ABSTRACT

Physical environment is considered by the World Health Organization as one of the four determining factors of the health of a population. This chapter focuses on describing the importance of architecture in people’s health and welfare. Architecture enables healthy environments that prevent the onset of diseases, but in addition, architects are able to create spaces that produce positive emotions, strengthen cognitive faculties, and generate physical and emotional balance. The main value that architecture brings to health is its ability to give meaning to places where humans carry out the activities of their daily lives. This paper describes the influence that architectural discipline has had on the introduction of healthy environments from the mid-nineteenth century to the state of current neuro-architecture, a science that has demonstrated how an architectural environment can influence human behavior and brain processes such as stress, learning, or memory. As an example, we present research carried out with Alzheimer’s disease patients that demonstrates the influence of environmental configurations on their quality of life. Finally, we describe some examples of healthy architectural practices on a domestic scale.