Neuroaesthetics and the Future of Luxury High-Rise Living

Luxury high-rise living has long been defined by spectacle: the skyline view, the lift’s ascent, the sense of elevation above the rest of the city. For years, height alone carried symbolic weight. Yet as global skylines continue to expand, this reliance on altitude has begun to lose its distinctiveness. Premium towers now share a familiar compositional language—glass façades, dressed lobbies, extended amenity floors, increasingly refined yet increasingly familiar. What once felt aspirational is at risk of flattening into equivalence.A different measure of luxury is emerging. Residents and buyers are paying closer attention to the lived texture of a building: the composure of an arrival sequence; the subtle cues that anchor orientation; the reassurance of rooms arranged with considered proportion; the character of communal floors shaped with intention rather than excess. These elements influence comfort, intuition and memory. They form the quiet foundation of whether a building feels attuned to its residents or simply assembled for them.Neuroaesthetics brings structure to this shift. Rather than style or trend, it offers an evidence-based understanding of how environments affect cognition, mood and behaviour. In high-rise settings, where daily experience is marked by movement, repetition and vertical transition, these insights help shape environments that support clarity and ease rather than strain. The Science of What ResonatesNeuroaesthetic research has expanded significantly in the past decade. One widely referenced fMRI study asked participants to view more than a hundred artworks and rate their personal response to each. Only a small proportion—the highest-rated images—activated the brain regions involved in emotional meaning and memory. The remaining images were processed more quickly and with less engagement. The implications for residential design are clear: environments that evoke deeper neural responses help anchor a resident’s sense of home, and these impressions contribute to long-term satisfaction and perceived value.Further work has shown how these neural patterns behave over time. In a separate study, participants viewed scenes for one, five or fifteen seconds. Those rated as highly pleasing sustained activity in the networks associated with reward and introspection, even after the stimulus had disappeared. These lingering responses matter in high-rise buildings where residents encounter certain spaces many times each day. Gradual, repeated exposure to sensory coherence shapes the cognitive fabric of home life.Biophilic design has gained renewed attention through recent experimental work. A 2025 virtual-reality study placed participants in two residential interiors—one designed with natural cues, the other intentionally neutral. Under mild stress, the biophilic environment produced almost double the reduction in physiological stress markers. For towers where natural cues diminish with height and interior circulation can feel compressed, these findings confirm the role of materiality, proportion and nature-referencing detail in supporting wellbeing.These insights are not theoretical. They connect directly to the lived experience of high-rise residents. Arrivals, transitions and small daily rituals are all influenced by sensory balance. When handled well, they contribute to a steadier experience of vertical living.Wellbeing-led features are shaping residential preference across major cities. Buyers are focusing on fundamentals such as light quality, air movement, acoustic control and the tactility of materials. High-rise homes that integrate these qualities tend to attract sustained interest and hold their appeal over time. Marketing language may emphasise lifestyle or craftsmanship, yet the underlying draw is sensory. People gravitate towards spaces that regulate the pace of urban life and support a sense of ease.Developers exploring this direction are placing more attention on atmosphere. The priority is not the quantity of amenities but the conditions that support daily living. This shift creates value through perception rather than scale—designing the subtle cues that shape how a home is understood and remembered.Interest in multisensory wellness environments is growing. When sensorial specialist Ramy Elnagar joined What The Luxe, he spoke about creating conditions that help people settle into their own bodies instead of moving through buildings on autopilot. His approach uses finely balanced combinations of light, temperature, sound and scent to support presence. It is understated, guiding the body towards a more grounded state without theatrics. In high-rise settings, where movement is constant and transitions are often rushed, this level of sensory intention enriches the experience of daily living.Arrival carries particular weight. Neuroscience shows that first encounters with a space influence physiological state within seconds. Lobbies with coherent sightlines and measured sensory inputs help the nervous system stabilise after the pace of the street. Considered lighting, controlled acoustics and material tactility work together to create composure and orientation. When arrival is handled with care, it shapes the resident’s reading of the entire building.A useful example is the Neuroaesthetic House in Amsterdam. Visitors moved through rooms designed to modulate mood—from perceptually rich pieces to calmer, restorative environments. Without explicit instruction, many described feeling steadier by the time they reached the final room. It illustrated how environmental sequencing can influence emotional response without resorting to dramatic interventions. Apartments as Cognitive EnvironmentsInside apartments, neuroaesthetic principles deepen the experiential quality of rooms. High-rise homes often benefit from far-reaching views, yet can drift towards neutrality if interiors rely too heavily on minimalism. Research