Month: April 2019

Talks, panels and consultations at Grand Designs Live 2019 

Studio 31 will be attending Grand Designs Live at the Excel, London again this year. Our involvement this year is greater than ever before with us involved in talks, panels and expert sessions on all things landscape, health and design.

As the design and build industry takes a shift towards landscape driven schemes and the wider health and social care sectors beginning to see the value of nature to health and wellbeing, Grand Designs Live this year has stepped up to the mark in exploring nature and health themes through its show programmes and collaboration, once again, with Friends of the Earth. With our ethos at Studio 31 very much exploring research-led design for health, we have been fortunate to be asked to be involved with just some of what looks to be an exciting programme.

We will as usual have our sustainable stand G2 in the Grand Gardens section and Alex will be taking part in consultations as part of the Ask and Expert panel but this year Edward will also be giving a talk on “Learning the Value of Landscape” exploring the ever growing link between health and landscape as well as the value of landscape to your own project or grand design. We will also be involved in a health focussed top tips panel as well as a discussion talk with a team of industry experts on “Health versus House”.

Below are just some of the things Studio 31 are involved with at this year’s show and we would love for you to be there too so if you’d like to join us, just head to our Instagram for the last few days of a competition to win tickets to the show along with more than a sprinkling of houseplants.

Studio 31’s involvement at the show this year includes:

– Talk Monday 6th May, Grand Theatre. Learning the Value of Landscape.

– Top Tips Panel. Monday 6th May, Grand Theatre. Health House

– Talk Saturday 11th May, Grand Theatre. Health Versus House.

– Ask the Expert Panel– Sunday 5th May and Wednesday 8th May

Find us at Stand G2 – Close to the entrance of the Grand Gardens Section.

 

Press or Media enquiries please head to our Press Pack which can be found here.

 

The Role of Landscape Architecture in Designing for Health

There is an increasing awareness across not just landscape but the whole built environment of the link between design and health. The places we choose to spend our time; the landscapes, the buildings and everything in between have a real and very distinctive impact on our health. The link between nature and health can be traced back through millennia and more recently the evidence supporting these theories has cited benefits right down to a cellular level.  Professional bodies like the Landscape Institute, RIBA and even wider government bodies are beginning to look at this idea as a real development in the realm of design. The LI even put out a manifesto back in November 2013 highlighting their healthy places strategy and those who follow our practice will know that here at Studio 31 “design for health’ is a core part of our ethos.

One big question remains though. Much of the research is directed at uncovering the links between health and landscape, place and nature but how do you design for it? Much less research pertains to the art of design for health, though increasingly researchers are taking huge steps to understanding more about this.

One thing we do know is that, as with all things design, ‘design for health’ is not a ‘one size fits all’. It’s easy to believe that there’s a generic formula to using certain plants, materials, structures or layouts which are known to have a positive impact on health, but this just isn’t true. The very real danger of this belief is that, in having a generic view of designing for health, we are in fact at risk of having the opposite effect (there is even some research to support this hypothesis). The way a place has an impact on someone’s health will depend on a number of factors, not least the way a user perceives both a space and their own health.

When thinking about design we should be asking questions such as; what are we designing for? Are we designing a space as a treatment/therapy, to be health promoting or even to prevent ill-health? How do the users view their own health?  How are we anticipating the users of the space to interact with it? Are we considering the impact on the users if it is not used for its intended purpose? Research suggests that if this is the case, it is likely the health promoting effects will be greatly reduced. As a profession how can we define the use of the space as part of the concept design?

This paper, written by Ulrika Stiggotter on Nature, Health and Design, highlights many important points specifically in relation to Landscape Architecture. That though the profession itself is becoming increasingly evidence based, very little of the research in relation to nature and health has been conducted from a landscape architecture perspective and this makes the application of theory to landscape architecture (or indeed architecture) difficult.

More work needs to be done which is relevant to the vital role the profession has to play in designing for health and the results of this should include tools and training for landscape architects and other professionals to use in designing with this strategy in mind.

As a profession, we also need to move forward with facilitating and encouraging education around health and landscape and look to personalise design for health in the same way that all design in personalised.

Landscape architecture is increasingly becoming the profession of the future. It’s impact on almost every issue of our time (including health) is potentially colossal and there is more responsibility than ever on us to keep up with the evidence base and facilitate the research to keep up with us.

 

Photo by Kien Do