Did we discuss wellbeing before COVID?

Chatting with friends and colleagues the feeling is that wellbeing was a very rarely used term pre-COVID. Due to the restrictions of lockdown it made many of us realise just how important access to nature, levels of daylight in the workspace and how important regular breaks from your computer really are. As well of course, as having an office dog to distract the workforce and keep us happy.

Stats suggest more than one third of our lives are spent at work / in the office, so surely we need to take more seriously how enjoyable and stimulating an experience this is if we are all to perform our tasks to the best of our ability and want to come back tomorrow.

The cellular, concealed and segregated workspace with no view, is familiar to many and historically has been the focus of many an office planner.  Contact with nature, a view from your desk to the outside world, plants to soften the modular furniture and access to the outdoors is a feature we all deserve at breaktime, or indeed throughout our working day.

As architects we can often be over focussed on the external appearance of a building, optimising its scale to deliver the developer / investor best value, designing internal spaces to achieve the minimum requirements, but when do we consider the views from inside -out? In Georgian times the proportion of window to wall and the levels of internal light to all rooms and areas were a given, hence why we all react so positively and cosset these historic buildings, with their high ceilings and generous spaces.

Here at ep architects, we aim to put the wellbeing of tenants and users as a priority, with biophilic prioritised levels of contact with nature, views to the outside and volumes of rooms that allow natural light to penetrate all areas. We believe external spaces, even in urban locations must be an essential feature to the working environment allowing break out space and somewhere to house flora and fauna.

We do not need to look far into the past to appreciate that balconies, roof gardens, access to public spaces and wider landscape were seen as a key design priority for tenants and workers, and an expected feature of all buildings including workspaces.  This along with even more simple design considerations, particularly orientation of the workspace to harness sunrise, sunset, and protection from the midday sun are basic design criteria our design team apply to all projects but are often absent in many buildings we are all familiar with.

So, can we all make sure wellbeing is on our project design review agendas from inception of projects and aim to consider the human aspects of the buildings in use? This does not add cost and should not demand too much time but really can make the buildings we design far more fit for purpose and more enjoyable in everyday use.

Please contact ep architects with any thoughts or questions via: info@eparchitects.design

If we can help you with your project please make contact with ep architects. Please do not be afraid to ask questions and discuss, whether you agree or disagree!

info@eparchitects.design