suggests that the brain responds positively to environments with legible organisation and well-proportioned volumes. Designers are using this evidence to ground interiors: calibrated lines of sight that gently guide attention; materials that counterbalance altitude; colour palettes chosen for composure. These elements form the emotional backbone of a living environment.The same thinking is shaping amenity floors, though in less conspicuous ways. Designers are introducing organic forms that soften long sightlines and encourage slower movement. Fitness and wellness spaces are incorporating biophilic cues and natural light to support focus and recovery. Pools and spas are experimenting with acoustic strategies that promote restoration. These adjustments may appear minimal, yet they influence the way residents occupy shared spaces and develop affinity with the building.Across other sectors, similar approaches are revealing their value. Healthcare environments that integrate circadian lighting, tactile surfaces and subtle olfactory cues have reported reductions in anxiety and improved patient experience. Workplace designers collaborating with neuroscientists are creating environments that support focus, memory and social ease. Hospitality brands known for their residential extensions are refining the sensory quality of suites and lobbies to encourage calm and deeper engagement. These examples indicate an interdisciplinary shift: environments designed with emotional intelligence offer measurable benefits.Residential development is beginning to follow this trajectory. The impact is visible not only in resident sentiment but also in market performance. The Value of Distinction in Vertical LivingIn global real estate markets where data is available, branded high-rise residences have consistently achieved meaningful premiums over non-branded equivalents. In many cities this uplift sits between thirty and fifty percent. While brand equity plays a role, much of the perceived value comes from the expectation of a more coherent experiential environment—residents anticipate a building shaped with a higher level of sensory intention.This is why several international brands have extended into residential towers. Aman, Six Senses, St. Regis, Ritz-Carlton, Mandarin Oriental, Armani and others have entered this space with the expectation that their approach to hospitality can shape residential life. Their developments signal a commitment to sensory and experiential refinement. Buyers recognise this, and the market reflects it.Beyond branded projects, research into urban movement is informing how vertical buildings can support residents more effectively. At UCL’s PEARL facility, full-scale environments are used to study how people navigate space under different sensory conditions. Adjustments to sound levels, spatial density and visual cues reveal patterns in comfort and attention. These findings help architects refine entrance sequences, lift cores and circulation spaces, reducing friction and enhancing clarity. For high-rise buildings that serve hundreds or thousands of residents each day, these adjustments help shape collective experience.For developers and investors, the relevance of neuroaesthetics lies in its contribution to long-term desirability. Towers competing on similar amenities and specifications often struggle to differentiate through material choices alone. Perceptual quality becomes a decisive factor in how residents evaluate a home and how they speak about it to others. Buildings that support comfort, orientation and sensory balance foster stronger attachment and more resilient demand.Neuroaesthetics strengthens this trajectory. It provides a grounded way to understand how spatial decisions influence perception and how that perception shapes value. It does not prescribe a specific aesthetic. Instead, it supports an approach to design that aligns with human cognitive patterns, helping to build environments that feel composed and enduring rather than superficial. The opportunity now is to view neuroaesthetics as a means of building durability and perceived value within vertical living environments. It allows designers and developers to shape emotional resonance, encourage memory and cultivate belonging. Many luxury towers continue to invest in amenities, skyline views and service-driven gestures, yet these attributes are increasingly interchangeable. Distinction emerges instead from the subtler qualities that shape how a home is lived in and recalled.Luxury high-rise living is defined less by height or specification than by the atmosphere a place creates. Neuroaesthetics provides a framework for designing these atmospheres with purpose. It helps shape buildings that feel cohesive and attuned, where residents sense a level of intention in every transition and room.Brand Interactions™, our approach to designing coherent, brand-led experience ecosystems, supports this practice. It applies neuroaesthetic principles across the full residential journey, from arrival to daily rituals, guiding the development of environments with clarity and continuity. The result is a form of value that extends beyond material features into the way a home is experienced over time.Neuroaesthetics offers a way to bring depth to vertical living, creating buildings that resonate through the details residents feel rather than the statements they see. As cities continue to grow upward, this focus on human experience will define the developments that endure.To gain further insight into our Brand Interactions™ ethos and approach, get in touch with one of our consultants via hello@matterofform.com. As luxury towers become fixtures of global cities, new insights from neuroaesthetics are revealing how sensory design, proportion and spatial calm shape the lived experience of high-rise homes and the value they command.

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Neuroaesthetics and the Future of Luxury High-Rise Living