A peer-reviewed article with a more holistic approach towards eco-system effects of an integrated physical, digital and social learn/work environment, you can literally transform an organisation, its business and people. September 2020, Paradigm Explorer (No 133 2020/2) - Journal of the Scientific and Medical Network. The German writer Johan Wolfgang von Goethe called Architecture ‘frozen music’, I prefer to call it ‘Symphony of Form’, a symbiosis between architecture and its occupants to create (more) added value.

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Paradigm Explorer 2020/2
Architecture is
a Symphony
of Form
René Stevens
Buildings have a major
impact on the people who
use them. Therefore, also on
the results of the processes
in which these people are
involved as on their personal
health, well-being and
consciousness.
All physical matter in our
universe is vibrating and
emanates a field of energy
that can be measured and
influenced. This is true for
both the human body as well
as for buildings.
One of the lost secrets of
ancient wisdom teachings is
that geometry is vibration.
Geometry is a visual
representation, a structural
manifestation of vibration.
The German writer Johan
Wolfgang von Goethe called
Architecture ‘frozen music’,
I prefer to call it ‘Symphony
of Form’, a symbiosis
between architecture and its
occupants to create (more)
added value.
Instruments in sync
When an orchestra performs a musical
symphony, it is important that all
instruments are tuned, in balance, and
playing with the right intensity and
duration. For a high-level performance,
everything must be in sync.
For the functioning of our learn/work
environment, it is equally important
that all building components, like
shapes, parts, materials and colours,
including the relationship with
nature (e.g. earth’s energy radiation,
geopathic stress, climate, seasons,
vegetation, bodies of water) are also in
sync. They all contribute to the desired
harmonious balancing environment
that supports people and their
functioning within a building.
The perception of being satisfied
with the performance of the building
depends upon our interaction with
the environment and the people in
it, as well as our physical and mental
constitution.
Affect mood
Just as music affects our mood,
buildings do too. We have all
experienced music that can touch you
and make you feel like dancing, or
getting into a romantic or meditative
state, or even a melancholic state. Even
though we may not yet have the tools
to fully measure how architecture
affects the health, well-being and
consciousness of the people inside a
building, we know intuitively that it
makes sense.
A growing body of research
demonstrates that it is not the
objective environmental conditions,
but the subjective interpretation of
it, that affects the well-being and
performance of humans. That is
why the way people experience
their environment also influences
their potential, effectiveness and
efficiency. ‘Soft’ human engagement
metrics, as used in the marketing
and communications industry, are
therefore in most cases more relevant
than the necessary ‘hard’ absolute
metrics of costs and square meters.
Especially when the soft relative
metrics of performance are monitored
over a longer time period.
Symphony of form
As music is frequencies of sound,
architecture is about visual geometrical
and spatial frequencies, and much
more. When we move through a
building, it can shape our thoughts
and feelings just as music does.
My passion is to bring the various
parts together in such a way that the
building components will sound like a
great ‘Symphony of Form’. The whole
is equal to the sum of its parts plus new
properties because of the interactions
between the parts. As frequencies
evoke reactions, architecture can bring
people together, and unite them as one
force. It protects, supports interaction
and engagement and expresses unity
and identity.
Occupants in tune
People inside a building bring their
own etheric field: an integration
of mind, body, heart and spirit, a
determiner of overall health. When

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you interact with a person, you are not
only transferring information but also
emotion. You are transferring things
that are outside the intellect.
A human-centric environment is a
better place for organisations, people
and society. A place that is adaptive to
changing user needs. A place that gets
the best out of its users and a program
that creates a bond between users and
the environment. The design of the
environment doesn’t solely determine
behaviour, but it does shape, enable or
encourage or hinder it.
Effects of shape
In theatre design it is well known that
shape and the materialisation of walls,
floor and ceiling have a profound
impact on the audibility and quality of
the sound in the room.
We also know from experience that
buildings can affect the quality of radio,
mobile telephone and Wi-Fi signals.
Could it be that the built environment
also affects the dynamic multi-
dimensional etheric field of humans,
consisting of a physical, mental,
emotional and spiritual dimension?
