How is it possible that architectural forms can convey particular emotions or moods, asked the Swiss art historian Heinrich Wölfflin. After almost 100 years, a Warsaw architect answers this question.

Encoded empathy

The story starts at the University of Parma some time around 1990. A group of Italian neurophysiologists are completely absorbed in the study of the cerebral cortex in rhesus macaques. Round electrodes in the animals’ heads send information to the computers about the performance of particular groups of neurons, while their owners are eagerly reaching for snacks carefully rationed by the scientists. At some point, the researchers notice something strange – the area of the brain usually activated when food is grabbed by a monkey goes crazy when a human watcher picks food up, too. What could this mean? The Italians formulate an unusual hypothesis: animals have mirror neurons that react to the actions of other individuals – not necessarily even of the same species – as if they were their own. Today the majority of scientists think that a similar system is present in humans. When we see a person lifting a