Building for mind, body and spirit

There is a direct relationship between our health and the man-made natural environments in which we live. In other words space is not neutral but affects the health of our bodies, minds and souls.  To help understand how our built environment affects our health, let's look at the three levels of body, mind and spirit individually and examine the impacts of 'design' on each one.

Buildings and the body
 
Much has been written about the negative effects on health of the West's increasingly sedentary lifestyles. But research also suggests that walking or cycling for just half an hour per day can have a significant improvement on our state of health.  Why don't we do it more?  Often because our towns make it nearly impossible! 

Much of our work at the Foundation for the Built Environment is about designing ‘walkable’ neighbourhoods.  This is the basic unit of town-making - providing a layout of houses and amenities that allows people to source their daily needs on foot - preferably within a five-minute walk (which is how far most people are prepared to go without getting a car out).  Designed this way, towns will become a pleasure to walk in - with streets overlooked by a mixture of houses and shops so that people feel safe, comfortable and 'entertained' in their walking by being able to see other pedestrians or shop window displays.

Buildings and the mind 

While the impact of environment on our physical bodies is largely acknowledged, the impact of environment upon mind and soul has been less easy to measure.  But thanks to new technologies which monitor the brain's activities, this area is becoming better understood, justifying the belief which we have held for some time - that a more considered and informed approach is needed when building houses, towns and cities in which human beings can flourish.
 
We care for our minds when we design easy to understand, well structured places where we can comfortably find our way around.  Places where we encounter a wide mix of amenities that interest us as well as providing opportunities for social interaction.
 
It is through human interaction and socialisation that people achieve a feeling of safety and comfort through the 'extended family'.  We believe there is a tangible link between human socialisation and happiness and between happiness and health.  Therefore it is important to build the public spaces between buildings as carefully as we design the buildings themselves.
 
We also recognise that stress and ill-health are exacerbated by poor environments.  How many hospitals do you know where it is impossible at first glance to see where the main entrance is?  Or once inside, to find your way easily to the ward you need? 
 
When buildings and the spaces between them are illegible in this way, people appear to suffer a higher degree of anxiety than if they can find their way around easily.  Therefore a house that looks like a house, a shop like a shop and a hospital like a hospital is the touchstone to navigating around the places we inhabit.  In a hospital setting, the problem of illegibility is compounded when it involves already sick or worried patients and visitors.  Get the space right in the first place and you can do away with much of the confusing signage all too frequent in hospitals today.
 
Another area of psychological impact is access to natural light and fresh air.  There is increasing evidence to suggest a link between post-operative recovery rates and access to natural light, ventilation and views of the natural world.    

Buildings and the soul
 
We believe that self-worth, a sense of direction, motivation, happiness and health exist in symbiosis.  The emergent study of the relationship between self-worth and building, or creating, places is one that interests us immensely.  We observe self-worth growing as a builder/maker engages in the art of building - rather than simply being asked to assemble a set of parts. 
 
In the same way that 'care' is absolutely essential to the healing of a patient we believe that 'care' is an essential element in the art of making things and that somehow we connect mind and soul by doing something very well - and we recognise this quality in true craftsmanship.  By incorporating tried and tested principles of beauty, craft and decoration in to the buildings and places we make, we affirm value of the maker who sees himself immortalised in his work, while allowing the user to enjoy the dignity and pleasure of using place that is truly well made.  At the moment this is very difficult to measure with a machine but its sanity and common wisdom seems to merit further investigation.

Making it work in the real world - 'Enquiry by Design'
 
You may think this kind of design aspiration is the preserve only of the richest and most altruistic developer.  But the Foundation for the Built Environment has seen these principles brought to bear time and again on practical projects through our ‘Enquiry by Design’ public consultation programme.  Whether designing an individual hospital or a whole town, Enquiry by Design brings developers, local authorities, statutory bodies and local people together to reach consensus on a new design for their community.  We have seen highly creative ideas emerge from this process - we have seen extraordinary enthusiasm and support build for a project (sometimes where opposition existed before) and we have seen real partnerships emerge. 
 
During the past two years, the Enquiry by Design process has helped shape new designs for three major hospital projects in London, Sunderland and Liverpool.  Hospitals are not isolated buildings; they are part of the wider built environment that affects the quality of life for the whole community.  Our role at the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment is to help those who design these vital buildings, to create not only good hospitals, but healthier neighbourhoods as well.