The work of Dr Ibrahim Karim, a new
multidimensional ‘Physics of Quality’
called BioGeometry, proofs that this
is the case. His worldview is that
‘ENERGY AND SHAPE CREATE
FUNCTION.’
The Poor scientific measuring
instruments are no proof that outside a
material worldview nothing else exists.
To quote neurophysiologist Dr. Peter
Fenwick: “If you think that the world
is only material, then you are missing a
huge part of human experience.”
Morphogenetic field
Biochemistry scientists like Dr Rupert
Sheldrake and Dr Bruce Lipton suggest
the existence of a morphogenetic field
that not only connects everything in
the environment but has a collective
memory as well. Humans are one
with that field and everything in it and
therefore the human consciousness can
influence this field and vice versa. It is
a two-way communication.
Lipton states that our body consists of
50 trillion cells of living entities. So, we
are a community not a single person.
Every cell is a battery with a positive
and a negative charge of 1,4 Volts.
This life force energy can be focused
and directed by thought and intention.
But besides the internal environment
it is also influenced by the external
environment.
New science
According to new science, we are not
a physical entity but energy waves
of interacting frequencies that can
affect the condition of our body. Our
waves get entangled and resonate
with those of the physical and digital
environment and the people in it.
One could say that it creates a cocktail
of environment frequencies mixed
with vibrating human thoughts and
emotions.
Animals and plants communicate
with vibrations and are sensitive to
the subtle energy in the environment.
In fact, all organisms do, according to
Lipton. We humans have that ability
too but are not trained to use it.
Sheldrake proposes that the
morphogenetic field is also responsible
for telepathy-type interconnections
between organisms. What if humans
could be taught to develop the
sensitivity for vibrations and use
it to navigate in their daily life
through places and in their (work)
relationships?
Digital workplace
Digital technology allows us work
independently of time, space and
device. Documents, pictures, audio and
video are stored in the ‘digital cloud’
and can be retrieved and changed
when you have a device to receive and
send. Laptops and smart phones are
intermediary devices that let humans
interact with data and each other.
New science suggests further that our
human body is the device (biological
vehicle), our consciousness the
operating system and the mind is
part of the morphogenetic field. One
could then argue that the data of our
experiences is stored non-locally in a
virtual ‘consciousness cloud’.
A marriage of Architecture and
Neuroscience can deepen the
understanding of how the learn/
work environment affects human
health, well-being, consciousness and
performance.
Tuning fork
According to Albert Einstein and
Nikola Tesla, everything is energy
and frequency; it should therefore be
possible to introduce a vibration that
acts like a tuning fork. That centers
the cacophony of frequencies of the
built environment, electromagnetic
smog of modern technology and the
etheric fields of humans. Balancing
them all into harmony again. All
these frequencies are resonating and
amplifying each other and should
therefore be treated in a holistic way.
Humans and other living organisms
are part of the natural environment
of subtle energies, they are one
because they are open energy systems
affecting each other. Through the
improvement of spatial forms and
the materialisation of them, a high
potential concept for balancing and
centering, as well as communication
and interaction between people, can
be developed.
High potential
How do people resonate with the
landscape and building frequencies? If
an organisational identity and culture
could be expressed in a melody, how
would that sound? How can we
bring harmony into a learn/work
environment so that a building and
its occupants are able to vibrate in a
highly lively coherent potential?

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“Being interconnected and multidi-
mensional brings greater responsibility,
because of the influence we have over
our self and the environment.
Even to a degree that we can
overcome our environmental
conditions.” (Theresa Bullard, Ph.D.
in Physics)
Transformation
With greater understanding and
a more holistic approach towards
eco-system effects of an integrated
physical, digital and social learn/
work environment, you can literally
transform an organisation, its business
and people.
In the 1940’s, Sir Winston Churchill
made the connection between
architecture and human behaviour
in his famous quote: “We shape our
buildings, thereafter they shape us”.
