Happy by Design: A Guide to Architecture and Mental Wellbeing

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With the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis, the importance of designing for mental wellbeing has never been higher on the agenda. It’s all about how buildings affect our moods and minds, and how they can be altered and customised to better serve our collective wellbeing in a very wide range of ways. Warm colours on the other hand can be relaxing and calming, as they’re shown to promote the release of serotonin. It fits well as an architectural or design guide, it will be helpful to look at later on (since I am an architecture student!

He is also an accredited mindfulness practitioner with the Mindfulness Association, and is interested in how buildings can help us to be more mindful and present every day. Drawing on advice from experts far and wide, Victoria Harrison’s Happy Home Program helps everyone transform their living spaces and put personal wellbeing first in their homes and neighborhoods.He coaches mindfulness at the practice and in his free time and in 2017 founded and chairs the Architects’ Mental Wellbeing Forum, which is focused on improving mental health within the industry. As Mental Health Ambassador and senior architect at London architectural practice Assael, Channon’s relationship with mental wellbeing in design is both personal and professional. Because when we engage with the facilities in our local communities, we don’t just feel fitter and healthier. Happy by Design teaches us how we can actively improve our health and wellbeing through the way we design and regard every room in the house.

Danish lighting designer Poul Henningsen devoted much of his career to designing glare-free and uniform illumination, which has been shown to reduce headaches and improve productivity. Particularly in cities like London, stories around the health dangers of particulate matter and other air pollutants are increasingly common. With The Happy Design Toolkit, learn how your buildings can encourage healthier lifestyles through a happier and more inclusive built environment for all. There are so many changes we can make to our surroundings – from minor adjustments to those on an urban scale -that will have a palpable effect on our mental wellbeing for the better.

With delightful illustrations and photos on every page, the program is easy to follow and packed with motivating tips and inspiration to help everyone live the happiest life possible. Invite health and happiness into the heart of your home with practical ideas for decor, organization, and mindfulness that will transform your living space—and create an uplifting atmosphere that looks after you from morning to night! For us, it’s important that it’s as easy as possible for people to take advantage of these amenities. They built the site using a collaborative platform and you can comment as it progresses, it made the process super easy.

And as we spend between 80 and 90 percent of our time inside buildings, the spaces we live and work in are going to have a significant impact on our physical and mental wellbeing. I can honestly say from start to finish the whole process was seamless, it took just over a month and the end result is amazing! Remember also that windows higher up a building will receive more daylight than windows on lower floors, as more open sky is visible. They outlined each step in detail and worked with our vision, which they understood fully from the off.

Happy by Design takes a stripped back approach to the intersection between design and mental health. By making deliberate choices that bring us both pleasure and meaning, we can redesign our lives for maximum happiness - without thinking too hard about it. Ben is a passionate author and has used writing to champion better design for wellbeing, as well as to improve mental health within the architectural industry itself. Work in Mind is a global content platform dedicated to making the connection between better, healthier buildings, workplace wellbeing and ESG.