DESIGN PHILOSOPHY AND THINKING
composing, and landscaping the garden beyond, as viewed from within, as the Japanese have traditionally done.
Sense of time
Figure 6: Views through spaces – humans have ‘an almost prehistoric need’ to be in a safe and secure space, with ‘look out’ opportunities involving both short and long views.
wellbeing and wellness, and can expedite healing within a world of increasing populations and urbanism, and increasingly hermetically sealed living spaces. There is much talk about the ‘Indoor Generation’. We spend approximately 90 per cent of our time indoors, while over 50% of the world’s population now lives in cities, losing that vital link to nature. It has been envisaged that future generations will face mental and physical health risks from lives spent indoors. Ben Channon, in his book, Happy by Design – A guide to Architecture and Mental Wellbeing, states that “Research shows that, regardless of other factors, ‘nature relatedness’ is a reliable predictor of happiness”. Indeed, GPs advise patients to engage more actively with green, outdoor spaces. Increasingly clinicians are referring patients to nature-based interventions. Their ‘Green Prescriptions’ may advise gardening, fitness activities, Reiki, Yoga, and growing vegetables in adjacent allotments.
‘Macro, meso, micro, neuro’ The ‘nature nurtures, macro to neuro’ graphic (Fig 8) clearly illustrates the essential dialogue between humans and the natural world, and identifies the structures and building envelopes that interrupt this relationship. Natural elements such as sunlight must navigate through liminal spaces, building skins, ‘public to intimate’ spaces, and, finally, through the sensory receptors. This exposure in turn affects our physiology, emotions, and psychological disposition, and, ultimately, our physical condition. It is essential to note that this may be further attenuated by illness and medication. Evidently, architecture must deliver permeable design elements that allow this vital, beneficial, and symbiotic dialogue. Researchers have consistently reported the stress-reducing and restorative benefits of viewing nature. Clinical research has illustrated how it can rapidly calm and sedate by reducing respiration rates, blood pressure, and heart rate. Early morning sunlight has been proven to substantially accelerate bipolar recovery, while another research project reported that people who watched nature scenes had substantially greater pain tolerance. Within a domestic setting, one may consider framing,
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Our lives are driven by time ceaselessly measuring activities such as work, sleep, learning, travel, play, etc., which can become a major daily stressor, triggering anxiety and panic. Not only do we measure time in seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years, but there are clinical (day/night) cycles, seasonal cycles, lunar cycles, and, importantly, biological body cycles called circadian clocks, recalibrated daily by exposure to daylight. It is these that predetermine our sleeping and feeding patterns, and vital biological controls – such as body temperatures, brainwave activity, hormone production, and cell regeneration. Within multigenerational homes individuals will respond in different ways. Perceptions of time will also be different. To a new-born infant there will be no concept of time – just ’the now’. Many elderly people, who feel time flies by, and will have ‘catnapped’ during the day, will experience unsettled, sleepless prolonged nights, while contrastingly, teenagers typically stay up late and sleep in on weekends.
Disorders related to diurnal cycles A number of disorders are related to day/night, diurnal cycles, such as ‘sundowning’, late afternoon confusion, restlessness, agitation, and mood swings, which can be corrected with appropriate indoor lighting. Research tells us that
bipolar depression can be exacerbated by exposure to a west aspect house, whereas exposure to an east-rising sun can accelerate recovery. Night-time alone can create hallucination, fear, and confusion. The elderly and young children may feel particularly vulnerable, lonely, and isolated. Indeed conditions related to fear of the night are known as hypnagogia and nyctophobia. The specification of indoor lighting is key. Blue light spectral ranges are to be avoided, as they staunch the release of melatonin, which makes us sleep, and amber ranges are to be integrated. Seasonal cycles clearly impact on our mental health. Recent research continues to provide compelling evidence of our inextricable, symbiotic, ‘24/7 dialogue’ with nature, such as the recently discovered ‘photo-sensitive ganglion cells impacting on circadian physiology’, and ‘Calendar cells producing Winter/Summer hormones’. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a depressive mood disorder common in winter, which can be corrected with full spectrum lighting. ‘Blue Monday’, a name given to a day in January, is claimed to be the year’s most depressing day. Interestingly, lunar cycles impact on living beings’ behaviour and physiological changes. Historically, lunar cycles were correlated to ‘lunacy’, and greater incidents of mental disorders.
Sleep – to ‘reboot’ body and mind, and design
Mental health charity, Mind, states: ‘There is a close relationship between sleep and mental health. Living with a mental health problem can affect how well you sleep, and poor sleep can have a negative impact on your mental health.’ Sleep is pivotal to mental health. There are 80 listed types of sleep disorder, including insomnia, parasomnia, sleep paralysis, sleep apnoea, restless leg syndrome, narcolepsy, cataplexy, chronic fatigue, OSA, UARS, and PLMD.
Figure 7: Biophilic design is ‘an innovative and rapidly growing method of designing the spaces within which we live’.
Clearly, individual domestic spaces such as the long ‘unedited bedroom’ will have to be re-assessed in depth. We spend approximately a third of our life here; we may be conceived, delivered, and indeed die here. We ‘reboot’ our mind and body
OCTOBER 2019 | THE NETWORK
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