Nurture the Human Experience
The readings for this week especially caught my attention because it relates very closely to my premise for our final semester’s comprehensive studio. My premise asks the question: how can architectural design nurture the human experience and the occupant’s mental health? I believe this relates very closely to Margaret Crawford’s idea of urbanism and her idea of the “every day”. Architects often neglect to provide the elements necessary to nurture the occupant’s day to day well-being because their focus is directed towards underused public spaces and building aesthetics instead of understanding the day to day dynamics and routines of each individual in the office and how architectural design can positively impact not only the singular individual’s mental health but the dynamics and success of the firm as well. Focusing design on the day to day elements that increase employees’ happiness has a positive impact since it leads to a 12% increase in productivity and establishes the workspace as a place for sharing ideas and company culture which is vital in times when more and more people are starting to work from home. The final outcome would be a very successful structure that moves away from trivial design decisions into more reflective ones that enhance people’s day-to-day experiences.
Thaly, I agree that we should be focusing on designing at a more human scale than we have been while still utilizing public spaces, albeit more successful than Crawford concludes. This means more collaboration with users, maybe even at an individual-to-individual basis where architects are spending more time understanding how the users will interact, share, and utilize the space, rather than focusing on the overall built form.
ReplyDeleteI think what Crawford intends for us to design this way for the spaces between. Not just emphasizing wellness in the built places we spend a majority of our time, but also the spaces in between, the sidewalks, the benches, the urban plazas. Imagine if we could design these spaces in a way that can positively impact people's well being as well.
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