REFLECT THE MORPHOGENETIC NATURAL ORDER

#4 REFLECT THE MORPHOGENETIC NATURAL ORDER :

The environment that we have created in the past hundred years is at odds with the “ physical and psychological nature of people. . -[Lindholm 1985, p.24] ” As human beings we are part of nature, we are merely animals who have been conditioned by our environment and development, which has by default tenaciously dictated how we respond, think and act. In terms of evolution, “human beings lived for nearly 2 million years on the savannahs of East Africa,” [Kahn, 1999, p.9] by which open expanses of grassland (threats were always visible), large bodies of water (attracted animals), high canopied trees (unblocked views) and notable landmarks (for legibility) offered the greatest chances of survival. It is therefore unsurprising that certain natural landscapes that have, throughout history, encouraged reproductive success and survival would still continue today to“nurture human physiology and promote a sense of emotional well-being” [Kahn, 1999, p.13] This explains the current success of biophilic design (ie, “love of nature”) within architecture, as it promotes a “fundamental, genetically based human need and propensity to affiliate with life” [Kahn, 1999, p.2]. By means of sustained engagement with nature, with a focus on how people both positively interact and adapt to the natural world in order to advance health and fitness, biophilic design aims to “encourage ecologically connected, mutual reinforcing, [and] integrated design solutions,” [Kellert, 2015] that improve well-being. But how can the ‘avant-garde psychiatric unit’ incorporate biophilic design but take it a stage further?

morphogenesis

noun

1.BIOLOGY the origin and development of morphological characteristics.

2.GEOLOGY the formation of landforms or other structures. In contrast to the primitive architecture of our past, we no longer possess a morphogenetic [See Figure 4] understanding of the formation of the built environment, and have become detached and disconnected from an archetypal level of human experience “reaching across centuries, across continents, across cultures, across technology, across building materials and climates” [Wikipedia: The Nature of Order, 2019]. As the architect Christopher Alexander implores, we need to rediscover “living architecture” and its life-giving properties. He criticises modern techniques of building where every member of the team has their distinct roles and are divorced from seeing the “process itself as a budding, as a flowering, as an unpredictable, unquenchable unfolding through which the future grows from the present” [Alexander, 2002, p.12].

Figure 5: Harbin Opera House / MAD Architects.

As with morphogenesis, which is a gradual evolution of form, his theories insist that to create a “living” building, architecture must always embody, as with all classical architecture,“the trace of the processes of its construction” [Alexander, 2002, p.14]. As architects we are free to base architecture on life, to capture life, however in the past hundred years it could be said we have lost touch with this. So within the ‘avant-garde psychiatric unit’ a connection to nature is formed by expressing the craft of construction as it re-engages our primitive relationship to making. Equally important is the use of natural materials such as wood, as it has been proven to induce feelings of calm and reduce negative pattern thinking, anxiety and rumination associated with depression [The Building Centre, 2017] [See Figure 5].