Hygge: Notes for an Architecture of Community, Wellness and Stewardship

Hygge An Attempted Translation & Notes for an Architecture of Community, Wellness and Stewardship

James Wilson

Copyright Š 2016 James Wilson All rights reserved.

Hygge An Attempted Translation & Notes for an Architecture of Community, Wellness and Stewardship

James Wilson

(*“Hygge is... a willingness to be moved.�)

This is for those willing to be moved.

Acknowledgments

This project would not have been possible without the generous support of the University of Michigan, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and the George G. Booth Traveling Fellowship.

Laura Dillon was, as always, the best kind of traveling companion and an invaluable source of energy and support throughout. I could not imagine a better, more luminous person to spend a cold dark Scandinavian winter with.

Betina Brandstrup provided crucial information and advice regarding Denmark and Danish culture - but I am especially grateful for her tremendous encouragement and confidence in me. Her enthusiasm to support me in this endeavor has always been energizing.

I’d also like to thank the many individuals we encountered throughout our time in Denmark for their welcoming warmth and kindness - but especially for their trust and openness in sharing their personal stories and definitions of hygge with me.

“For building is not merely a means and a way toward dwelling - to build is in itself already to dwell.” ...

“Only if we are capable of dwelling, only then can we build.”

-Martin Heidegger

Table of Contents Preface Part I : Translating hygge Elements of Danish social space

Part II: Designing with hygge Architecture for wellness, community, stewardship

Part III: Learning from hygge Proposals for cultural transformation through architecture

Image: Kompa’9, Copenhagen / J. Wilson

Preface This investigation of the Danish concept of hygge - specifically as it might relate to the theory and practice of a more nourishing and more “sustainable” architecture - was initiated with travel to Denmark in the winter of 2014/2015 as the recipient of the 2014 George G. Booth Traveling Fellow - an annual travel grant awarded by the University of Michigan, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

The selection of hygge as a research topic originally came out of a critique of the recently launched WELL Building Standard and related human health initiatives in the building industry [see: Healthy Building Network, Living Building Challenge, LEED Materials Ingredients credits]. These standards and rating systems focus primarily on physical aspects of human health, especially concerning exposure to material components, with minimal attention paid to social and emotional aspects of wellbeing. While it is inarguably essential that our buildings protect and support the health of our bodies, it is equally essential that our buildings provide for the sustenance of our minds and spirits. It is the profound difference between merely providing a shelter from the elements and providing a place in which to dwell.

The hypothesis that hygge may be a useful object of study in regard to the relationship between human wellness and the built environment is based on the fact that Denmark is consistently highly ranked in comparative evaluations of quality of life and “happiness1.” [see: UNDP Human Development Index, Numbeo Quality of Life Index, OECD Better Life Index, World Happiness Report, The Legatum Prosperity Index, Good Country Index] [see: The Happiness Research Institute: “The Happy Danes” report] As hygge is a central feature of the Danish cultural identity and a basic element in the everyday

Images: Danish postage stamps depicting kolonihave

social life of Danes, it seems evident that it plays a significant role in the quality of life experienced in that society. Hence, for architects seeking to create buildings that enhance human life, hygge is a valuable concept to investigate.

Denmark also regularly ranks very high on indexes measuring relative environmental awareness and performance [see: Global Green Economy Index, Environmental Performance Index, European Green Cities Index]. It is argued here that hygge plays a critical role in this aspect of Danish society as well, and is therefore all the more worthwhile a topic of concern for architects invested in the production of ecologically responsive buildings.

My intention herein is to offer an effective translation of hygge by way of explicating how it affects the way Danes produce and use space. Following this attempt at translation I will offer, based on my own interpretation of hygge, a set of proposals for how certain aspects of hygge might influence the way we design for human wellness and ecological health. To conclude, I will discuss how particular elements of hygge may provide guidance in the development of new cultural values and practices and the role that architecture might play in fostering these cultural transformations.

[Wiking, 2014]

See Levisen, 2014, for a critique of the use of “happiness� for cross-national comparisons and a discussion of Danish lykke.

1

Image: Anna Ancher, Light on the wall in the blue room, ca. 1890

hygge (n.)

Pronunciation: hue-gah From Old Danish hyggæ, from Old Norse hyggja (“to think”), from ProtoGermanic hugjaną (“to think, reconsider”).

hygger (v.)

Pronunciation: hue-gahr “to have hygge” / “to do hygge” / “to practice hygge” “to be together in a hyggelig way” / “to be by oneself in a hyggelig way” “at hygge sig” = “to hygge oneself / themselves” hyggelig (adj.)

Pronunciation: hue-gah-lee “hygge-like” hyggespreder (n.)

Pronunciation: hue-gah-spredər “someone who spreads hygge” råhygge (n.)

Pronunciation: rar-hue-gah “raw hygge” / “strong, authentic hygge” uhygge (n.)

Pronunciation: oo-hue-gah “sinister atmosphere, eeriness” uhyggelig (adj.)

Pronunciation: oo-hue-gah-lee “scary, grim”

Image: a home in Esbjerg / J. Wilson

“The modern Danish word “hygge” originates from “hyggja, hycgan, hugjan” (Old Norse, Old English, Gothic) with the meaning “think, consider, feel”. The word still exists in Middle Scottish as “huik” (regard, consider). Thus, the concept of the word is a state of mind, created by certain rituals in behaviour and physical surroundings.”

-Rebecca Parker Payne “…[T]he form hygge is a late 19th Century loan, derived from a Norwegian verb meaning ‘to console, to encourage.’”

-Carsten Levisen “The origin of the word hygge is Norwegian and Old Nordic. It means seeking refuge, protection, and shelter from the raging of the outside elements.”

-Bente D. Knudsen

Image: winter in Copenhagen / J.Wilson

Part I : Translating hygge Elements of Danish social space

The Danish word hygge is not easily translated into English. Using only the word “coziness,� as many have when attempting to describe the meaning of hygge in English, does not come near to encapsulating all that the concept involves. To translate hygge in such a reductive way is to rob ourselves of the full experience of a profound and complex phenomenon. The more time one spends with hygge - the more carefully one examines it, as I have in the course of this research - the clearer it becomes that it is much more than just a charming cultural curiosity, as so many travelers to Denmark seem to so enthusiastically present it.

Though it may initially seem to be a fairly straightforward and neatly contained idea, hygge involves an intricate web of various interwoven themes and ideas.

This project was undertaken in an attempt to draw out these composite themes in order to craft a fuller, more meaningful translation of such a densely layered and involved concept.

It was understood in the preliminary stage of inquiry that a significant element of hygge is social interaction. Accordingly, the project proceeded and developed through a series of interviews and social encounters in which native Danes were asked to share their personal definitions or interpretations of hygge. The information gathered through these conversations established the fact that the meaning of hygge will vary from person to person, from family to family, and from situation to situation.

Having discussed hygge with a wide range of Danish individuals, each of whom has experienced hygge in the context of a different personal history, it is my understanding that hygge means the same thing, in a general way, to all Danes

Images: restored farmhouse in Esbjerg / J. Wilson

(based on a shared cultural identity) while simultaneously meaning different and often very specific things to each individual Dane (based on private personal identity). While some Danes may have a loose and wide-ranging interpretation, applying the idea to many activities, situations and things, for others it is more strictly defined, dependent on and reserved for specific occasions, settings or events. One may conclude from this that hygge can really only ever be meaningfully understood through the consideration of multiple, varying interpretations.

What follows is a discussion of the major component elements of hygge and the various themes I have identified as being fundamental to it. This content is primarily based on the information I’ve gathered through interviews with native Danes. (In some places I’ve included excerpted quotes from these conversations (in parentheses, marked with an asterisk). Supplementary resources are noted throughout.)

