Modern life is stressful enough without environments that exacerbate this, yet good architecture can help us feel safe and connected, say the authors of Blueprints for the Soul: Why We Need Emotion in Architecture
The lack of emotion and beauty in our built environment isn’t a dramatic, full-frontal attack on us, it’s a steady drip, drip, drip, which ultimately wears away at even the most hardy human.
In a good built environment that feels alive and engaged, that feels like it cares, we ourselves can be more alive and engaged. Just as our interactions with people can influence our mood, so can our interactions with the built environment. Each ugliness of countenance, each difficulty of navigation, each lack of harmony, each advertisement of neglectful thinking creates stress within us. In the worst-case scenario, faced with cheap indifference and hollow dysfunctionality, it can lead us into despair.
Most of us find the modern world stressful enough without having to spend our lives in environments that add to this. What we actually need are environments that stress us less. Stress is cumulative and can come from a multitude of sources, such as money worries, difficulties at work or discontent with our relationships. But the stress all pours into a single pool and our built environment is conspiring to fill that pool to the point where it overflows.
But this isn’t just about mitigating negative states; it’s about encouraging positive ones. When the built environment degrades, the quality of both personal and collective civic life degrades with it. Good architecture nurtures. It encourages, rather than diminishes. It’s like a friend who understands you. It creates the circumstances where we can satisfy our instincts, feel safe and connected and absorb the positive emotional energy in our surroundings, which can only enhance our being.
A final compelling reason for improving everyday architecture is one of legacy. The quest for sustainability in the built environment has now become a priority. The drive for carbon neutrality is at the forefront of the agenda. But there’s an equally important factor for the legacy we leave behind. One of the most vital things we can do for the environment is create longevity, thus removing the need to demolish buildings that could stay standing if they’d been designed to be beautiful and long-lasting.
A revolution is required but this revolution doesn’t need to involve mass social upheaval, destruction and vast expense (all features of building in the 20th century). We might call it the Realignment Revolution. It doesn’t need government intervention or changes to the law. It requires nothing bureaucratic, cumbersome or costly. There’s no obligation to march through the capital or organise demonstrations.
All that’s required is a shift of emphasis – a change of heart, if you will – to shed some indifference and capture some inspiration. We need to be mindful that creating a built environment that adequately encompasses the human condition and shows respect for generations to come is a sacred and necessary task. And we need to recognise that this sacred task can only be truly fulfilled when a person who’s spent many years of their life dedicating themselves to the skill, knowledge and creativity it involves is allowed to do their work in the way it needs to be done.
Nick Moss is the owner of Nick Moss Architects. Barbara Iddon is a writer, counsellor and company director.