research

Given the impact of human existence on our planet over the past four thousand years, and more specifically over the past two hundred years, we need to change how we engage with the natural and bult environment.  Architecture has a role to play. Beyond simply being smarter in the way we design and build, architecture has a role in healing the landscape and redirecting us as humans to a better and more sustainable coexistence with the planet. Materials, design, procurement, energy and sustainability all play a role in Architecture as a Healing Art. An awareness needs to be infused into our commissioning and  building process.  Whilst many people do not think about architecture, most people feel it.

The indigenous communities around the world have always had an intuitive connection to nature and a healthy respect for the natural environment. Those of us that have evolved over the past two hundred from societies transformed by the industrial revolution has resulted in a living experience that is disconnect from the intrinsic value of land and in our roles as stewards in protecting it. It is important now more than ever that we reconnect with the land, understand it, and be nurtured by it. Architecture plays an important role in this – how we touch the land, how we bring nature into our daily experience of life and how we enhance the natural order of life. 

Closing the loop on how we source, recycle, reuse and repurpose building materials and the individual components that make up a new building provides interesting opportunities in the entire life cycle of an asset.  A great deal of work has already been accomplished by Ellen MacArthur Foundation in defining the principles for how we can address a regenerative approach to meeting the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, waste and pollution.  Architecture has a significant role in providing solutions and demonstrating design principles and processes which support a closed loop system.

An initiative developed originally by HKS in 2014, mindful materials responds to an overarching need for building occupants and owners wanting healthier spaces in which to work, play and live. Transparency in material provenance and composition plays an important role in creating healthy and healing spaces. Combined with light, shadows, breezes, volumes, landscape and textures, material selection forms the fundamentals in transformative spaces that produce respectful and harmony inducing environments.  Although built on inanimate lifeless matter, all buildings need to come alive to live and breath as an integrated experience with nature.

The procurement process for a new building is a complex logistics affair. Where possible, no building can express the concept of terroir better than one that has been assembled with locally sourced materials. Globalization has meant we can build and furnish as Australian beach house with Chinese fabricated steel, Italian marble and Indonesian teak, with the expectation that these will connect us closer to the landscape that the home is built in.  

Investors are increasingly applying non-financial factors as part of their analysis process in identifying material risk and growth opportunities in their decision-making process. Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) metrics whilst not formally part of mandatory financial reporting, are being increasingly incorporated into annual reports or in standalone sustainability reporting. An informed approach to architecture forms the backbone to a sustainable asset portfolio and in meeting tangible social and community outcomes.