It is hoped that, by offering this dissected view of hygge, its deeper significance as a cultural construct will be grasped more meaningfully by the reader.

(*“Hygge is a slippery concept.”) (*“Leave it open - each person will say hygge is something different.”) (*“It’s so vague, but it’s also very fixed. It’s a difficult concept. Even though everyone knows when it is not there.”)

Image: Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior. Artificial Light, 1909. Oil on canvas, 69 x 92.2 cm

Atmosphere Hygge may be best understood as an atmosphere that arises organically out of the confluence of certain social, sensory and spatial qualities. Hygge is something that is inhabited, it is experienced diffusely and peripherally - an enclosing, embracing essence. The minimum experiential elements of a hyggelig (hygge-like) atmosphere include: a sense of comfort, contentment and security and, in a communal atmosphere of hygge, a shared feeling of openness, trust and equality.

Generally, an atmosphere of hygge is consciously and intentionally produced by its inhabitants. It can be produced through social, material, and spatial means. In this way, hygge may also be understood as a socio-spatial practice that produces a hyggelig atmosphere.

An atmosphere of hygge may be produced and experienced by a solitary individual or by a group of individuals If an atmosphere of hygge is to be collectively experienced by a group of individuals, then a specific social attitude or behavior is required of all participants. (*“You cannot point it out. You can sense that it is there, but cannot exactly say ‘Oh there it is’ - or you cannot orchestrate it… Hygge is a kind of atmosphere.

It’s not a thing - but the problem is that it’s also a thing.”)

[Bille, 2012; 2013; 2015] Hyggelig Sociality Shared atmospheres of social interaction are a central component of hygge.

One practices hygge with others in a social setting by striving to offer “sheltering encouragement.” This means making those who you are with feel that they can be safely vulnerable and open. By acting open and vulnerable with those around you, you are showing that you trust them and giving them reason to trust you in return. This building of trust together forms the basis of a hyggelig social gathering.

Though often a space may be physically arranged to “set the stage” for shared hygge in a social setting, the spatial and material aspects of the setting alone will not guarantee that hygge is produced. Hygge may emerge even in the absence of any hyggelig materials or spatial organization. The behavior and mood of the participants in the social setting are, however, essential to the production of

Images: self-built houses, Christiania / clockwise from upper left: seier+seier (flickr), Christina Nellemann, .erin (flickr), Christina Nellemann, Tayfun YÄąlmaz, Jaafar Mestar

a hyggelig atmosphere. Hygge will not exist in a social situation that is absent of hyggelig attitudes and emotions.

There is a particular social attitude and behavior that shared hygge depends on: those participating in a hyggelig gathering agree to generally focus only on agreeable things, to be humble and generous, to avoid any sort of selfpromotion or self-centeredness, to place themselves on the “same level” as everyone else, to behave in an open and trusting manner. These common guidelines ensure that a hyggelig social setting will always be a promise of sanctuary, easy comfort, security, and trust.

To be hyggelig, in a social sense, is to act intentionally and with a willingness to participate, be present, and to put time, controversy and disagreements aside.

Someone who is characteristically a good listener - someone who is especially intimate, attentive, and empathetic - someone who makes those around him feel safe, calm and at ease - may be described as a very hyggelig person. One might think of a hyggelig person as an individual who is surrounded by an “aura” or “miniature atmosphere” of hygge. To be near a very hyggelig person is to be affected - or “infected” - by that person’s “radiant field” of hygge. (*“For me, hygge is all about the human interaction - the pleasantness of friends dropping in unexpected.”) (*“Danes may seem rude - they keep themselves closed-off until they feel comfortable or safe - but then they let you in - in a genuine way.”) (*“If you are the one preventing a gathering from being hyggelig, you will know it and you will not be comfortable.”)

[Hansen, 1970, 1976, 1980] Affect Hygge may also be understood as an affect - a particular, complex emotion that is similar to the feeling of being at-home.

When we inhabit an atmosphere of hygge, we have a hyggelig emotion, but a hyggelig emotion could also be triggered by the experience of things other than a distinct hyggelig atmosphere. For example, the unexpected recalling of a

Image: near Christmastime at Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen / J. Wilson

memory may cause us to feel hygge. Or a serendipitous encounter with an old acquaintance or even a friendly stranger can trigger a fleeting hyggelig emotion. (*“Hygge is about being open to the unexpected.”)

The experience of hygge seems to entail more than feeling simply happy, content or comfortable. These feelings may constitute the most immediate, surface level of the hyggelig feeling, but, crucially, the experience of hygge must also involve a certain added emotional depth. This depth may be considered a certain perspective or orientation toward one’s surroundings or environment.

Perhaps it can be conceived as a kind of gladness, gratitude or affection directed outward. It has to do with a certain level of awareness of one’s situation the conscious association of one’s comfort with one’s physical and/or social surroundings.

Related to this, the practice of hygge seems to be fundamentally dependent on a condition of openness. In order to produce and experience an atmosphere of hygge, you must be genuinely receptive to your surrounding environment. To feel hygge is to feel a kind of open, trusting kinship and empathy with everything around you. It entails a readiness to be affected - a willingness to feel something deeply and be moved by it. The experience of hygge involves a specific form of vulnerability - a kind of trustful and confident or enthusiastic vulnerability.

This means that, in order for a group of individuals to produce and experience hygge together, each person must behave in an authentic, trustworthy way - each must offer sheltering encouragement to the others so that each can feel able to be safely vulnerable and open.

Hygge is an emotion that can be experienced at varying levels of intensity. For example, the more intimate, familiar and trusted the companion, the more open and vulnerable one can be and thus the more intense the feeling of hygge experienced. Råhygge (”raw hygge”) is the term used to describe the most acute experiences of hygge. Råhygge is generally experienced on very special occasions, in very special places and/or under very special circumstances.

There is often an element of nostalgia involved in hyggelig emotion. To reminisce about past experiences of hygge is another way to produce a hyggelig atmosphere.

In general, to spend time recalling the past events of one’s life may produce a particular kind of melancholy or pensive hyggelig emotion. This way of being lost in reverie, of losing track of time while being perfectly content to sit daydreaming, can be an intensely hyggelig experience. It is a way of taking refuge in one’s thoughts and memories.

Image: Kompa’9, Copenhagen / J.Wilson

The effects of hygge are lasting. The experience of hygge leaves one feeling restored. Having inhabited an atmosphere of hygge for a length of time, one feels appreciative and grateful.

One may also experience a kind of “pre-hyggelig” emotion while preparing for and anticipating an event that is expected to be hyggelig. This way of lookingforward-to-hygge can be its own form of nourishing comfort. (*“Hygge is related to the anticipation of an event - like the preparing of a special meal.”)

Home Hygge is strongly related to the home. Though hygge can potentially be produced and practiced anywhere, the home, for many, is the most traditional and most frequent setting for hygge.

The experience of hygge is in many ways very similar to the feeling of athomeness. As a concept, hygge shares many themes with the concept of home: comfort, security, identity, tradition.

To practice hygge is to make oneself and those one is with, feel at-home.

Hygge may be considered a specifically Danish variation of at-homeness. hjemmehygge : “home-hygge” Interiority Hygge can potentially be produced in any setting, indoors or out, but a sense of interiority or enclosure - whether based on actual material conditions or perceived via social or atmospheric means - is essential. To “have hygge” with another is to feel as though you are co-inhabiting an intimate, bounded space.

Corners, nooks, and alcoves are “hygge-ready” spaces because they offer a strong sense of envelopment and are conducive to intimacy.

[Linnet, 2015]

Images: kolonihaver : “garden allotments� / from top: Michael Levenston, Tavs Roworth, Johanna Ekmark

Security Hygge is dependent on the experience of security. A hyggelig atmosphere is a refuge - its occupants are sheltered from emotions like fear and anxiety. To feel hyggelig is to feel safe, calm, confidently situated and secure in one’s location.

