Login
Registered users
The “architecture of happiness” is all about homes that increasingly resemble the natural world or, even, the natural world increasingly resembling homes. The relationship between home and nature needs to be closer and more intimate. This is the finding of a recent study in which 200 “mini architects,” aged between 3 and 14 from Reggio Emilia and Parma, were asked to draw their dream house. According to the science, the homes imagined by children today are the ones that will make us happy in the future. Free from the influence of the conventional models of adults, these homes are seen as a direct response to the innate need for wellbeing and protection as dictated by the human brain. This awareness was behind this study commissioned by Pratic and conducted by the Iulm universities of Milan, Modena and Reggio with the collaboration of the Italian Department of Education. The resulting 200 drawings of the homes of the future were used to draft a few guidelines for the design and rethinking of homes as places that respond to our need for protection, wellbeing, comfort, and relief from the stresses of daily life outside the home.
The most obvious thing to emerge from the study was a strong need for a connection with nature and the planet, with barriers between inside and out brushed aside, with greenery both in and around houses. There was also a need for a physical connection between architecture and nature, with stairs and slides that extend outwards into the garden or trees. The drawings express a return to the archetypal tree house – an ancestral model that, for centuries and with the necessary evolutions, continues to prove able to satisfy our innate need for wellbeing. An example of this is the first image, drawn by a ten-year-old girl. Particularly interesting are the connections between inside and out, with the attic having both a rose window with colored glass and a trapdoor in the roof leading to suspended stairs and a living space in the crown of an adjacent tree, which has a sofa and fairy lights to create a relaxing atmosphere. Instead of windows there are curtains, but the curtains are outside the windows.
The significance of children’s drawings that imagine the homes of the future stems from the fact that in early childhood, fears, sensations, and desires are expressed through a visual code with innate images that are disconnected from cultural conditioning. When children draw their dream home, therefore, they create an ideal design.
This was the fifth neuroscientific study commissioned by Pratic, a company specialized in the outdoor sector. Titled My Dream House – The Semiotics of the Living Space and Childhood Imagination, the study was conducted by Iulm professor Stefano Calabrese and Ludovica Broglia of Unimore. Michele Campanini and Angela Borrillo, coordinators of the Officina Creativa crafts project, also contributed.
From November 2022 through May 2023, over 200 children aged between 3 and 14, all residents of Parma and Reggio Emilia, took part in this innovative study into the homes and objects of the future. All of them were asked to draw their dream home and given complete freedom as regards design, construction, and materials.
While all the drawings differed because of age and the different objects typical of each child’s daily environment, a common theme that clearly emerged from them is a vision of humans’ innate desires combined with imagination and dreams of tomorrow. So, on the one hand, the home is seen as a refuge – a calm space to live our private life without fear of being observed or even judged. On the other, it’s seen as an environment in close contact with nature, despite the fact that these external spaces are typically visible to passersby. From this perspective, the visions of these children are a valid source of information for guiding design choices from now and into the future, including as regards lifestyles.
According to the study, we should expect an evolution of the home through a change in the functions of its different spaces. Rather than clear divisions between them, they will change to accommodate work and personal needs, including for leisure and wellbeing. Many of the drawings have, for example, gyms overlooking gardens, swimming pools, and spaces for playing sports, which can be recognized from equipment such as weights, balance beams, and so on. A good example of this is image of this paragraph, the work of a ten-year-old girl. This dream home has various rooms for entertainment and wellbeing. For example, at ground level there are two rooms for the artist’s favorite sport, with equipment such as a balance beam (on the left). On the top floor, though, the artist has imagined an attic with rounded shapes that has a large swing, a ball pit, and a swimming pool with a constant connection with outdoors via large windows. The house is also designed with entertaining and relationships in mind, with furniture for the girl’s four pets in every room. On the middle floor, there are five sofas (one for the artist and one each for her dogs), while on the third level there are four kennels (on the left) and four pet bowls (on the right).
The artist’s belief in biophilic design can be seen everywhere, in other words.
As explained by Prof. Calabrese, the factor that inspires these visions is the spontaneous feeling of wellbeing we experience in nature, this being seen as an essential part of our genetic makeup. From the first years of life, we tend to prefer outdoors, which is perceived as a place for play and socializing, to the extent that they have a positive influence on wellbeing and can counteract antisocial behavior and attention disorders in children.
This link between positive feelings and the natural world is therefore essential in home design. It’s found in homes that are both open and sheltered, surrounded by greenery and protected, and exposed to outdoors but also designed for privacy. Rather than a home set in nature, the signs are that tomorrow we’ll have a nature-home.
All images courtesy of Pratic
