ABSTRACT
‘Salutogenesis’ is a buzzword for health-oriented architecture, but few architects understand what it means or how to apply it. Over decades, researchers have observed that design has a profound effect on behaviour and recovery from illness, but the theories that explain these effects are rarely broad enough to deterministically drive design to support health and well-being. Humans are intrinsically connected to the environments they build and inhabit, and small design changes profoundly affect people’s health and well-being. Salutogenesis is an excellent framework for predicting these effects to understand a wide gamut of health-related impacts. We describe the salutogenic paradigm as it applies to architecture linking it to restorative architectural features of selected projects. The study draws attention to the three central axioms of salutogenesis: manageability, comprehensibility, and meaningfulness, and how designers can improve the health outcomes arising from architectural projects to suit the typology, client profile, and enhance projects for all those involved.
