WHAD is an acronym for Wellbeing and Happiness through Architecture and Design. It is my effort to increase the awareness of how these two fields are, in effect, connected.
Assuming that I will have a 50-year-long career to hopefully make a tiny dent in the universe, I am now at the half-way mark. So, now dedicating the second lap to promoting an unusual and special ethos: to elevate the world's wellbeing and happiness baseline.
I call this the WHAD movement, our effort to connect overall wellbeing, alongside our fundamental and instinctive quest for happiness, through knowledge and subtle effects of Architecture and Design.
We spend >90% of our daily life inside buildings. The way spaces mean to us, both consciously and subconsciously, is abundantly magical and powerful. A well-designed environment can make us feel calm and enjoy serenity. A harmoniously curated sequence of rooms can give us delight and sensorial pleasure. The delicately considered balance of nature's signatures through biophillia will bring us a heightened awareness of our being.
When we merge so much of what has already been discovered by psychologists, neuroscientists and philosophers, and anthropologists, with human-centric architectural and design acumen, we have the power to make research become purposeful everyday application.
The ultimate goal is not just to cut down the ills of the world, but to change the "i" to "we", making us all well.
The hardwired quest to become happier gives us human beings an advantage; we will be more productive, cohesive and serve our life calling. Fulfil own own meaning+purpose.
