Exploring Health and Wellbeing in Home Design: Insights from Ongoing Research

Europe is approaching concurrent crises: ageing, disability, and housing inadequacy, which become causes of poor health and poor well-being with increasing impact on public health policies and expenses. In addition, data reveals that we are living longer and therefore everyone is bound to face eventual disabilities that are encountered with ageing. With the growing societal need to focus on well-being on one hand, and Europe’s population ageing faster than the average global population on the other, it has become expedient that the housing de-signs are reconsidered. The situation is made dire considering that additional housing is required to house various populations, yet what is already present is not suitable for the marginalized and vulnerable. This image of housing problems begs the question of whether we should be building more or better. And if better in which sense? An analogy of the current housing solutions reveals that attempts are being made to tackle the concurrent crisis through “silo approaches”, i.e. different housing types for different ages and abilities, focusing solely on aspects of well-being, or for precisely defined categories of people. With this premise, the research proposes a hypothesis to rethink housing design through an encom-passing approach of well-being-promoting qualities for everyone; one that is suitable irrespective of age or health status: A Well-being Home. It proposes going beyond building codes and preventing ill-health, to architectural solutions that are deliberate in considering all ages and abilities, and nudge towards well-being on the whole at the same time.