The regular practice and experience of hygge can contribute to a more pervasive sense of security and stability in one’s life.

Belonging To experience hygge is to feel a sense of belonging - both to one’s culture and to one’s immediate environment. To feel hyggelig in a certain space or situation is to feel an abiding, penetrating sense of “rightness” or balance. It has to do with an intensely confident feeling of “fitting-in” - such that one feels absolutely no need or desire to be elsewhere.

Comfort The comfort associated with hygge goes beyond the physical. The experience of hygge is as much about feeling psychological and emotional comfort as it is about an embodied state of coziness or warmth. An experience of hygge not only provides sensory restoration and physical relaxation, it also affects one’s mood and state of mind. An hyggelig setting or situation is generally free of negative emotions like anxiety, frustration, anger and animosity.

The kind of comfort experienced in a hyggelig setting or atmosphere has also to do with consolation and solace - a nourishing sense of relief from the concerns and struggles of everyday life.

To be comfortable in a hyggelig way is to experience a deep sense of satisfaction with one’s circumstances and surroundings.

Equality The experience of hygge involves feelings of affinity, attunement and rapport with one’s surroundings, especially, in the context of shared hygge, with the other participants. This sense of equality, of being “on the same level” as those around you, is an imperative element of hygge and could be said to extend even to the inanimate components of one’s environment.

Image: house constructed from reclaimed materials in Christiania / seier+seier (flickr)

To experience hygge is to recognize a kind of “equality” with things - to recognize that one is inextricably interconnected with all others and with all that exists.

It is the consciousness of oneself as enmeshed in the world, interwoven with all else. In this way, hygge involves a kind of ecological perspective and way of thinking about the world. This is equality in its most basic, primal sense: we are “equal” with all others and all things because everyone and everything is entangled with each other, no one and no thing can ever really be separate..

It is this feeling and understanding of interconnectedness and interwovenness that allows us to feel safe and that we belong. It allows for meaning to be produced, but it also allows us to grow and evolve, to take risks and try new things in the pursuit of better ways of living. In this way, I would argue that hygge can be a generative atmosphere and emotion. An atmosphere of hygge can affect one’s ideals, fostering aspirations of an improved quality and way of life. (*“Danes are not competitive - they try to keep everyone on the same level - as a society it seems to work well.”) [see also: Folkehøjskole : folk high school] [see also: Janteloven : The Law of Jante] Presence Hygge is about presence. To practice hygge is to cultivate the ability to be genuinely present.

Hygge emerges when the participants in a social event all commit to the present moment. An atmosphere of hygge is maintained through the attention and presence of those gathered.

Hygge is a variety of presence, characterized by a trusting openness and a sense of secure belonging.

Trust Trust is a prerequisite for hygge. Hygge will not be produced in any situation lacking trust.

Image: Dannebrog (the flag of Denmark) in a home in Aarhus / J. Wilson

In a an atmosphere of shared hygge, trust is experienced both as something directed toward others and as something that is received from others. Each participant must feel she can trust the others - but also, she must feel trusted by the others.

A hyggelig atmosphere is one of authenticity. To “have hygge” with others is to both earnestly present one’s authentic self to the others and to witness the authentic selves of the others in a sheltering and encouraging way.

In order to experience hygge in a place, one must trust that place. Beyond feeling safe and secure in a place, one must feel that he “knows” something about the place - that he can understand something of the “logic” of the place.

Cultural Identity Hygge is a practice conditioned and reinforced by Danish culture. It is a culturally inherited spatial, material and social sensibility. Though other cultures may have an equivalent or close approximation of the concept [see: gemütlichkeit, German; koselig, Norwegian; gezelligheid, Dutch] it seems that Danish society is perhaps the only one to frame this particular type of social and spatial practice as a specific, primary feature of its cultural identity.

A significant part of being Danish is having a special and intentional awareness and appreciation for the values that revolve around the concept of hygge. To actively seek out and habitually cultivate hyggelig settings, situations and events seems to be an explicit component of Danish social behavior.

Hygge appears to be a significant part of everyday Danish life - unlike in other cultures, where experiences of comfort, security, and familiarity are perhaps less explicitly embroidered into the day-to-day lives or identities of individuals.

Hygge seems to form the basis for Danes’ cultural self-understanding. It is used

by Danes to both understand themselves and as a way to describe themselves to others. (*Hygge is something Danes are brought to know how to do.”) (*“Hygge is something Danes live.”)

Image: Jens Juel, Attempt to Paint the Aurora Borealis, 1790s

(*“Hygge is something we strive for as a group, or collective.” ... “We will talk openly about a situation or setting that is not hyggelig.”)

[Hansen, 1980; Jenkins, 2012; Kingsley, 2014] Personal Identity The practice and experience of hygge varies from person to person based on personal history. Each individual develops her own sense of what hygge is and feels like through the accumulation of life experiences and memories. The particular description that one offers for what hygge is speaks to that person’s identity, constructed slowly over time as the person moves through the world and experiences different things.

The practice of hygge is a form of self-expression - a way of presenting one’s identity to others and a way of projecting one’s identity into one’s living environment. (*“Hygge is a very individual thing.”) (*“The definition of hygge - the individual definition - changes as one grows older.”) (*“Danes tend to seek out different or quirky apartments to rent - there is an emphasis on unique, personalized space.”) (*“My friend who lives in Copenhagen - she’s a bit hippy-ish - I went to visit her home and she had this purple couch that was very “her” - this was hygge.”)

Ritual Hygge is often associated with the performance of rituals. The performing of a ritual can be a way to “set the stage” for and maintain an atmosphere of hygge.

A hyggelig ritual might involve something simple like lighting candles or building a fire, or it might be more choreographed and involved, like preparing a meal or playing a special game.

An individual may have private rituals that are used to create personal atmospheres of hygge. For example, one may always go for a walk or listen to a certain album in order to activate a hyggelig mood.

Image: a home in Aarhus / J.Wilson

Families and communities may have shared rituals that are used to produce collective atmospheres of hygge. For example, many Danish families perform specific rituals together at Christmastime to create hygge. A common example of a Christmastime ritual is to decorate the Christmas tree with candles and dance around it holding hands. In addition to this kind of popular ritual, each family may have its own very unique rituals. (*“My husband has always gone on long walks to find calm. This was never my thing - but now I do it with him and am starting to find it hyggelig.”)

Tradition Hygge is often associated with the observation of traditions. The particular way in which an individual practices or experiences hygge will be largely shaped by the different traditions he has observed and been taught throughout his life.

For some, hygge may always be practiced according to a certain tradition. Hygge is both a cultural and personal heritage. One’s perspective on hygge and the role of hygge in one’s life will be based on the values and practices that person has inherited. (*“How one defines hygge depends on how one was brought up - on one’s childhood - the traditions one learns as a child are carried through to adulthood.”)

Memory Remembrance and nostalgia may often be interwoven with the production and experience of hygge. The recalling of past experiences of hygge may serve to ignite an atmosphere of hygge or be used to maintain and amplify it.

One’s personal memories of comfort and security will affect how one practices hygge. Such memories serve as guides in the production of hyggelig atmospheres.

To indulge in a reverie of reminiscence is a form of private hygge. The sharing and retelling of communal memories is a form of collective hygge.

The act of remembering itself is central to a practice of hygge. When we recall experiences from our pasts we are sheltering ourselves in memories and nourishing and reinforcing our sense of identity.

Image: at Grenen, Skagen / J.Wilson

The refuge offered by an atmosphere of hygge allows us to safely get lost in our memories.

By consciously and intentionally remembering past events and experiences we are fostering a more meaningful, hyggelig relationship with time.

