I picked up "House Thinking; a Room-by-Room Look at How We Live" (by Winifred Gallagher) at a used book store in Halifax. It is about environmental psychology; our relationship with the spaces we inhabit. Sure we know that the grocery stores are arranged to make us consume more by putting the most frequently needed items at the back of the store. But how can we arrange space in our residences to make us happier? more relaxed? feel secure? (There are actually people out there measuring this information!) Environmental psychologist Grant Hildebrand suggests all we need is a combination of five characteristics, prospect and refuge, enticement and peril, and complex order. Robert A.M. Stern observes that 'Many of us end up buying the house we hate the least.' Ouch.
It can be so simple, take a look around your home. Maybe all you need is a well lit space for reading in your living room; Perhaps it would help to rearrange your dining area so that your circulation paths are clearer; Maybe you could use a window with a view... It doesn't take a major overhaul to change the relationships we share with our homes. But you do have to work at it...
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