The Importance of Domestic Space in the Times of COVID-19

Abstract

This essay discusses a deep malaise of contemporary architecture, made more obvious by experiencing COVID-19 lockdowns for several months. Evidence-based arguments urge society to improve human health and well-being by re-considering the design of interior and exterior spaces. So far, predictions of how design will “improve” after COVID-19 just continue business-as-usual, ignoring accumulated evidence. Yet, the negative emotional experience of families cooped up during the pandemic reveals the failure of the standard approach to designing spaces. An architecture that adapts to human biology and psychology starts with the relatively new understanding of people interacting unconsciously with their environment and broadens it. A traditional design toolkit, augmented by the latest technology, can generate healing spaces as judged by their ability to enhance users’ subjective well-being. We recommend implementing specific design innovations to achieve this goal—replacing industrial-minimalism with biophilic and neuro-based design and using documented patterns that trigger feelings of happiness in users.

Analyzing the role of resilience and life satisfaction as mediators of the impact of COVID‐19 worries on mental health

“…Qualitative data on this phenomenon highlight the important role of protective factors, such as social and financial support and having an adequate work‐life balance, while also emphasizing the risk factors that adolescents and young adults associate with mandatory lockdown (Horesh et al, 2020 ). These studies indicate that youth mental health decreased during the COVID‐19 pandemic, especially those who lived in denser households (higher in number of cohabitants and smaller in space) and those with no access to outdoor spaces (Aresta & Salingaros, 2021 ). According to this line of research, the compound effect of these variables might lead to higher symptoms of anxiety and depression (Waselewski et al, 2020 ).…”

Can Suboptimal Visual Environments Negatively Affect Children’s Cognitive Development?

“…Any chronic inadequacies with domestic space became acute with lockdown during the recent COVID-19 pandemic [80]. As the rearing environment dramatically impacts brain growth in children, such a crisis turned into a massive (but unplanned) experiment because normally prevalent sources of visual complexity-such as nature, day-care, school, visits, etc.-can no longer make up for any lack of stimulation in the child's living spaces.…”

“…Will it experience color, detail, material texture, and coherent complex patterns? Requisite visual complexity conflicts with dull gray and white vacuity, which defines our society's preferred minimalist aesthetic [80,91]. While infants have a less nuanced color perception than children who are a bit older, or adults, it seems that some innate color preferences are shown as early as 4-6 months [92].…”

AI, the beauty of places, and the metaverse: beyond “geometrical fundamentalism”

“…The "novices", along with all humans (and animals), start to process complex environmental information as babies, and that interaction in turn contributes to the shaping of the synaptic profile and, effectively, the wiring of their brains (Mehaffy & Salingaros, 2012;Aresta & Salingaros, 2021;Bourgeois et al, 1994;Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000;Sakai, 2020). It is therefore wrong to use this term, because it hints at someone who has come to a topic only now without any previous background.…”