It is well known, that built environments and by this any architectural setting have effects on our perception, behaviour and well-being.

As does any natural environmental setting, man-made surroundings influence psychological, emotional, cognitive and physical parameters, and social behaviour.

Beyond any culture specific functional, aesthetical and semantic aspects and effects, architectural structures, forms and colours elicit reactions rooted in evolutionary adaptation.

Those basic effects have been analysed by Human Ethologists (Urban Ethology) for decades researching the nature of ‘human-friendly built environments’. The studies show impacts of built environments on e.g. verbal / non-verbal behaviour and physiology.

The results help us to understand how to evaluate places, buildings and urban spaces in respect to well-being, communication, and empathy.

And still, we need to learn more about how to optimize built environments that cover particular functions such as healing, learning and productivity.

Taking these particular aspects into account, studies of school buildings and work places, that combine the human ethological approach with Evolutionary Pedagogy, research the suitability of architecture for working, learning and education.