Rubani Bhasin, Being (WELL) [×]

Being WELL proposes an intersect between our wellbeing and the built environment. This project challenges the structural and psychological integrity of the spaces we inhabit every day, to find solutions that support our overall wellbeing.
As we spend over 90% of our lives indoors it is crucial that our everyday spaces start to take on compassionate and considered design methodologies. This research shifts and challenges traditional definitions of wellness, to pose the question of how interiors can support us to become healthier and enable us to thrive. Contextually the focus of this research is specialised in the multi-residential sector of our built urban environment. This project explores the psychological effects of living in compressed and inexpensively developed vertical dwellings – highlighting the tremendous impact on our emotional and physical states. These spaces are built as homes, yet often lack basic access to natural light, influx of fresh air, communal space, outlook, outdoor space and safe selections of materials.
The intention behind working within an everyday environment such as an apartment, is to provide greater accessibility to the future of residential design. As residents often have less autonomy over the decisions made within their interior, making changes that affect layout, materiality and structural frameworks affect an entire buildings network, not just an individual’s residence. It is crucial that interior designers are involved during all phases of spatial planning and design, and not recruited post design development where only aesthetic alterations can be made.
Using an established multi-residential typology as a case study for betterment, the project proposes the importance of engaging considered design principles at an early stage of the design process. Using the body of research as a tool for design, existing design decisions from this case study are challenged and proposed with alternatives that would better facilitate the occupant’s wellbeing. An emphasis on light, air, non-toxic materials, outlook, space and perception will allow a series of re-imagined systems to form a methodology that can be applied to new built apartments. With the intention that this project will initiate awareness and conversation, around the realm of multi-residential living – striving to design supportive, restorative and healthy environments that do not compromise on health.