Revisiting Scientific Theories, Towards Human Well-Being-Oriented Built Environments: Fid-Bau Portal

Revisiting Scientific Theories, Towards Human Well-Being-Oriented Built Environments

Hussein, Mohamed Sayed Hussein Ahmed / Mansour, Yasser Mohamed / Kamel, Shaimaa Mohamed

The design paradigm in architecture and the built environment evolves with time. Each era was dominated by a distinct design paradigm. In the modern era, built-environment design paradigms began with an environmental behavior design approach. Furthermore, this method has shifted and designers have increasingly focused on the concept of environmental technology design. Subsequently, the concept of Green Architecture and sustainability became the main design paradigm, emphasizing limiting the impact of humans and built environments on nature and natural resources and creating green energy. A few years ago, architects, urban planners, and scientists realized and scientifically approved that the physical or built environment has a significant impact on human mental and physical health. As a result, they began to place greater emphasis on human psychological and physical health, as well as their interactions with their created environments, than in prior eras. Some design theories, design indexes, design patterns, and recently designed rating systems were created to direct the design and built markets towards the new design paradigm of human health and well-being-oriented built environments. Designers and scientists use different scientific terms to identify this design paradigm, such as human-centric design, healing built environments, restorative architecture/built environments, and positive built environments. The main objective of this new design paradigm is to enhance human physical, psychological, and physiological conditions to accomplish human well-being levels. Researchers work on six theories, indexes, and rating systems in ongoing research and these are attention restoration theory (ART), stress restoration theory (SRT), Biophilia theory, Biophilic design, neuroscience for architecture (neuro-architecture), and the well-building standards rating system. This study has two main objectives. The first was a deep analytical study to compare and integrate the three theories’ approaches, objectives, methods, concepts, and findings to come up with a list of applied design principles and applied design considerations that will enable architects, urban planners, interior architects, and other designers to easily apply them in their design processes, a positive vital step towards transforming them to applied sciences. The second objective was to encourage and strengthen the integrated design process (IDP) between architects and other scientists in the design process and decisions. Researchers’ findings emphasize the vital role that the science of human brain mechanisms, brain perception, mind–body connection, and human well-being needs to play in design drivers while designers design built environments. Researchers’ comparative deep analysis and integration came up with a list of fifteen design considerations and principles, and they named it human well-being design principles (WBDP), which will enable designers to positively step forward towards creating positive built environments. Researchers have concluded that humans are part of nature. As a result, humans have to be reconnected with nature. Thus, built environments must be well-designed and integrated with nature to create livable, healthy, comfortable, and enjoyable places and spaces. The analysis shows that architects and other designers have no choice but to collaborate with other human minds and body scientists to create built environments that speak positively to individuals’ brains and emotions. Architects must deeply study human brain mechanisms to understand how humans perceive their designs. Finally, a built environment cannot separate man from his native nature because nature has all the solutions.