Unleash capabilities
The Inner Environment (Mind-Body-
Heart-Spirit) of human consciousness
can be changed by personal coaching
and practice. Changing the Outer
Environment (built, digital and
social) of people is an extra leverage
to unleash the capabilities of the
multi-dimensional human being. It is
spirituality at work.
Duet for three hands
Real Estate & Facility Management
(RE&FM) and ICT in collaboration
with Human Resource Management
(HRM) form a ‘duet-for-three-hands’.
This gives a focus on the environment
in which people must function and
perform.
It creates a holistic symbiosis between
the learn/work environment, the
organisational objectives and the
human beings inside. This synergy
will unlock the latent potential for
innovation, growth, health, well-being
and consciousness of an organisation
and its people.
The vision about the symbiosis forms
the score of the symphony, whereby
a conductor ensures that the various
components of the learn/work
environment are coordinated in such
a way that they optimally facilitate
the most important resource of an
organisation: the people.
Regular ‘performance reviews’ of the
learn/work environment as a tool for
managing knowledge are required to
ensure continuous improvement and a
learning organisation.
Monitoring effectiveness
The ultimate test for the effectiveness
of the learn/work environment is the
experience of those who use it.
Apart from the (subjective) opinion
of the users, there is also a need for
an objective assessment whether the
intended effectiveness of the study/
workplace is realized in an efficient
manner on time, within budget and
acceptable risks.
The scores of the required ‘Symphony
of Forms’ should therefore have
appropriate SMARTI performance
metrics:
Specific (Who, what, which, where),
Measurable (Actual vs. desired),
Achievable (How),
Realistic (Worthwhile),
Time-bound (When),
Inspiring (Engagement).
This will make an iterative learning
loop of transparent monitoring,
adaptation and feedback communica-
tion possible. It focuses attention on
measuring process and progress rather
than results. It is more about contin-
uous learning and communicating
than control, identifying problems and
allocating fault.
Take into consideration Albert
Einstein’s words: “Not everything
that counts can be counted, and
not everything that can be counted
counts.”
Adding value is more than cost
reduction
To answer the question ‘Is the learn/
work environment adding value?’,
four sub questions must be addressed:
1
Can I work and study here
effectively -- are we doing the
right things?
2
Is it used efficiently -- do we do
things in the right way?
3
Is the learn/work environment
manageable and under control?
4
How does the learn/work
environment affect me?
(attractiveness-engagement)
Sub-questions 2 and 3 focus on
efficiency and manageability --
cost centre approach -- whereas
sub questions 1 and 4 are more
process oriented and people
centred -– enablers for adding
value. Understanding the complex
interrelationship in the ecological
system of the learn/work environment
supports better decision making. The
effects of cost reduction have a limit,
whereas the so-called soft outcomes
of culture and process changes can be
continuously reinforced and enhanced.
Remember the musical score is not
the music itself just as a map is not the
landscape. An analytical and logical
left-brain approach should be balanced
with an integrated intuitive right-brain
approach. Analytical thinking allows us
to comprehend the parts of the learn/
work environment while integrated
thinking enables us to understand how
they work together. The whole is more
than the sum of its parts.
Where attention goes, energy will
flow. Instead of focusing on avoiding a
cacophony of vibrations, concentrate
on balance and harmony in the learn/
work environment. This requires a
human-centric system approach.
Bridging architecture and
spirituality
Architecture as a Symphony of Form
is an exploration odyssey about
REAL ESTATE and the (real) STATE
of HUMANS. The interface and
interaction between the state of the
built environment (physical, digital,
social) and of the health (body, mind,
heart, spirit) of people using the
built environment. The environment
influences how you think and
feel. The human mind and body
are not separate and distinct from
their environment. A management
team that is aware of the strategic
opportunities of a harmonized
environment, together with the help
of interdisciplinary specialists, can
create the difference in unlocking and
unleashing human potential.
René P.M. Stevens MSc Arch/MBA is
architect, management consultant, coach
and social entrepreneur. End 2002 he es-
tablished ATELIER V real estate, a trend
setting firm in real estate consultancy, of
which he is owner and general director.