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After a long and bleak winter, and frankly a long and bleak year, imagining bright mornings, fresh air and a change of scene feels almost impossible. This March, of course, marks the anniversary of the first coronavirus pandemic lockdown in the UK. The pandemic has created stresses of illness, isolation and financial insecurity for many; the lockdowns have limited our exposure to nature, reduced physical activity, and have increased our screen time (who would have thought that we would still be in Zoom meetings and virtual pub quizzes???). The pandemic has become a possible turning point in health and wellbeing. Now, more than ever, we must move beyond conversation and towards implementation that encourages both physical and mental health in as many ways as possible. As the lockdown briefings often place responsibility on individuals to look after themselves and their community, it is equally important to remember the huge external influences on humans, such as the built environment. How much of our lives do we spend indoors? 80 per cent? 90? More? The design of the average building often leaves room for improvement. Emphasis is often placed on the time efficiency and profit of builds, as investing in real estate, land, and technology is sometimes considered over the actual purpose of buildings: to live, work, learn, or recover. Avoiding health and safety risks comes as a given, but a healthy environment is one in which there is not only an absence of harmful conditions but an abundance of health-promoting ones. The World Health Organization now defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing”, rather than purely an absence of disease. In the context of an ageing population, increasing obesity and rising mental health problems, a more holistic approach (where health is interdependent with wellbeing) is a necessary means of longterm prevention. In turn, productivity can be increased in schools and offices, whilst the length of hospital stays 4
can be reduced. With collaboration between the disciplines and industries of construction, architecture and urban planning, this magazine can almost serve as a design toolkit that can produce successful projects across a range of sectors (residential, commercial, healthcare, etc.) to encourage the health and wellbeing of building users. This magazine aims to encourage readers to change their mindset around health and wellbeing by providing an insight into the biology behind the impact of building design on humans.
