This past weekend, I took a trip to the Eastern Sierras to take a mountaineering class outside of Yosemite. During my time there, a condo in Mammoth Mountains served as a launch pad for my adventures in the mountains. As someone with a deep love of the outdoors, I have sometimes had a difficult time squaring away how the design of built environments relates to the practice of getting outside and taking care of our planet’s natural resources. Though I love time outside, I am no stranger to the fact that most of my time as a professional adult is spent within a building (home, school, office), so instead of living with the cognitive dissonance of being inside and yearning for the outdoors, I approach design as a tool to foster and inspire outdoor participation. If we’re going to be inside for work and cooking and living, it serves us well to create environments that activate, heal, inspire, build, and foster the types of relationships that can be taken to the trails. In thinking about environments that inspire, here’s a handful of design factors that influence me to go outside:
Setting:
To me, nothing is better than a home set in a beautiful and natural location. Though we can’t all live in the middle of a forest (I write as I sit smack dab in the middle of one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the world), nothing is more inspiring than driving up to a shelter in the middle of immense natural beauty. Not only are the views inspiring and enticing, they are often located near accessible adventures like interesting trails. Some of my most invigorating physical feats were supported by an abode in a fascinating location. Whether lodging at a cabin in the Catskills, a farm house on a station in Te Anau, NZ, a beach house near the beckoning Pacific Ocean, a treehouse overlooking a PNW forest, or a ranch house built into the hillside of a San Diego mountain, the settings I find myself in inspire and push me to work harder and to seek out big adventures. As someone who is immensely influenced by my physical setting, I often times must retreat to nature on the weekends to refuel for the week. As I think about how to factor this into my design practice, I really carefully consider the environments where wellness is a way of life. If you have the financial freedom to build your own home, think carefully about the natural environment you select as your homestead. If you’re like me and cannot always control your physical setting to your ideal preference (whether you must be in a city for work, school, etc), there are other tweaks we can make to have a shelter that is designed for interaction with nature.
Natural Light:
Bar none, natural light via expansive windows has a profound effect on a person. Having spent 4 years in the Finger Lakes of New York, I grew accustomed to small windows with poor circulation letting in what minimal light could be found outside. It was a tough time! It took twice as much resolution to get to the gym or to go out and enjoy the gorges, lakes, and trails around my campus because I felt like I was in a twilight zone. Better to choose a smaller space with great natural light then a mansion without adequate windows. Seriously, before you sign a lease or build your house, you must make sure you are getting light from multiple directions within all primary living spaces. Then, boost the natural lighting with strategically placed ambient and task lighting. Paint your walls a light color, and find sconces and fixtures that cast a nice glow on the walls and ceiling panes to create a sense of expansiveness and warmth. If you have windows, keep those suckers open as much as you can! Nothing beats natural sunlight and fresh air to inspire and invigorate a soul.
Materials:
I spend a lot of time at Flea Markets, antique stores, second hand shops to source beautiful and sturdy furnishings and textiles that have not only stood the test of time, but were likely made with more natural materials. Wools, jutes, hemps, grass cloth, bamboo, certain woods and stone materials — these are the materials that make you feel good. Synthetic and petroleum-based materials not only have harmful off gassing and VOCs, they really don’t degrade and usually end up in a landfill forever when you move onto your next thing. You know that fuzzy headed feeling you get when you’re in a freshly painted place with brand new furniture from the discount furniture store? It’s not the excitement of a fresh room, you’re likely getting stoned on really harmful chemicals. It not only harms cognitive function, but it also damage your lungs, kidneys, and hormones to breathe and ingest it. And this isn’t really the right environment to invigorate you and inspire you to hit the trail and hit physical goals. Better not. Stick to the tried and true materials and choices, and make design decisions that withstand trends and time. I realize it can be incredibly expensive to source natural, organic, and sustainable materials and furnishings for every application, but really every step in the right direction is beneficial here. If you are in the situation where you can’t really afford sustainable or second-hand materials, you an still make smart design decisions by choosing materials and furnishings that you will be happy with for years or decades. Trendy, cheaply-made materials and products end up in a landfill, and this sad trend has destroyed many natural lands.
Hygge:
When I was 20, I lived in Denmark for a few months to study their approach to corporate and public social responsibility. It was an amazing time! I found Danish culture so invigorating – very little food waste, smaller abodes with fewer, nicer furnishings, a balanced mindset towards life and work. I loved it! What I especially liked was learning a new word: Hygge. Now wherever I go, whatever blog I am on, I can’t escape the word! Hygge is not really easy to define, but basically describes a feeling of comfort and coziness. Usually it is felt in a small group setting within a home. I made a lot of friends and reveled in the feeling of hygge- and it was aided by the built environment! Plush sofas, clean floors, danish modern chairs, warm fuzzy lighting, nourishing food, brewed coffee. These are all of the factors that created a hygge environment. And from that setting and those friendships, I could go out into the city and explore new things, meet new people. It was the feeling of having security and safety and a home base – thousands of miles from home – from which to explore.
Other Things:
There are so many ways to create an environment that inspires you to go outside. Find what works for you, and get creative with it! Please share if you come across any interesting solutions that make life well lived – ESPECIALLY for us city dwellers!