Place An atmosphere of collective hygge may be thought of as an ephemeral microplace - a sphere of shared meaning and significance carved out of the larger expanse of time and space.

Hygge can be a place-making practice. The practice of hygge can add meaning to a spatial setting, thus transforming that space into a place. The more regularly a space is used for the practice of hygge, the more that space will take on the quality of a place.

For different individuals and families, hygge may be associated with certain significant places. One’s childhood home is often a site dense with hyggelig emotion.

Certain sites in Denmark are recognized as important for all Danes and the experience of such places can cause a hyggelig emotion. For example, Grenen (The Branch), the point along the coast in Skagen where the Strait of Skagerrak and the Kattegat Sea meet with awe-inspiring violence, is a very meaningful place for all Danes. To be in a place like Grenen, especially when accompanied by those who are familiar and cared for, can cause a very powerful hyggelig emotion. (*“Aarhus is considered Denmark’s most hyggelig city.”) (*“Being here is a very special thing ... you have to be open to hyggelig experiences.”)

Agency Hygge is a practice. It is something Danes do. It is a form of conscious and intentional action to produce a particular, desired atmosphere or cause a specific emotion.

Image: Helga Ancher, Sankt Hans Bonfire on Skagen Beach

Hygge is an act of appropriation. In order to produce an atmosphere of hygge, a group or an individual may temporarily or permanently appropriate a space or setting. An environment may be made hyggelig by “marking” it with identity. A group may reconfigure a space to “match” its shared identity, or an individual may embed a room with her identity through acts of customization and decoration.

An environment that is flexible and that allows for and even encourages adaptation supports the production of hygge.

Insofar as it involves the production of a particular atmosphere that can influence desires, behavior and action, hygge is a political practice. To participate in the production of hygge is to make a political statement by declaring a preference for a certain quality of social interaction. To practice hygge is to express support for the values inherent to hygge: equality, trust, openness, cohesion.

The effects of practicing hygge can be lasting and consequential, reinforcing positive social behavior and values. The practice of hygge within a family or community strengthens bonds and commitments.

The relatively high level of political participation in Denmark may be partly due to the prevalence of the practice of hygge. The regular observance and experience of hyggelig values and the resulting impact on one’s sense of agency must contribute to a strong sense of shared responsibility and commitment to one’s society.

Naturalness Although one can take certain social and/or spatial actions in order to facilitate or “set the stage” for an atmosphere of hygge, it cannot be forcibly produced.

In general, a hyggelig atmosphere feels natural - nothing about it feels manufactured or contrived. The experience of hygge as something genuine encourages one to be open and trusting. (*“Hygge most often arises organically - you can expect hygge but never guarantee it.”)

Image: early evening in Aarhus / J.Wilson

Hyggelig Time To experience hygge is to experience a temporary escape from time. An atmosphere of hygge is a space carved out from the ever-ongoing flow of time.

To practice hygge is to be aware only of the present moment.

Hygge is slow. For an event to be hyggelig, it must not be rushed. To practice hygge is to praise and celebrate slowness. Typically, when Danes gather for a hyggelig meal, it is a slow, extended affair.

To rush, or to pay too much attention to the time is to show a lack of commitment to the event or gathering and consequently the event will not be experienced as hyggelig.

To practice hygge is to cultivate a more conscious and intentional relationship with time. Associated with hygge is the aspiration for a slower, more deliberate way of life.

Danes are recognized for having a “healthy” work-leisure balance. Most Danes are careful to be very considerate with how they use their time, making sure to devote space in their schedules for activities they find nourishing, restorative and meaningful. To practice hygge is to use one’s time according to one’s wishes. (*“Hygge exists outside of time.”) (*“When you are experiencing hygge, time warps, you lose track of time.”) (*“In a hyggelig moment, participants tend to lose track of time passing.”) (*“With hygge, the time flies.”)

Language Language can be a tool for producing and maintaining an atmosphere of hygge.

To declare an event or gathering as hyggelig is to express one’s desire for hygge and to encourage hyggelig emotion in others. When participating in a hyggelig event with others, the acknowledgment of the presence of hygge can be a way to reinforce or amplify it.

Image: a home in Copenhagen / J. Wilson

Hygge is woven into the Danes’ everyday language. In Denmark, when friends meet each other again after a previous gathering or event, they will say “Det var hyggeligt!” - which translates to something like: “That was hyggelig!” When parting ways, Danes will often say “Kan du hygge dig!” - roughly: “Have hygge!”

These colloquial sayings, used frequently in daily social encounters, are a way for Danes to regularly emphasize the importance of hyggelig values and serve to embed hygge into the fabric of everyday life in Denmark.

[Levisen, 2012] Creativity To engage in a creative activity can be a hyggelig experience. An individual may have a regular creative practice through which he is able to produce a private atmosphere of hygge. The experience of hygge in this context may be likened to “the flow state” - a state of total immersion, involvement and focus.

The practice of hygge often involves the projection of one’s identity out into one’s environment - the personalization or adaptation of one’s living space.

This appropriation of space can be achieved through creative acts. (*“Knitting and quilting are hyggelig activities - using my hands - being creative - spending hours planning and calculating a design - remembering where different pieces of fabric came from - who gave them to you - or why each piece is significant.”) (* It’s hygge when I can see her and know she is very involved with figuring out a quilt.”)

Community [shared hygge] Hygge is a form of inhabiting space together.

Hygge is most often described as a shared atmosphere - an atmosphere that is produced by or emerges out of a social gathering of intimate friends and family.

Hygge as a communal experience involves feelings of commitment and responsibility. Those sharing a hyggelig atmosphere not only feel affection for one another, they also feel a sense of obligation to one another. Individuals

Image: Peter Vilhelm Ilsted, Girl Reading a Letter in an Interior, 1908

practicing hygge together are all equally responsible for the comfort and security of all the participants.

The fact that many Danes participate in voluntary work may be related to the practice of hygge and its focus on communal values. [see also: bofællesskab : co-housing] Solitude [private hygge] Hygge is not only experienced in group settings. It is not dependent on social interaction with others. An individual can “have hygge” by oneself, in private.

To practice hygge by oneself is not only to restore the energy and attention one needs to practice hygge with others, it is also to strengthen or further develop one’s identity or sense of self. To “hygge oneself ” is to create a safe and secure zone for the intense examination of one’s identity - the thorough investigation of one’s values, beliefs and desires.

Hygge is a form of fertile solitude. -When one experiences hygge in private, she is performing a kind of “self-care” - and she is cultivating a hyggelig sociality, reinforcing her own ability to share hygge with others. By taking time to “hygge oneself,” one is strengthening their “hygge skill” - making oneself better able to practice hygge in a communal setting.

Ideally, hygge is practiced both by oneself and with others on a regular basis.

Each form of hygge is a distinct experience - but the experience of each affects the experience of the other. (*“I practice hygge when I wake up in the morning, before anyone else is up - I light candles or the fire and drink my first cup of coffee on the couch, maybe with a blanket - I really like that - to have the time alone to wake up, make plans for the day - away from everyone else for a bit.”) (*“I can have hygge by being alone with a book.”)

Images: Grønsagen, Christiania / Noam Ofir

The Body Hygge often involves an embodied, sensory experience: the sight of a flickering candle or the dancing flames of a fire, the experience of thermal warmth, the taste of a favorite or luxuriant food or drink, the familiar scent of one’s childhood home, the soft touch of a woven sweater or blanket. A sensory experience may produce a hyggelig emotion or it may trigger a memory that in turn causes a hyggelig feeling.

