i+D - September/October 2018 - 37

Designing for the Unseen - By Brian J. Barth

ASID's new offices include significant improvements in air quality, sound
quality, and lighting, each tied to science-based parameters for occupant
health. But, according to Shimi Kang, MD, clinical associate professor
at The University of British Columbia and creator of Dolphin Kids Achievement
Programs, the most important thing to keep in mind about wellness-oriented
design interventions is not to look at them in isolation, but rather as part of
a holistic approach. The cumulative impact of simply feeling good, which
requires different conditions for different people, is where the real gold is.
Sometimes, those conditions are purely physical, but often they are
psychological, which, in turn, can have significant impacts on physical health.
When working with designers, Kang, who writes and lectures widely on
mental health topics, finds it helpful to frame the discussion around wellness
in terms so obvious as to seem trite. However, she insists, they are anything
but. "We've only been living indoors hunched over a desk and looking at
artificial light for a couple hundred years. For most of human history, we
were hunters and gatherers, which means the brain developed outside-
in nature, in sunlight, standing upright, walking around-and in the context
of exquisitely connected social groups. Those are some very powerful
antidepressants," she explains.

Play spaces-for children, as well
as adults-encourage interaction
and counteract loneliness.
(Image: Dolphin POD)

The Dolphin POD:
Achievement Center
for Future-Ready Kids,
in New Delhi, India,
uses play as a catalyst
for creativity.
(Image: Dolphin POD)

or freeze hamster wheel, we're not operating from our cortical brain,
she explains. "When we're functioning from the cortical brain, we
are creative, we're great communicators and problem solvers, and
we excel at collaboration."

Most people now spend 90 percent of their time indoors, yet we haven't
really designed our lives to account for the health impacts of the lifestyle,
says Kang. "We are living in an era of paradox: We have incredible advances
in knowledge and technology, yet we've never had such high rates of stress
and related illnesses. It's important for designers to realize that, in a way,
they are psychiatrists-a healthy building is designed based on how our
brains are actually wired."
Kang encourages designers to avoid configurations that could encourage
a fight, flight, or freeze response. "In nature, that's a tiger roaring, a bird
flying away in fear, or a deer freezing in your headlights. In an office, a 'fight'
response might be anger or irritability; 'flight' is like checking out, distracting
yourself with your phone, social media, or substances; and 'freeze' equates
to anxiety and procrastination." When we become stuck on the fight, flight,

Designing for those parameters might sound impossibly abstract, but
Kang offers a straightforward example that knits them all together: play
spaces. This doesn't have to be taken literally, she adds. Anything that
encourages informal, spontaneous, face-to-face interaction counts. "We
are fundamentally social beings, so it's important to design to promote
eye contact and water cooler talk, whether it's in a lobby, meeting spaces,
a games room, a kitchen, a community garden. This is why the most
competitive corporations in the world are building playrooms; this is
why Facebook has Nerf gun wars."
Kang says daily social bonding is essential for counteracting the other
modern killer besides stress: loneliness. "It's part of the paradox. We're living
in dense cities and connecting with people online like never before, but we
have never had such high rates of loneliness, which releases chemicals like
cortisol and adrenaline in the brain that are a big part of the fight, flight, or
freeze stress response. Loneliness deregulates our immune system; cancer
metastasizes faster in lonely people. The most effective form of torture on
the planet is solitary confinement. And, we are doing it to each other."

i+D - September/October 2018

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i+D - September/October 2018

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