat 101: Everything You Need to Know to Brave the Brew
Ayahuasca has been known to be a powerful medicinal substance for millennia. However, until recently, it was only found in the jungle. Word of its deeply healing and cleansing properties has begun to spread across the world as many modern, Western individuals are seeking spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being. More ayahuasca retreat centers are emerging in the Amazon and worldwide to meet the demand.

 

Ayahuasca Helps with Grief
A new study published in psychopharmacology found that ayahuasca helped those suffering from the loss of a loved one up to a year after treatment.

 

Ayahuasca Benefits: Clinical Improvements for Six Months
Ayahuasca benefits can last six months according to studies. Read here to learn about the clinical improvements from drinking the brew.

 

Ayahuasca Culture: Indigenous, Western, And The Future
Ayahuasca has been use for generations in the Amazon. With the rise of retreats and the brew leaving the rainforest how is ayahuasca culture changing?

 

Ayahuasca Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
The Amazonian brew, Ayahuasca has a long history and wide use. Read our guide to learn all about the tea from its beginnings up to modern-day interest.

 

Ayahuasca and the Godhead: An Interview with Wahid Azal of the Fatimiya Sufi Order
Wahid Azal, a Sufi mystic of The Fatimiya Sufi Order and an Islamic scholar, talks about entheogens, Sufism, mythology, and metaphysics.

 

Ayahuasca and the Feminine: Women’s Roles, Healing, Retreats, and More
Ayahuasca is lovingly called “grandmother” or “mother” by many. Just how feminine is the brew? Read to learn all about women and ayahuasca.

What Is the Standard of Care for Ketamine Treatments?
Ketamine therapy is on the rise in light of its powerful results for treatment-resistant depression. But, what is the current standard of care for ketamine? Read to find out.

What Is Dissociation and How Does Ketamine Create It?
Dissociation can take on multiple forms. So, what is dissociation like and how does ketamine create it? Read to find out.

Having Sex on Ketamine: Getting Physical on a Dissociative
Curious about what it could feel like to have sex on a dissociate? Find out all the answers in our guide to sex on ketamine.

Special K: The Party Drug
Special K refers to Ketamine when used recreationally. Learn the trends as well as safety information around this substance.

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

Ketamine vs. Esketamine: 3 Important Differences Explained
Ketamine and esketamine are used to treat depression. But what’s the difference between them? Read to learn which one is right for you: ketamine vs. esketamine.

Guide to Ketamine Treatments: Understanding the New Approach
Ketamine is becoming more popular as more people are seeing its benefits. Is ketamine a fit? Read our guide for all you need to know about ketamine treatments.

Ketamine Treatment for Eating Disorders
Ketamine is becoming a promising treatment for various mental health conditions. Read to learn how individuals can use ketamine treatment for eating disorders.

Ketamine Resources, Studies, and Trusted Information
Curious to learn more about ketamine? This guide includes comprehensive ketamine resources containing books, studies and more.

Ketamine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to ketamine has everything you need to know about this “dissociative anesthetic” and how it is being studied for depression treatment.

Ketamine for Depression: A Mental Health Breakthrough
While antidepressants work for some, many others find no relief. Read to learn about the therapeutic uses of ketamine for depression.

Ketamine for Addiction: Treatments Offering Hope
New treatments are offering hope to individuals suffering from addiction diseases. Read to learn how ketamine for addiction is providing breakthrough results.

Microdosing Ketamine & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing ketamine.

How to Ease a Ketamine Comedown
Knowing what to expect when you come down from ketamine can help integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible.

How to Store Ketamine: Best Practices
Learn the best ways how to store ketamine, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long ketamine lasts when stored.

How To Buy Ketamine: Is There Legal Ketamine Online?
Learn exactly where it’s legal to buy ketamine, and if it’s possible to purchase legal ketamine on the internet.

How Long Does Ketamine Stay in Your System?
How long does ketamine stay in your system? Are there lasting effects on your body? Read to discover the answers!

How Ketamine is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make Ketamine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how Ketamine is made.

Colorado on Ketamine: First Responders Waiver Programs
Fallout continues after Elijah McClain. Despite opposing recommendations from some city council, Colorado State Health panel recommends the continued use of ketamine by medics for those demonstrating “excited delirium” or “extreme agitation”.

Types of Ketamine: Learn the Differences & Uses for Each
Learn about the different types of ketamine and what they are used for—and what type might be right for you. Read now to find out!

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

MDMA & Ecstasy Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to MDMA has everything you want to know about Ecstasy from how it was developed in 1912 to why it’s being studied today.

How To Get the Most out of Taking MDMA as a Couple
Taking MDMA as a couple can lead to exciting experiences. Read here to learn how to get the most of of this love drug in your relationship.

Common MDMA Dosage & Microdosing Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing MDMA.

Having Sex on MDMA: What You Need to Know
MDMA is known as the love drug… Read our guide to learn all about sex on MDMA and why it is beginning to makes its way into couple’s therapy.

How MDMA is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make MDMA? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how MDMA is made.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

How Cocaine is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make cocaine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how cocaine is made.

A Christmas Sweater with Santa and Cocaine
This week, Walmart came under fire for a “Let it Snow” Christmas sweater depicting Santa with lines of cocaine. Columbia is not merry about it.

Ultimate Cocaine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
This guide covers what you need to know about Cocaine, including common effects and uses, legality, safety precautions and top trends today.

NEWS: An FDA-Approved Cocaine Nasal Spray
The FDA approved a cocaine nasal spray called Numbrino, which has raised suspicions that the pharmaceutical company, Lannett Company Inc., paid off the FDA..

The Ultimate Guide to Cannabis Bioavailability
What is bioavailability and how can it affect the overall efficacy of a psychedelic substance? Read to learn more.

Cannabis Research Explains Sociability Behaviors
New research by Dr. Giovanni Marsicano shows social behavioral changes occur as a result of less energy available to the neurons. Read here to learn more.

The Cannabis Shaman
If recreational and medical use of marijuana is becoming accepted, can the spiritual use as well? Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Hamilton Souther, founder of the 420 Cannabis Shamanism movement…

Cannabis Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to Cannabis has everything you want to know about this popular substances that has psychedelic properties.

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a procannabis Peruvian Shaman.

CBD-Rich Cannabis Versus Single-Molecule CBD
A ground-breaking study has documented the superior therapeutic properties of whole plant Cannabis extract as compared to synthetic cannabidiol (CBD), challenging the medical-industrial complex’s notion that “crude” botanical preparations are less effective than single-molecule compounds.

Cannabis Has Always Been a Medicine
Modern science has already confirmed the efficacy of cannabis for most uses described in the ancient medical texts, but prohibitionists still claim that medical cannabis is “just a ruse.”

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