The practice of hygge often involves sensory indulgence. Sensory experiences traditionally associated with hygge include: warmth, softness, sweetness, quietness. The sound of familiar music or the flavor of a favorite food may also be considered common sensory experiences that can contribute to the production of a hyggelig atmosphere. hyggemusik : hygge-music Hyggelig Light Generally, low-level or dim warm light is most often associated with a hyggelig atmosphere. Danes use candles frequently, in many situations, both during the day and at night. Lighting candles in a space may be the most immediate way to “set the stage” for hygge as candlelight is perhaps the one thing most commonly associated with hygge. The candle creates a vaguely defined sphere of light - a kind of “interior” to take shelter in.

The dynamic quality of the flickering, swaying candle flame contributes to the production of a hyggelig atmosphere. It gives the sense that the light is “animate” - it is a “living” presence in one’s environment. One may be alone with a candle, and feel that the candlelight is “keeping them company.”

Light is a “hygge-tool.” It is a primary and versatile implement used in the production of hyggelig atmospheres. It can be used to create the sense of a boundary around oneself or around the group - an intimate, “enclosed” zone for the practice of hygge. Light can also be used as a way to appropriate a space according to one’s personal preferences and desires.

The ability to control the light in a setting reinforces one’s sense of spatial/ atmospheric agency, encourages adaptation and participation in the “coproduction” of the space, and thus facilitates the practice of hygge.

Image: a home in Aarhus / J.Wilson

hyggebelysning : hygge-lighting (*“The candles - the flames - are ‘company.’”) (*“It is considered improper not to light candles.”) (*“Hygge is relaxed - it is being with anyone who makes you feel relaxed. Candles are not necessary. ... This - being at work, working here, is hygge because it’s relaxed, it’s laid-back...”)

[Bille, 2015; Bille & Sørensen, 2007] Hyggelig Materiality / Hyggelig Objects Hygge is associated with natural materials like wood and stone. These materials tend to be durable in elegant, meaningful ways - materials that gracefully age and record the passing of time. These are materials that we can “trust” because we recognize them as authentic.

One may associate a hyggelig emotion with certain significant objects or use evocative and meaningful objects as aids in the production of a hyggelig atmosphere - or as “props” in “setting the stage” for hygge. Personal keepsakes, souvenirs and family heirlooms are examples of the types of objects that one may associate with hyggelig emotion. Objects like these - objects that might be termed “memorabilia” - serve to contain memories and can be used to trigger pleasant - hyggelig - reminiscences. The keeping and care of such objects can contribute to one’s sense of a continuous self by reinforcing one’s personal history.

Objects that provoke our affection because we associate them with our comfort or sense of security may be considered hyggelig objects.

Handmade and homemade objects that carry the evidence and uniqueness of the human touch in slight imperfections and idiosyncratic features are often described as hyggelig. For example, amateur artworks created by close friends or family are often considered to have “hygge-value.”

Hygge is associated more with antique or second-hand items than with new items. A previously-owned, slightly worn piece of furniture or article of clothing often evokes a certain quality of lived-with-ness - one can sense that

Image: Kompa’9, Copenhagen / J.Wilson

the chair or the sweater has been used and cared for by someone and this gives the item a hyggelig quality. (*“When I moved to the States I brought some small things that my grandmother had given me with me - she had just passed away...”) (*“I called a bag hyggelig earlier today because it was soft and I liked touching it.”) (*“A record player is a very hyggelig thing to have in your home.”)

[Bean, 2009; Linnet, 2010, 2011] Biophilia An encounter with the natural world can produce a hyggelig emotion.

The experience of a connection with nature - a feeling of affinity with nature - can be a hyggelig experience. The recognition of oneself as a part of nature, as connected to nature, produces a deep sense of belonging.

Hygge is related to biophilia - which has to do with the affinity of human beings for other life forms. To practice hygge is to feel a kinship with living things - it is to recognize the connections between all beings that inhabit one’s environment.

Houseplants are often used to add a hyggelig quality to a home. This may be due in part to the maintenance that houseplants require. By filling one’s rooms with plants that will require care and attention, one is creating opportunities for stewardship. For some, the daily watering of one’s plants could is a hyggelig ritual. (*“Plants are very hygge.”) [see also: skovbørnehave : forest kindergarten]

Images: at a skovbørnehave : “forest kindergarten” in Viborg / Marianne Borowiec

Food Nourishment is a key element of hygge. Foods that are familiar and satisfying may be used to contribute to the hyggelig quality of an event or gathering.

A common setting for hygge is a shared meal. The intimate act of eating together may often engender an atmosphere of hygge.

To indulge in luxuriant food or drink is a way to produce hygge. A special or traditional dish may be served as a way to create a hyggelig atmosphere. (* Hygge can be enjoying food that is special - something that you don’t often have.”) (*“Traditionally, if you had people ‘over for coffee,’ it meant lots of cake several cakes.”)

Contentment More than happiness, it is an enduring sense of genuine contentment that is cultivated through the practice of hygge.

To be content with one’s current surroundings and activity is fundamental to the production of a hyggelig atmosphere. In a more general, everyday sense, one practices hygge by striving to be content with one’s position and status in life. This does not mean that there is no desire to achieve or to grow and evolve. One may seek to improve his circumstances and position - but in Danish society, it is a cultural value to do so with a certain level of caution and conscientiousness. It is possible for one to be too ambitious - or to be ambitious in the wrong way. According to the Danish social value system, if one’s ambitions and desires for achievement and gain become too pronounced or dominant in one’s lifestyle, it will have negative effects not only on one’s wellbeing but also on one’s relationships with others. Feelings of overzealous ambition can impair one’s ability to experience hygge.

Traditionally, in Denmark, if one is perceived as being competitive and too focused on personal advancement, it may disrupt the sense of hyggelig community founded on equality and cohesion. In Danish society, one may strive for personal achievement, but he must do so without losing perspective - always remembering that he is part of a community and that he has a responsibility to the collective. To behave individualistically and to neglect those around you is to act in direct opposition to hyggelig values.

Image: Viggo Johansen, Merry Christmas, 1881

An individual who is seemingly discontent with her current position - a person who often complains about her life in a self-centered, oblivious way - will disrupt and prevent shared atmospheres of hygge. A hyggelig person is humble, optimistic, and appreciative.

To practice hygge is to acknowledge and appreciate the positive elements of life while aspiring to improve conditions for the greater good.

[Hansen, 1976, 1980] Christmastime For most Danes, Christmastime is the most hyggelig time of the year.

In general, Danes are not overtly religious - for many, the celebration of Christmas is largely secular in nature. More than anything else, Danes recognize Christmas as a time to be together with family and close friends. This makes it an ideal time for hygge. julehygge : “Christmas-hygge” Many families have longstanding traditions that are observed at Christmastime and which contribute to the hyggelig quality of the season.

Hygge is practice year-round but is amplified and becomes absolutely essential in Denmark during the winter because the days are very short and the nights are very long and cold. In the harsh weather of wintertime, experiences of the warmth and refuge associated with hygge take on heightened significance.

Hygge is cited as an essential factor in the Danes’ ability to cope with the long darkness and cold temperatures of Scandinavian winters. (*“Ask any Danish girl about her first Christmas away from her family with her husband’s family - it’s a very big deal.”)

Images: self-built houses, Christiania / clockwise from upper left: Pelle Sten, Noam Ofir, Dave Gorman, Olga Itenberg, konhenrik (flickr), Klaus Thymann

Travel Hygge can be practiced while traveling. To be a hyggelig traveler is to be open and ready for the unexpected. The hyggelig traveler seeks out and values meaningful encounters and social interactions. A special quality of hygge can be produced when two strangers share a brief intimate moment of connection far from home.

When traveling in foreign and unfamiliar places, a traveler may practice hygge as a way to feel at-home wherever he is - as a way to fend off feelings of displacement and homesickness. (*“You can hygge when traveling.”) (*“Those unexpected experiences or meetings that sometimes happen when you are backpacking or traveling could be described as hyggelig.)

