Architectural quality for psychological and physical wellbeing in living spaces
Well-being in relation to the use of a space is a condition that depends on a multitude of factors capable of affecting our senses, our health and our psychological state.
Depending on the activities we carry out there, we should have adequate lighting, the correct temperature and humidity levels, good air quality and the right degree of sound insulation – but that is not all. Architecture, if it is to be called such, must be characterised by another kind of QUALITY, one that is difficult to quantify.
With regard to residential architecture – a field in which the pursuit of a sense of well-being plays a decisive role – it is important to live in a place with which it is easy to ‘connect’. Fundamentally, this involves recognising one’s home as the vessel of one’s spirit, making it a sort of ‘second skin’. For a space to be rich in emotions and values, it must be characterised by elements specific to our culture and by objects from our personal history; certain elements – such as water, greenery and natural elements in general – which are stored in our subconscious as a memory of millennia of evolution, are able to amplify our empathy with the surrounding environment.
But it is above all the memories and objects we have gathered throughout our lives that sometimes bring the walls of our rooms to life; it is these that contribute most to harmonising our spiritual dimension with the material world around us. At times, our role – within the dialogue between architect and client – becomes that of creating a neutral platform, allowing the client the opportunity to apply this ‘patina’ of memories and emotions over time, or to integrate certain personalised elements into the structural components of the spaces from the outset… But the goal we aim to achieve is, in any case, the same: to shape the identity of the place where we live as a natural extension of our own personal identity, drawing on the life experiences of each and every one of us.