Buckminster Fuller among others was a firm believer in changing society and people through changing the stuff they use. In similar ways, the Japanese architect Kazuo Shinohara – among others – wondered about the psychological effects of his buildings on people. The psychological and social impact of our designs in general and the built environment in particular, on ourselves and our behaviours is a fascinating theme indeed. Yet, watching some of today’s architectural and urbanistic interventions one can only wonder whether or to which extent the architects behind them have taken such considerations into account. Pondering the future of society, of living in a place, living, working and playing together, etc. as such, begs for a closer look at these subtle yet complex relationships.

‘Building happiness: architecture to make you smile‘, was recently published by Building Futures, the future oriented think tank of the Royal Institute of British Architects, which aims “to create space for discussion about the needs of society from our built environment and, consequently, the built environment professions in 20 years and beyond.”  

“Led by Ed Blake, “Building Happiness” was a project that aimed to use the best research and anecdoctal evidence from across a wide range of disciplines to identify and analyse the most important drivers in the field. How do we construct happiness? What components make for a happy building or space? How do we measure and quantify this response? is it possible? Who is responsible for it? can it be built in?”

Related posts:

1. new building materials
2. measuring progress, prosperity, happiness
3. skinterfaces

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 17:42 and is filed under arts, design, future, publication, society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.