Christiania Freetown Christiania, a self-governed neighborhood in Copenhagen, is a place defined by communal hyggelig practices and values. Tolerance, openness and equality are central themes of the ideology shared by Christiania’s residents.

The guiding principle by which Christiania operates is that each individual should exercise personal agency and take care of himself while always remaining responsible to the community as a whole. This dual emphasis on personal freedom and commitment to others is a key component of hygge.

Originally founded through the appropriation of a disused military compound, Christiania is a site of social and spatial agency. Many of the structures in Christiania - especially the houses - are self-built - designed and constructed by the occupants.

The typical Christiania house embodies the values of hygge. The houses, often built with second-hand and reclaimed materials, each have a distinctly unique - hyggelig - aesthetic, representative of the personalities of their different inhabitants. It is evident in the outward appearance of these houses, with their distinctly individual, vernacular qualities, that they have been carefully and earnestly crafted by human hands for purposes of dwelling with meaning and authenticity. These houses radiate hygge.

[Edwards, 1979; Conroy, 1994]

Images: De Runde Haver - kolonihaver in NĂŚrum / Henrik Schurmann (top) kolonihave in Copenhagen / Hannah Moore (bottom)

Allotment Gardens / kolonihave Hygge is a practice of refuge and retreat. In Denmark, it is common for families to have a small garden allotment - or kolonihave - to retreat to on weekends and holidays.

A kolonihave is generally a small plot of land on which the tenant can plant a garden and build a very small and modest house or cabin. These self-built, personalized, cottage-like shelters may often be no larger than a simple, singleroom shed or hut - an intimate setting highly conducive to the production of hygge.

Most of the larger cities in Denmark have areas of dedicated land for kolonihaver, often located just at the edges of urban centers, making them easily accessible to city dwellers in need of a break from the bustle of urban life. The kolonihave is a restorative refuge - an ideal place for practicing hygge.

Image: Anna Ancher, Interior with three persons, 1917

On Negative Interpretations of Hygge Some writers have interpreted hygge negatively, describing it as a strict, normative and repressive cultural phenomenon. In my view, this is a misreading of the concept. I would argue that perhaps the clearest translation of hygge I have gathered is that of hygge as an atmosphere of trust, openness, sheltering encouragement, and security. Essential to the production of a shared atmosphere of hygge is that all participants should feel safe enough and at ease enough to be completely and authentically themselves - honest, vulnerable and unguarded. Hygge, then, cannot be about repression in any sense. If one feels repressed or somehow controlled in a social setting - if one feels forced or coerced into “being hyggelig� - that setting is, by definition, not hyggelig.

To the question of whether hygge emphasizes or promotes sameness while devaluing individual difference, I would submit the clarification that sameness is not the same thing as equality. In fact, to conflate the two is to drastically reduce the complex meaning and significance of equality as a concept. Though hygge is very much about the promotion of equality, it would be a mistake to associate it with the idea of sameness, as hygge is also very clearly about the open expression and accepting of identities, both cultural and individual.

Hygge involves a celebration and valuing of the unique, the personal, the idiosyncratic, the unusual. It is an act of hygge to be confronted with an unfamiliar idea and to respond with openness and a willingness to understand and be affected by that idea.

The nuances and complexities of hygge seem to allow for it to be about shared equality and the celebration of collective identity, while simultaneously being about the recognition and appreciation of individual identity. Participating in a hyggelig setting is not about ignoring individual differences - it is about recognizing and respecting these differences in an open and encouraging manner. Hygge is about not emphasizing or focusing on differences to the point where social equilibrium is difficult or impossible. One who is participating in hygge does not parade or highlight how he is different, or better, than his social counterparts, but neither does he deny or dishonestly ignore the fact that each individual has a unique value and identity. Hygge, then, is about acknowledging the fact that we are all very different, yet we all have equal value.

[Booth, 2015]

Image: Olafur Eliasson, Your rainbow panorama, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum / J. Wilson

Part II: Designing with hygge Architecture for wellness, community, stewardship

As demonstrated in the previous section, hygge is a construct interwoven with a dense array of themes relating to the production, use and experience of space, place and atmosphere - fundamental components of architecture. Examining it through an architectural lens, we find that hygge suggests a range of compelling ideas for the design of spaces that foster wellness, nourish community and encourage stewardship.

In addition to influencing the details and qualities of what we design, we may also discover, through critical and imaginative evaluation, that hygge offers some direction in terms of how we might design. Guided by our understanding of hygge, we may not only think differently about the materials we use in our spaces, for example, we may also think differently about our actual processes and strategies of design.

I offer for consideration the following propositions based on my interpretation of hygge. My hope is that these conjectures will spark critical dialogue and inspire novel modes of thinking about and approaching architectural design.

How might architecture encourage salutary forms of dwelling characterized by well-being, community and stewardship?

Image: summer houses in Esbjerg / J. Wilson

Refuge Hygge is about refuge. A hyggelig atmosphere is characterized by a sense of trust, security, belonging. To experience hygge is, before anything else, to feel safe and at ease. It is not just about feeling protected from physical harm or danger - it has as much to do with mental and emotional sanctuary too. An atmosphere of hygge is free from worry, anxiety, doubt - it is a sphere of calm stability, balance, and rootedness.

A building or a space that is designed to provide its occupants with a meaningful sense of refuge will have a considerable effect on the health and wellness of those occupants.

Any space - whether it’s a home, a school, an office, a museum or even a prison - can be designed to offer a sense of refuge to its occupants. The particular quality of refuge will depend on the program and context. Among the skills to be cultivated by the architect is the ability to imagine a vast diversity of forms of refuge.

Atmosphere Hygge might serve as a model for the kinds of complex atmospheric qualities that we might seek to produce in our efforts to create nourishing architectural experiences.

The more multifarious, layered and intricate the atmosphere produced by an architectural space, the more emotionally profound and consequential the architectural experience will be. In order to promote emotional vitality and intelligence - in order to encourage emotional participation in the world - the built environment must serve as a generative framework for the production of “deep” atmospheres that are dense with diverse qualities and meanings. The experience of “thick” atmospheres like hygge are enlivening and reinforce our involvement with the world.

Community Hygge fosters meaningful and genuine varieties of community by activating and supporting shared experiences of trust, equality, empathy and affection.

Architecture that facilitates the production of hygge-like atmospheres and promotes hygge-like behavior will engender more prosperous and nourishing communities.

Image: Anna Ancher, Evening sun in the artist’s studio in Markvej, 1913

Architecture that provides diverse, adaptable spaces for the primal and essential act of gathering will support social cohesion and strengthen social responsibility.

The co-production and shared intimate experience of hyggelig atmospheres reinforces relationships between individuals and intensifies a sense of solidarity.

Architectural spaces that allow for and encourage a variety of opportunities for intimate connection promote unified, collective agency.

Public places that are designed to be fluidly adapted and appropriated by a variety of groups can stimulate communal experimentation and lead to the formation of novel forms of community.

Architecture that more rigorously concerns itself with socio-cultural practices like hygge and works to facilitate the social production of place and atmosphere can prompt cultural transformation. [see also: “third place” / Ray Oldenburg] Comfort An atmosphere of hygge provides its participants with a “deep” sense of comfort that can have substantial effects on physical and emotional wellbeing.

By designing environments to provide not only basic physical comfort, but social, psychological, and spiritual comfort as well, architects can significantly improve the health and wellness of occupants.

Through critical and creative engagement architects can craft a fuller, more effective and more meaningful definition of spatial comfort. Beyond thermal, visual and acoustic comfort, architecture can and should provide the emotional comfort that is essential to complete wellness.

