How is Interior Design influenced by wider cultural, commercial or other contexts?
Figure 1: Massachusetts General Hospital’s Lunder Building looking out onto a bamboo garden
In this essay I will be discussing a topic known as Biophilia. Biophilia is best described as the subconscious inclination to seek contact with nature and our surroundings and other forms of life. Biophilia incorporates nature, natural forms, materials and objects into our surroundings. Various studies and research has been carried out which suggests that this can promote happiness, health and people’s wellbeing. Studies have raised these questions and Designers are now looking at different ways the biophilic hypothesis can be incorporated into our surroundings. Biophilia is such a broad subject so I have chosen to look at it in relation to health and wellbeing and I will be discussing how this idea of such a simple placement of a plant, or a view out of a window can have a significant effect in improving our lives. ‘Humans evolve in a biological-non-artificial or manufactured-environment and continue to depend on ongoing contact with nature for their physical and mental wellbeing’ Kellert S.R (2005). Building for Life. Washington: Island Press.
I have chosen this topic as I am keen to explore how this subject has developed into design. Biophilia is a scientific term and it is fascinating to see how this can be linked to the design world. Can a view out of a window really speed up a patient’s recovery? We are all aware of how distressing terminal, short or long term illness can be. Research has been done into how the direct environment around you can help aid peoples recovery, rehabilitation and wellbeing. Just visualise being surrounded by medical apparatus, bland walls and no view. One of the initial key pieces of research concentrates on a Study by Roger Ulrich. This looked at 200 patients in a Pennsylvania hospital recovering from gall surgery over a nine year period. The study was to see how long patients took to recover and whether recovery had been improved by a natural rather than a predominantly clinical setting. Some of the hospital rooms looked out onto a small group of trees, the others onto a brick wall. The study excluded groups that were below 20 and over 69, those with a history of mental illness, and those who developed serious complications. This was to centralise the focus of patients with a similar background. “in summary, in comparison with the wall view, the patients with the tree view had shorter postoperative hospital stays, had fewer negative evaluative comments from nurses, took fewer moderate and strong analgesic doses, and had slightly lower scores for minor postsurgical complications…the results imply that hospital design and siting decisions should take into account the quality of patient window views.” Ulrich,R. (1984). View through a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery. Science, 224(4647), 420-421 This study highlighted that Biophilic Principles are very important to patient’s recovery. Simple things such as designing rooms so sunlight comes in at some point during the day, or if this is not possible, maybe pictures on the walls of nature, plants could help patient’s recovery. It is worth noting that these studies suggest great financial savings for Health services. If a patient’s time spent in hospital is reduced, medication used less frequently, surely the savings would have a huge impact on Health Service Budgets? This study shows us that design of buildings in healthcare may potentially have a seriously positive effect on people if exposed to nature. After all we have evolved from nature, so why would we not be inclined towards it.
Defined by the Psychoanalyst Fromm - “The passionate love of life and all that is alive”. Human Spaces. (2016) Human Spaces. Retrieved 8th December 2016 from http://humanspaces.com. This means that we all should respect all that is alive. We should not take anything for granted. Another example of Biophilia in practice was carried out by a Medical Group in France named COSEM. Two of their busy outpatient departments are in the centre of the building. Looking beyond the ideal situation that all buildings need to be designed with outside views, biophilic design looks to answer questions of how this biophilic hypothesis can be applied to situations where it is not possible to have a room with a view. Sky Factory who designed this space after researching cognitive neuroscience concluded “biophilic illusions can be deployed as a visual technology that rather than distract the mind with positive representational content, can reduce mental agitation as the observer resonates with the illusion’s perceived special properties, as well as positive emotional content”. The Sky Factory. (year unknown). Archinect. Retrieved 12th December 2012 from http://uk.archinect.com.
Figure 2: COSEM Medical Centre, Paris, France
The use of projective images on the ceiling through virtual skylights create the illusion of the changing sky. Biophilic Illusions create what can simply be described as a positive distraction. State of mind is such a powerful thing. Waiting to see a doctor in
a clinical environment can be unsettling. You may be waiting for life changing test results. This environment may lead into a more positive outcome for the subject reducing stress and negative emotional thoughts. Biophilia looks at the case against monotonous repetition. Room after room in a hospital along a corridor with no view to life outside is bound to have a negative effect upon our subconscious. Nature gives us forms that are organic and are a natural progression from the human mind. After all we are part of nature and we should strive to hold on to our roots. “at the end of the day, we cannot be healthy, think well, and flourish by abandoning or ignoring our primal context.� Sussmann A. & Hollander J.B. (2015) Cognitive Architecture-Designing for how we respond to the built environment. New York. Routledge.Our ancestors were consistently involved in the natural world. This connection must be readdressed by society. An extremely positive ongoing project across the world is something I will discuss next. Maggie Keswick Jenks was given three months to live back in 1995 after a cancer diagnosis. Whilst undergoing chemotherapy, she lived for a further eighteen months and strived to break the taboo of illness and developed an approach to cancer that had never been looked at before. She worked with nurses and doctors to decide what patients needed from a personal perspective. She decided that what they needed was support centres as this was not something that was available to those suffering from long term illness. Every year over 300,000 people are diagnosed with cancer and it is not only them who need support, it is their families too. Maggie believed that these centres needed to be warm, welcoming and uplifting places where patients and families could come together to seek advice, comfort and relax in a domestic and nonclinical atmosphere. A brief was developed for the architects who were to create these centres. Since the first Maggie’s centre was opened in 1995, more than fifteen centres across the world have been developed. The renowned architects have been selected to fulfil the brief are of the highest profile and include the late Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster and Frank Gehry.
