While it is fairly easy to grasp the importance of architecture, have you stopped to think about the various ways it can not only impact our world and environment but also our mental wellbeing?
Homes and buildings can be dually purposed and positively impact the world around us. Builders can go green by utilizing sustainable energy sources.
As exciting as it is, you don’t have to be an outside observer of the changing face of architecture. You can get involved and enroll in a construction management school.
Dual Purpose
Homes and buildings do not have to have a single-use, i.e. a place to live, work or shop; in today’s world, our structures can also help the world around us.
For example, with the ever-increasing rainfall in Amsterdam, they are discussing requiring new buildings to have the ability to capture and store water which will then be released at a rate that would be manageable as to not overwhelm canals.
This green approach to buildings would keep damage caused by flooding to a minimum. It may sound too expensive to come to fruition, but the expenses could be absorbed by the builders and offset by tax relief.
Green Design
Green design architecture is cognizant of the impact it has on the environment and advocates conserving energy and using sustainable energy sources.
With a growing focus on how humans are negatively impacting the world we live in, it lends to reason how being a more socially responsible builder can be both appealing and useful.
Granted, regardless of the urgency, a green approach to buildings is far from the mainstream and is only in its infancy. However, that’s not to discount that there is an overwhelming appeal to building while reducing pollution and creating structures that harmonize with nature.
The growing appeal of eco-design, using plants in conjunction with design, is practiced in parts of Europe. For instance, Germany has gained popularity for its green, landscaped rooftops and Switzerland has ecological houses. Said ecological houses are covered with earth which minimizes natural abrasion and protects the home from the elements.
Architectural Impacts
Although a relatively new field, there has been a correlation established between architecture and how it affects or influences your mental health. Architectural psychology deals with exactly this.
Architectural psychology looks at how these structures directly relate to human behavior and the feelings associated with it. Although these impacts on your wellbeing are not immediately apparent, after some months, they are an identifiable manifestation.
The thought process behind these influences on your health stem from the understanding that your senses are responsible for your overall feelings, the way you think and, ultimately, your actions.
This theory purports that if the space you occupy promotes a sense of positivity, the effect will provide you with a sense of calmness. Inversely, if the atmospheric feeling is less than comfortable, it will lend to real, physiological responses that manifest themselves through anxiety, hypersensitivity, and lethargy.
When considering the structures we inhabit and our immediate surrounding areas, specifically our homes, the healthiest homes will be on fertile ground and thus promote positive self-esteem and personal evolution.
An illustration of this theory is apparent in neighborhoods with poor housing conditions that are subsequently wrought with crime and are a deterrent to furthering education and overall health-related issues.
Living in an area that promotes a positive experience and emotional attachment, people are more likely to feel a sense of responsibility and, therefore, the area will be less prone to neglect and/or vandalism.
In short, architecture is unavoidable and all around us and its usefulness can help both the world we live in and our mental health.
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