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.
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 . . .
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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. Contact him through his website.
