The Feng Shui of the Occidentby Jan Zimmermann | 09.02.2015

living on the edge

With a population of almost 124.000 people, the Dutch city of Zoetermeer is not quite a metropolis. Nevertheless, it seems urban enough to be seeking peace from it on the outskirts of the city. At least an entrepreneur from the city centre and his family felt so. Fortunately, they approached Arjen Reas with their demand, for he has studied “healing architecture” and is therefore an expert of the connection between architecture and well-being.

Healing Architecture

For all those who don't know yet what healing architecture is: healing architecture or evidence-based design (EBD) creates architecture with credible evidence in mind that shows how the physical environment influences the psychological and physical well-being. In short: healing architecture is a stress-preventing, healing architecture. Consequently, it is used mostly in health care. A trained “architectural healer” like Arjen Reas, however, uses this knowledge also in other projects. What is important to him is that a building is in harmony with its environment and conveys a good experience to the user.

Thatch and Light

“Coating” is the word that comes immediately to mind when you take a look at the project called “living on the edge”, for this single-family house is almost entirely clad in a “fur” of thatch. This material is not only in harmony with the traditional architecture of the region, but also provides optimal protection against the elements. The thatch is contemporarily contrasted by white plastered surfaces and numerous windows, most of which are ceiling-high. The latter provide for a very important factor of healing architecture: light. The interior is accordingly very, or let's say healthily, bright.

Bathtub View

Another thing that comes with the windows are great views, especially from the rear of the house connecting directly to adjacent fields. There, the living room opens towards a roofed terrace with parquet flooring that merges into a plateau in the open air with a flooring made of stone. Since the living room is part of an open-plan living, dining and cooking area with the kitchen at the other end of the house, the horizon virtually extends throughout the entire ground floor. The upper floor, however, should convey rather a kind of wellness feeling when you are lying in a bathtub right in the master bedroom, enjoying the view through the window.

Architecture = Responsibility

Even without the knowledge of the meanwhile proven healing effect of certain designs, it should always have been one of every architect's major goals to make the client of a project feel comfortable with it. Nevertheless, maybe it will be helpful for one or the other in future if they consider that their designs have an actual influence on their clients' health.