Human Response to Nature
Global Warming and Natural Disasters
I will begin with talking about how nature can affect our built environment. As we all know, nature can be destructive to our environment. Human beings are constantly abusing nature, and as a result, causing global warming and climate change. Most notable example might be the recent snowstorm in parts of Australia, keeping in mind it was during the summer (shown in the image below.) In the last decade, some very damaging natural disasters have stroke many cities throughout the world, taking millions of lives and billions of money to rebuild. If only the houses were designed to withstand typhoons, earthquakes and floods, those lives might have been saved. I wonder if those rebuilt houses were designed to withstand the natural forces.
How should designers build for our natural environment?
Not until most recently, designers have taken sustainable designs or building for our nature environment seriously. As designers, we should be more considerate to nature when we are designing, hence the designs should be able to withstand and reduce the damage of nature disaster. I remember some years ago, that there was a building project at Maosi Village, in China, carried out by a group of architecture students in the CUHK. The students had to design and build a bridge to help the local villagers to cross the unpredictable flooding stream, which separates the village to nearby school and market. The group used mostly local materials such as pebbles, stones, and bamboo to build the bridge (shown in the images below). It was a very successful project in terms of consideration to nature by using local building materials and design to withstand natural forces of flooding.
How important is bringing nature into our built environment?
The interaction with nature is essential to our well-being, and many researchers have proved that. For example, a study conducted by Roger Ulrich shows that, a patient with a view of natural environment would recover faster than ones without. Another example shows that by viewing nature could reduce stress level by lowering the blood pressure. Here, three groups of student were shown three different video clips, the group which saw the clip with nature shows recovery from stress. Recently I carried out an observation on how human response to nature inside the Georgia Aquarium. People were very calm and relaxed when they were looking at the marine creatures. I also recorded the level of joy and excitement increased when people were closely interacting with nature. Although we acknowledge the importance of bringing nature into our environment, yet the connection with nature is very limited in today’s built environment.
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