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from Natural Life Magazine,
January/February 2010
In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of an increasingly prevalent health condition known as Sick Building Syndrome (SBS). It manifests in many ways depending on the individual and the specifics of their environment, but symptoms include lack of energy, headaches, irritable bowel, skin irritation, nausea, insomnia, restlessness and many other debilitating physical and psychological reactions. Being in “sick buildings” leads to a literal breakdown in the integrity of the immune system of the occupants, which in turn affects every other aspect of their lives. There is a plethora of conflicting conclusions and beliefs as to what may be causing this, ranging from chemical off-gassing, poor air quality, lack of adequate ventilation, negative effects of some human-made electro-magnetic fields to the adverse influence of just plain bad design. Most of us have spent some time in buildings that may feel as if they are, indeed, sick and we may have felt a deep survival- based desire to escape the toxicity of the environment. There is a literal stress on our bodies that when left unchecked can lead to disease or slow disintegration of biological function. It has been said that biology invented pain as a way to show us where to place our attention. I like this concept and it does, of course, make sense – when our finger touches something hot, a sensation of pain triggers an almost instantaneous physical response . . .
To read the rest of this article and thousands of
others in Natural Life,
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edition. Michael Rice is an award winning architect and member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland. He studied at the School of Architecture in University College Dublin. He set up his own practice in 1998 based in the Slieve Bloom Mountains in the heart of Ireland, specializing in Sacred Design and Living. He is kept wonderfully busy designing beautiful homes all over the world. He teaches “Sacred Geometry and Coherent Emotion” internationally and has gained a reputation as a dynamic and playfully enthusiastic presenter. He has travelled extensively and studied Architecture/Natural Design, Martial Arts, Science and Philosophy for over 25 years, bringing this understanding and practical experience to both his design work and his teachings. He lives with Heather and five amazing home educated kids, currently in the midst of finishing their new home “Dreamfield,” photos of which accompany this article and appear on the cover of this issue of Natural Life Magazine. |
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Over the millennia, there have been countless design and
building styles from simple earth huts to classic timber cabins to modern,
so-called “intelligent” structures. No doubt, there will be many more as our
technology continues to provide a platform for our apparently insatiable and,
indeed, appropriate desire to express and create. We are in a constant dance
with the elements of our environment and, as we transform it, it transforms us.
What we construct and inhabit literally informs not only our biology but our
psychology and our resulting behavior. We experience an alliterative continuum
of building, biology and biography. The much used expression “You are what you
eat” poetically encapsulates the reality that what we consume and how we consume
it forms the basis of our physical, mental and emotional makeup. The same is
true with how and where we live. 
