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The Italian Architect Antonio Sant’Elia is considered the father of Futurist Architecture, the one who envisioned the future of cities on the basis of the native population’s work culture and habitual traits. It has been a century since his ideas were introduced in his ‘L-Architettura Futurista - Manifesto’ and later circulated by F.T. Marinetti, today they are making a prodigious impact on the architecture style of the entire world. His revolutionary ideas percolated through the murky aftermath of 19th & 20th century art movements. His out-worldly pre-modernist principles gave rise to the notion of exclusive habitats for generations and started the post-war trend of housing typologies as an industrialized and fast track medium of creating ample habitats. This review paper outlines the ideas and design theory of Antonio Sant’Elia through the advancements and achievements of the 20th & 21st century architects and their significant difference with the rest of historical architecture along with identification of elements of futurist principles in different architectural movements. The paper also makes a deliberate attempt to establish a timeline of developments within the said premise for futurist architecture.

Can ‘restoration and therapy in design’ signify something more than the places like hospitals and healing gardens? Can those restorative environments be brought inside the working and living environments to mitigate the psychological problem at the source? The main objective of this paper is to look at the strategies and developments of Biophilic design with respect to therapy and restoration in order to achieve sustainability in terms of quality of life within the immediate built-environment. The paper explores the mental health issues under the domains of built-environment and indoor environment with respect to their connection with nature. Biophilic design has gained a favourable momentum within the last four decades and is now visualised as a medium that bridges the gap between humans and the nature. Out of a variety of measures of sustainable environmental design, biophilic design focuses on the end-results of naturally nurtured or inspired habitats and workplaces. It embodies strategies of Green and Intelligent buildings, works as a mitigation strategy for foul indoor environment and establishes the vision that veristic sustainability can only be achieved if there is qualitative control over human physiological prosperity and psychological health. In context of work efficiency, preference and productivity within the indoor environment, it is seen as a promoter of constructive thoughts and enhancer of creativity. The paper aims to enlist biophilic design and retrofitting strategies, which can improve cognitive function, reduce stress and provide mental peace within the built environment.

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Imperial rule in the Indian sub-continent led to the construction of several European styled churches in the late 19th and early 20th century. St. John in Wilderness, built in 1852 in Mcleod Ganj, and Christ Church built in 1857 in Shimla, are examples of the symposium of extensive natural richness and architectural imperialism carried under the name of ‘The Gothic Revival’. This paper presents a biophilic analysis of these two 19th century churches along with the responses from 238 visitors recorded on the perceived restorativeness scale’s four contributing factors Being Away, Fascination, Extent and Compatibility, to understand the relationship between the human perception of architecture and nature. The study concludes that St. John in Wilderness due to its close connection with nature has greater Perceived Restorativeness in comparison to the Christ Church. The contributing factors of high restorative quality are identified and highlighted so that improved design guidelines for religious buildings can be prepared for future references.