An invention of Beverly Payeff-Masey, recognized in 2005 for her outstanding contributions to an alleged “Science of Person/Place Connection,” and to Pyramid School Feng Shui.

Fabio Gherardi’s submission for the WTC Memorial Competition mentions Payeff-Masey and her husband as people who worked on the project. But her latest work is in the field she invented: “neuro-design,” or is it “neuro-architecture.”

According to the Asha Foundation,

Beverly gathered all information then known about trauma-linked spaces. No architectural studies existed, but a handful of neuroscience studies had studied post-traumatic visual perception in rape victims and Viet Nam veterans. Those studies allowed Beverly to develop the ArchiMap^®, the first successful neuroscience-based application for architectural use. It has been used since to identify the characteristics of dwelling spaces needed by homeless women and men, and is used by a growing number of designers to “map” the specific perceptual needs of individuals.

Lovely, but a few facts need to be emphasized.

• This article is pretty old. Mentions of the “ArchiMap process” after April 2005 should not have any marks (registered, service, or trade). The US government says the owner applied and received permission to use a service mark (registration number 2171733). The use of the mark was cancelled in April 2005 because of the Section 8 affidavit. (A trademark owner must file a Section 8 affidavit in the sixth year of a registration term, stating the current status of a mark’s use and good reasons for same.)
• This “ArchiMap process” should not be confused with ArchiMap, which made by Cigraph Factory Sri, an Italian software firm. ArchiMap is a plugin to Archicad, which is a product of Graphisoft. Cigraph is a Graphisoft-certified developer.
• Place ideology (house society theory, place attachment) is well known in science. It’s not clear whether the ArchiMap process builds on that foundation, because no research has been published.
• “Neuro-architecture” means something entirely different in science. Consider the work of the CNBC (Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition).
• Thanks to heavy PR bombardment by the Pyramid School (Feng Shui Institute International), Payeff-Masey and her works are forever linked with the woo that spews from that facility.

Payeff-Masey says her ArchiMap process

originally developed for architectural use, and now makes inter-professional collaborations between feng shui practioners, architects and scientists finally possible.

Yes, we all know at least six scientists who want to collaborate with feng shui people. Get over yourselves.

References

Involvement of striate and extrastriate visual cortical areas in spatial attention from Nature

Chaya Possick: “Coping with the threat of place disruption by long-term Jewish settlers on the West Bank.” International Social Work, Mar 2006; 49: 198 - 207.

Derek P. Brereton: “House society and practice theories illuminate American campsteads.” Anthropological Theory, Jun 2005; 5: 135 - 153.

Alexandra Warwick: “The Scene of the Crime: Inventing the Serial Killer.” Social Legal Studies, Dec 2006; 15: 552 - 569.

Hans Harms: “To live in the city centre: housing and tenants in central neighbourhoods of Latin American cities.” Environment and Urbanization, Oct 1997; 9: 191 - 212.

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Martin Innes, Nigel Fielding, and Nina Cope: ” ‘The Appliance of Science?’: The Theory and Practice of Crime Intelligence Analysis.” Br. J. Criminol., Jan 2005; 45: 39 - 57.

Michael Austin: “Art and Religion as Metaphor.” Brit J Aesthetics, Feb 1995; 35: 145 - 153.

Randall B. Hirschhorn and Robert R. Hodge: “Identification of Risk Factors in Rat Bite Incidents Involving Humans.” Pediatrics, Sep 1999; 104: e35.

Rachel S. Herz: “A Naturalistic Analysis of Autobiographical Memories Triggered by Olfactory Visual and Auditory Stimuli.” Chem Senses, Mar 2004; 29: 217 - 224.