Growing architecture

In this essay I will examine human’s historical interpretation of nature and how this may have influenced our modern day relationship with nature. I am intrigued by nature’s ability to benefit health and well being in us humans, as proven by the success of open air schools and tuberculosis sanatoriums at the turn of the century. The need for open air schools and sanatoriums has now thankfully passed due to the improvements of modern medicine. However I can’t help but wonder is there a way of incorporating some of the benefits of this type of school into modern day architecture. Would teaching spaces in an open air environment help solve today’s problems of obesity perhaps? Contact with the elements is a motivator. It engages the senses with sounds, colours, textures and smells and is calming which encourages relaxation and positive thinking; these are directly attributed to higher concentration levels leading to steady progress in education. The social aspects of a classroom environment are important. Communication is a key factor in education and character building. The ability to share triumphs and failures with peers impacts students greatly, it can be a major deciding factor in which student success or failure is based. It is easier to share a concern or problem in a less pressured and more relaxed environment, for example a non typical classroom setting. I will review our understanding of the supernatural and the ways I believe we can incorporate the supernatural into current day architecture, through the use of new technologies realised in building skins. I will portray my interests and discuss the findings of research I conducted into Open-Air Schools in the eighteenth century and how we can use some of the positive aspects of their designs combined with main stream schools to create a hybrid school of sorts which may be informed by some of the new building skin technologies that are being developed. I state why I believe there is a need for change in the architecture world and a move forward into the realm of the super natural, my reasoning for such a move and realistic ways in which this could happen. I also deliberate how this change in architecture will impact the inhabitants and in turn the cities in which they live.