Artisanship in a post-industrial present: A physio-biological framework for restorative design artifacts

Abstract

digital fabrication clay extrusion printing 3D printing psychology restorative design environmental psychology biophilic design biophilia clay

Over billions of years, organisms have evolved from single cell organisms into the human species of today. That process shaped the physiology and psychology of the human species. While each person is unique, a product of each individuals experiences and specific genetic endowments, there exists universal features that are innate in the biology of humans. One aspect of this is our brain, a unique organ which has evolved through thousands of generations, and through countless interactions with our environments into a mechanism for our species survival. This evolutionary process created a deep innate relationship between humanity and our natural environments.

When modernism emerged at the turn of the 20th century, it fundamentally changed architecture. The economics of mass production mingled with advancements in medical reasoning to produce an architecture of efficiency. Architects such as Adolf Loos, Le Corbusier, and Alvar Alto translated the sterility and medical principles of the sanatorium into housing and beyond, producing an architecture founded on the principles of air and light as essential elements to health, while peeling architecture away from the “humid ground where disease breeds” as defined by Le Corbusier. Large windows, rooftop terraces, and spotless interiors crafted light filled spaces and spotless environments, perfect for the air and sun cure against tuberculosis, but which increasingly separated individuals from the ground humans have evolved to thrive in. Architecture shed the rich visual complexity, naturalistic illusions, and fluid interior exterior relationships of historic architectures, replacing it with a sterile incubator, targeted toward contemporary concepts of health.

Modernist architectural advancements led to a sterility that has permeated modern architectures, producing a cognitive discord that is actively harmful to individuals. Researchers in neuroscience and environmental psychology have sought to understand this discord, producing studies which seek to better identify the underlying cognitive mechanisms that inform these interactions. Designers in turn have developed frameworks for applying this research to design for well-being. This thesis proposes a framework for restorative design principles, and advocates the harnessing of digital fabrication technologies to produce restorative artifacts for well-being. Through the development of a framework specifically tailored to the production of digitally fabricated artifacts, this thesis proposes a methodology for generating restorative environments through informed design. The artifacts presented in this thesis demonstrate the application of restorative principles through digitally fabricated artifacts, advocating the adoption of a new architectural language for restorative, evolutionarily informed design.