The architectural principles of a healthy, safe, harmonious and empathetic space for creating conditions of comfort and wellbeing in the workplace
Active architecture is capable of responding to the needs of today’s fast-paced and ever-changing society, in keeping with contemporary and future trends, whilst also conveying timeless values. It is also a form of architecture in which one can trace the history and culture with which a particular community identifies, and through which it can rediscover itself over time. Active architecture is distinguished by its effectiveness at both the collective and individual levels, and is only truly realised when it succeeds in triggering mechanisms of growth and development for both society and the individual.
Architecture is active when characterised by a formal, cultural and productive sphere, like a living organism in its own right, endowed with a form – and therefore a form of beauty – relating to the achievement of a specific evolutionary balance between itself and its surrounding environment. It possesses its own culture rooted in ‘historical’ memory, which has developed over time within the community in which it originated, and has its own vocation to carry out one or more activities aimed at the progress and fulfilment of itself and its social group.
Architecture is effective when it embodies all of this; that is, when it meets a set of criteria that best facilitate the pursuit of various human activities, so as to embody values and, above all, to generate new ones. For example, in the residential sector, the quality of spaces contributes to personal or family well-being, whilst also supporting individuals in their spiritual growth. In the architecture of schools, libraries or museums, culture is not only preserved and passed on but also ‘invented’. In the architecture of service facilities and places of production, environmental quality becomes a defining factor for a successful working environment.
A ‘hostile’ workplace can lead to deeply negative moods and a corresponding general sense of psychological and physical unease, which, more often than not, results in a significant drop in productivity. A lack of health, hygiene and safety conditions, as well as shortcomings in accessibility standards, ergonomics and architectural quality, and the inadequacy of services that should be tailored to the needs of individual workers, can play a decisive role in the failure of a business, at least as much as the adoption of obsolete, static and inflexible company policies, such as a lack of a sense of belonging and corporate cohesion, or the presence of personal conflicts, etc.
Workplace architecture plays an active role in achieving high standards of wellbeing and quality of life by creating healthy, safe, harmonious and empathetic environments.
These conditions depend, on the one hand, on fairly objective and measurable factors, such as thermal and hygrometric comfort, air quality, visual comfort and compliance with safety requirements; on the other hand, more ‘abstract’ factors come into play, which are nonetheless decisive in shaping a truly high-quality space. These factors, which therefore constitute the characteristics of ‘active architecture’, determine the architectural quality of a workplace – from an office to an industrial warehouse, from a craft workshop to an engineering practice, from a call centre to a warehouse – and operate on a sensory, emotional and psychological level.
The idea that it is desirable, if not essential, to create working environments that promote wellbeing is now increasingly understood and widely accepted. This awareness, which is also beginning to be reflected in new legislative initiatives, responds to the need for businesses to develop, at an international level, a competitive edge that translates in practical terms into improving the cost-benefit ratio of investments in Health Promotion / Wellbeing in the workplace and actively supporting the trend towards promoting total quality within the organisation.
The benefits for workers are considerable and measurable: they result in a reduction in occupational risks, an improved general state of health for those involved in production processes, greater job satisfaction and an overall improvement in their quality of life.