In 1940, American nutritionist Victor Lindlahr wrote the book ‘You are what you eat’, consolidating thinking towards the idea that what we put into our body directly impacts our mental and physical health. In more recent times, popular chefs have taken over the campaign and prompted the overhaul of educational and clinical catering, nudging us towards universal acceptance of the powerful correlation between wellbeing and food, and an understanding that learning, behaviour and recovery can all be improved with the right diet.
But what of the health impacts of external factors? Research is now driving a new understanding of how our immediate environment and its emissions and sensorial stimuli might affect the health of our bodies. Could ‘We are the environment we inhabit’ be the new mantra for future wellbeing? This is the thinking behind biophilic design, an increasingly popular approach to architecture and interior design. Defined, essentially, as a love of nature, in placemaking t…