The Body The multi-sensory delight and satisfaction of a hyggelig atmosphere add meaning and depth to the experience.

Architectural space that has been designed to create fully embodied experiences - space that responds and attends to the body’s complete spectrum of sensory capacities - produces more powerful experiences and has longer lasting effects.

Image: Løve’s Bog-og Vincafe, Aarhus / J. Wilson

Equality The sense of equality one experiences in a hyggelig situation can have profound effects on one’s wellbeing.

The architectural discipline might seek to go beyond principles of “universal design” and critically redefine what a space of equality means. By experimenting with the design of spaces that promote not only social equality but also environmental equality, architects might create places that significantly advance cultural conceptions of social and environmental justice.

Genuine atmospheres of equality not only allow for, but even stimulate radically different and alternative forms of living and dwelling.

Architectural experiences that provoke a sense of affinity and attunement or “equality” - with one’s surrounding environment can amplify ecological awareness and promote stewardship.

Potentiality One cannot create hygge - one can only create the potential for hygge. A hyggelig atmosphere, once produced, is charged with potential. This positive quality of open-endedness and possibility is vitalizing.

Architecture can be designed to be more than simply flexible or adaptable it can be designed for potentialities. This means designing with a renewed, intensive attention to human life as it is and, more importantly, how it could, be lived.

Architectural atmospheres of potential might encourage advanced aspirations and higher ideals.

Co-production Hygge is produced through the active participation in the shaping of an environment. This involvement in the crafting of a hyggelig space or atmosphere creates meaning through a sense of ownership and responsibility.

An architectural design might be delivered in an “open” or “unfinished” state in order to allow the occupant to take an active role in “completing” the design.

This would enable the occupant to meaningfully appropriate and adapt the

Image: a home in Copenhagen / J. Wilson

space according to her personal desires and values and would have a significant impact on the quality of her inhabitation of the space.

Architecture that invites and encourages participation in its co-production supports spatial agency and may foster broader environmental stewardship.

Materials The authenticity and naturalness of hyggelig materials invite our trust and affection, contributing to a more meaningful relationship with our built environment.

Spaces constructed with materials that are trustworthy, dependable, and gracefully resilient nourish emotional health and wellness. [see also: Emotionally Durable Design: Objects, Experiences and Empathy, Jonathan Chapman, 2015]

Belonging The experience of hygge reinforces one’s sense of belonging to a place, supporting emotional wellness and magnifying one’s sense of responsibility for that place. When we feel we belong in a place, we also feel that that place belongs to us and we will act to care for and preserve it.

The sense of belonging in a situation or belonging in a place allows one to make meaning there, establishing a bond of commitment and concern.

Places designed to facilitate the production and experience of meaningful atmospheres like hygge will foster feelings of belonging in its inhabitants and are likely to be cared for and preserved.

Time Hygge reorients one to time in a more healthful way. The experience of hyggelig atmospheres promotes a slower, more intentional way of inhabiting time and space.

Image: Peter Ilsted, Interior with Two Girls, 1904

A building might be designed to include various features that promote wellness through a slower lifestyle. “Slow” architecture could provide crucial relief and shelter from the alienating effects of hyper-modernity’s speed and anonymity.

A reliable, durable and rooted architecture is needed for defense against “the terror of time.”

Presence Hyggelig space and atmosphere condition one to be present and attentive to one’s environment. An enhanced ability for presence contributes to both wellness and environmental awareness.

Architectural experiences that allow for and produce varieties of presence stimulate and enrich one’s capacity to consciously inhabit a space.

Hygge is a variety of presence that might serve as a model for architects concerned with the production of multidimensional and nourishing forms of presence. [see also: Production of Presence: What Meaning Cannot Convey, Hans Gumbrecht, 2003]

Ritual Hygge instigates meaningful social and spatial rituals that strengthen community and contribute to shared cultural identity.

Architecture can support collective meaning-making by providing spaces that are conducive to ritual and supportive of tradition.

At-homeness Hygge is very similar to at-homeness. Like the experience of hygge, the feeling of being at-home has to do with security, restoration, nourishment. The ability to make oneself feel at-home in one’s environment is essential to emotional wellness.

Image: a winter evening in Copenhagen / J. Wilson

Any architectural space - a house, a school, an office building, a museum - can be designed to facilitate at-homeness. Any space can be designed to afford its occupants the opportunity and the ability to “make themselves at-home.”

By allowing for and encouraging diverse varieties of at-homeness, architecture can provide substantial support for the existential wellness of inhabitants.

Through critical engagement with the concepts of home and domesticity, architects may develop revolutionary and transformative housing designs that better support health, wellness and community.

With ever-growing homeless populations, an ever-worsening refugee crisis, and intensifying social concerns about immigration, critical architectural concern for the definition of home and what it means to be “at-home” has perhaps never been more relevant.

Atmosphere + Affect A more atmospheric approach to architectural design may result in more sophisticated and more psychologically nourishing environmental experiences like hygge. If architects designed more often in terms of affect and less rigidly and exclusively in terms of form, the built environment might offer a broader, more diverse range of emotional experiences that foster more complex forms of wellness. [see also: Architectural Atmospheres: On the Experience and Politics of Architecture, Christian Borch (Ed.), 2014] Communication Hygge involves a particular form of communication characterized by qualities of openness, trust, empathy and encouragement - a form of communication that is less assertive, definite and rigid and more tentative, vague, and open.

This style of communication is not about making declarative statements, but about speculation - offering possibilities and proposing potentials.

Hyggelig communication offers a potential framework for an alternate form of collaborative communication in design. This form of communication can be used to construct a co-produced, cooperative space - a space for co-presence and collective endeavor in which meaningful collaboration can occur.

Image: Løve’s Bog-og Vincafe, Aarhus / Kasper Håkansson

Process In an effort to create higher performing, adaptable and resilient buildings that better provide for health and wellness, architects might redesign their design process.

A major imperative is to make the process of designing, constructing and delivering a building more integrative. A more integrative process - involving all members of the project team, including builder and operator, from the very beginning stages of design, for example - can create a more effectively collaborative environment for the collective task of making architecture.

In general, a more radically cooperative design process will produce architecture of a much higher quality in terms of its effects on human wellness and community. By injecting hyggelig values like trust, openness, and equality into the design process, architects can facilitate a more genuine culture of cooperation.

By slowing the process of design, architects might produce more “complete” or “whole” buildings that generate more complexly meaningful experiences which will have a greater impact on the occupant’s wellbeing.

By making more space in the design process for a more critical consideration of the potential consequences of different design decisions on the social and emotional wellness of the occupants, architects can generate more highly refined and developed designs that will have lasting consequences for quality of life.

Language The language used in the practice of architecture significantly affects the process and final design. Architects might develop an alternative design language in order to transform their practice. A language that is perhaps more informed by an understanding of the complexities of the human condition - a language structured around and rooted in an awareness of what it means to dwell, to inhabit, to belong - might guide a design team toward more emotionally sustaining solutions.

Image: Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior with young man reading, 1898

Occupant Engagement Occupant engagement before, during and after design, better equips architects to address the full range and diversity of human needs and desires.

Architects might re-investigate and redefine strategies of participatory and community-based design in order to craft a design process that meaningfully involves the ultimate users of a building or space. Beyond providing the user an invaluable opportunity for co-production and adaptation, the design team would greatly benefit from the integration of the occupant’s perspective.

The better a design team understands how and why a space will be used, the more capably it will be able to create nurturing and meaningful architectural experiences.

Social Sciences + Architecture An architectural practice that is more attentive and responsive to the human condition will produce designs that are naturally more humane, more meaningfully affective, and more legitimately supportive of wellness.

The integration of social science research into the design process may foster architectural solutions that better facilitate social health and wellness.