Figures 3 & 4: Maggies Centre, Larnarkshire, designed by Reiach and Hall
“Maggie's Centre’s are an attempt to convey the power of that imagination into built form; wonderful buildings making the most of little things—views, greenery, the changing sky, or nearby water” Heathcoate, E.
(2006) Maggie’s Centres. British Medical Journal, 333, 1304.
Retrieved from https:www.bmj.com. The famous architect Norman Foster who cleverly designed the Maggie’s Centre in his hometown of Manchester believes that these places offer a refuge to victims of the disease
Figures 5 & 6: Maggie’s Centre, Manchester, designed by Norman Foster
and a different perspective than your typical hospital setting. The buildings are removed of institutional references that may evoke feelings of worry or uncertainty. Such attributes of the space he created include neutral furnishings, natural light, open and secluded areas if privacy is needed. The windows in Norman Foster’s design allow light throughout the building at all times. It has high ceilings which removes the feeling claustrophobia. The illusion of outside in- with vast flowing wings
across the side of the building that have trailing foliage. The natural timber frame is visible from the inside and out showing a natural form. The Biophilic Hypothesis looks to connect the built environment with the natural environment. Linking outside with in. There are many other areas within design, not just Healthcare in which biophilia is being developed. The workplace is now being adapted to fit today’s employee. Studies have shown that employee productivity has improved with incorporating such small changes as introducing more natural light, reducing excess noise and keeping the temperature in an office cool. Productivity is proven to improve with small biophilic steps such as these. Similar principles are applied throughout educational buildings and retail spaces. It is interesting to see how these simple principles can be applied to almost any interior design situation. Enjoying the fresh flow of air through a house on a warm sunny day when all the windows are open is an example of how biophilia affects us as humans. It could be argued that designs and materials used in biophilic practices have more visually appealing qualities. Cost is usually a key factor/given reason/excuse for not involving biophilic ideas as standard in the process of design. It is assumed that biophilic design is not cost effective. I think in this current day though, views are slowly changing, people are becoming increasingly more concerned for the environment having such issues as climate change on the front of the news headlines regularly. Evidence based design is being adopted by some Designers are looking for innovative approaches towards all aspects of their work. Although I would raise the question that surely adding such a thing as more windows to add natural light into a building, how much more would this cost, would this really amount to a lot? Biophilic design works in harmony with the natural world. If designers were able to look beyond their budget and look at how a human being benefits from their surroundings, rather than making assumptions on how they ‘think’ a space best works for those who inhabit it, we would be moving in the direction that is so desperately needed. Governments need to make more of an effort to research Biophilic Design and this would hopefully lead to Policy’s being implemented within the Public sectors. There has been arguably not a single piece of research upon the Biophilic Hypothesis that has overwritten current practices within design, so therefore the current practice prevails. Studies are complex and diverse, and may take years to
compile. Therefore, designers tend to stick with the tried and tested processes they know. I think if there were more people in favour of developing natural systems of the Biophilic design process we would be moving in the right direction for future generations to live longer and happier lives. The natural environment would not be taken for granted and people would learn to look after it, and if we don’t, future generations will inevitably suffer as surely happiness and health is of paramount importance to all.
Reference List
Heathcoate, E.
(2006) Maggie’s Centre’s. British Medical Journal, 333, 1304.
Retrieved from https:www.bmj.com. Human Spaces. (2016) Human Spaces. Retrieved 8th December 2016 from http://humanspaces.com. Kellert S.R.(2005) Building for Life. Washington: Island Press. The Sky Factory. (year unknown). Archinect. Retrieved 12th December 2012 from http://uk.archinect.com Sussmann A. & Hollander J.B. (2015) Cognitive Architecture-Designing for how we respond to the built environment. New York. Routledge. Ulrich,R. (1984). View through a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery. Science, 224(4647), 420-421
Figure 1: Massachusetts General Hospital’s Lunder Building looking out onto a bamboo garden (Source: www.Greenhealthmagazine.org, N.D.) Figure
2:
COSEM
Medical
Centre,
Paris,
France
(Source:
www.lacompagnieduciel.com, N.D.) Figures 3 & 4: Maggie’s Centre, Lanarkshire, designed by Reiach and Hall (Source: www.reiachandhall.co.uk , N.D.) Figures 5: Maggie’s Centre, Manchester, designed by Norman Foster (Source: www.designboom.com, 2016) Figure 6: Maggie’s Centre, Manchester, designed by Norman Foster (Source:www.propertydesign.pl, N.D.)