By cultivating an ethnographic or sociological perspective, architects might develop a more versatile practice through which to creatively respond to cultural conditions.

The more an architect understands about how people produce, use and make meaning with space, the more capable he will be of designing spaces that inspire and stimulate positive social and emotional phenomena like hygge. [see also: Ethnography for Designers, Galen Cranz, 2016] Empathy An architectural practice informed by hyggelig values like empathy and social connection will produce emotionally supportive environments.

To cultivate nurturing, consoling and restorative architectural atmospheres rich with empathic qualities, architects might make use of strategies like narrativebased design that stimulate and enrich one’s skills of imaginative empathy. [see also: Architecture and Empathy, Philip Tidwell (Ed.), 2015]

Images: benches along beach path, Esbjerg / J. Wilson

Embodied Design Sensual architectural space provides both physical delight and emotional sustenance. Multi-sensory atmospheres like hygge nurture and vitalize both body and mind.

The body can be used as a tool to design architectural spaces that offer diverse, complex and nourishing sensory experiences. Architects can utilize strategies like body-conscious design to create environments that are more sympathetic and supportive of the human body’s skills and capacities.

Architects might develop a phenomenological perspective in an effort to design perceptually rich and “wholesome” experiences. A phenomenological approach to design would produce immersive environments dense with meaning and affect. [see also: Body Consciousness: A Philosophy of Mindfulness and Somaesthetics, Richard Shusterman, 2008] [see also: The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience, F. Varela, E. Thompson, E. Rosch, 1992] [see also: Questions of Perception: Phenomenology of Architecture, S.Holl, J. Pallasmaa, A. Perez-Gomez, 2007] Memory + Instinct An architect might draw more intently on her own memories in order to add emotional depth and authenticity to the spaces she designs.

A “looser” design process, governed less by rationality and strict logic, that allows for more vagueness and is guided more by indefinite intuition and instinct, could lead to more fertile, intricate and multi-layered architectural atmospheres. Such atmospheres - like hygge - satisfy complex human desires and are resonant with existential meaning. [see also: The Embodied Image: Imagination and Imagery in Architecture, Juhani Pallasmaa, 2011] [see also: Built upon Love: Architectural Longing after Ethics and Aesthetics, Alberto Perez-Gomez, 2008]

Images: summer houses, Esbjerg / J. Wilson

Design Heritage Through the development of a vital and enduring heritage based on hyggelig values like empathy, openness and cohesion, architectural practice could evolve into a powerful force of cultural transformation.

By fostering new traditions and rituals of architectural practice based on a commitment to wellness, community and stewardship, the discipline could have a radical influence on both the quality of human life and the health of the planet’s ecological systems.

Image: Carl Larsson, When the Children have Gone to Bed, 1901

Part III: Learning from hygge Proposals for cultural transformation through architecture

It could be argued that the most “sustainable� architecture - the architecture that will have the greatest impact on both human wellness and ecological health - is the architecture that transforms culture. More than solar panels and green roofs, more than recycled materials and water conservation technologies, we need an architecture that produces cultural practices that strengthen community and nourish the extended ecologies in which we dwell; an architecture that fosters a cultural heritage of wellness and stewardship; an architecture that engenders new cultural values of equality, trust and authenticity; an architecture that facilitates and encourages a culture of social and spatial agency.

In order to successfully adapt to a rapidly changing climate while preventing further environmental degradation and safeguarding human health and wellness, we need an architecture that facilitates purposeful, genuine ways of dwelling in the world.

Hygge might serve as a model for new cultural practices and value systems.

What follows is a series of proposals for how certain elements of hygge are representative of - and contribute toward - a culture of wellness, community and stewardship.

How might architecture foster new cultural values and facilitate new cultural practices?

How might architecture teach us new ways of dwelling that are better for us and for our environment?

Image: a home in Copenhagen / J. Wilson

A Culture of Shared Commitment In Danish culture, hygge is a connective thread, a shared concern that weaves together and strengthens a collective sense of responsibility to one another and to the shared environment.

A key cultural value, hygge promotes the crucial participation of its members in a larger cooperative effort to lead healthier, more sustainable lives.

The practice of hygge reinforces cooperation, cohesion, and trust - all of which feed a culture of collaboration, and organized efforts for social and environmental change.

How might architecture support a culture of adaptability and resilience by creating spaces that facilitate social cohesion and trust?

A Culture of Agency + Participation To practice hygge is an exercise one’s spatial agency. It is the recognition and expression of our own individual and collective power to act on our social and environmental surroundings - to shape the spaces and places that we want and need in order to be well. It is about our ability to make meaning with space.

These means of action form the basis of a culture of stewardship - a society that understands its role in the co-production, care-taking and maintenance of its places.

The cultural practice of hygge involves collective participation in the making and shaping of space. A sustainable culture would depend on a similar form of collaborative participation and social involvement.

How can architecture stimulate a culture of stewardship by reinforcing the agency of individuals and communities?

In what ways can architecture meaningfully involve the individual in the design and maintenance of his environment?

A Culture of Empathy To practice hygge is to cultivate empathy. It fosters the ability of the individual to understand and identify with all the animate and inanimate beings that make up his environment. The work of generating and maintaining hygge teaches the

Images: Villa Else - kolonihave in Søllerød Nature Reserve / Stuart McIntyre

individual how to be a custodian of a space or an atmosphere. Hygge promotes both a social and a spatial consciousness in its participants.

How might architectural atmospheres foster feelings of empathy between individuals?

How might architecture stimulate empathic connection between an individual and his environment?

A Culture of Equality Hygge emphasizes and reinforces the kind of egalitarian values that a culture must be built on in order to be truly “sustainable� and resilient. By strengthening a collective commitment to equality and trust, hygge bolsters community and enhances social wellness.

How might architecture contribute to the formation of more prosperous communities by providing environments that advocate for equality and trust?

How can architecture promote social and environmental justice by producing places of genuine equality?

A Culture of Contentment Hygge is characterized by a sincere contentment with what one has and with one’s position in life, a behavioral tendency that supports a culture that consumes less, consumes more responsibly, and consumes with meaning.

What kinds of architectural experiences and qualities might contribute to a lasting sense of contentment and satisfaction?

A Cultural of Presence + Belonging Hygge is a practice of being present, aware, rooted in a place. These qualities of inhabitation can lead to more conscious and effective practices of conservation.

A society of alienated individuals who are disengaged and disconnected from the communities and environments in which they dwell cannot support a culture of stewardship.

Hygge constitutes a collective commitment to foster, both in oneself and in one another, a sense of belonging that is essential to genuine wellness.

Images: Løve’s Bog-og Vincafe, Aarhus / J. Wilson

What varieties of presence can architecture produce?

What kinds of strategies might architects use to create experiences that connect the individual to his environment and stimulate experiences of belonging?

How might architecture stimulate a culture of environmental awareness by providing experiences that foster feelings of affection and affinity for one’s surroundings?

A Culture of Preservation Hygge emphasizes memory, tradition and heritage, values that support a culture of historical awareness and preservation.

To practice hygge is to inhabit time consciously and deliberately. Psychological wellness depends on the cultivation of a similarly purposeful relationship with time.

How might architecture promote cultural preservation by connecting past to present and creating experiences of continuity?

How can architecture nourish memory and support meaningful traditions of inhabitation?

At-homeness To practice hygge is to make oneself and those around you feel at-home.

When we feel at-home - when we feel that we belong where we are - our behavior changes and a different perspective - a different way of being and acing in the world - is presented to us. This primal and essential experience of at-homeness is fundamental to a culture of wellness, community and stewardship.

In what ways can architecture facilitate experiences of at-homeness?

Can architecture generate new forms of “being-at-home� that better support wellness, community and stewardship?

Image: at Hjerting Kirke, Esbjerg / J. Wilson

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