Original Book: Thomas Heatherwick (2023): Humanise. A maker’s guide to building our world. Penguin, UK.
The book at a glance. 'Humanise' is a book I did not find - it found me. One day, just before Christmas, this book appeared as a surprise in my (snail) mail as a gift from Ilga, one of my dearest friends of many years and a reader of Eva's AusLese. As I read it, page by page, a second great surprise unfolded for me in the form of a perspective that I’ve never thought of: the impact of buildings on our lives - just by passing by. Until I read this book, I was completely unaware of the effects that the outside of a building could have on us. Now I know that designing buildings according to some well-researched rules can increase our well-being - only by passing by. But the opposite is also true. Buildings can provoke stress in us with all its known consequences over the long run. Unfortunately, most buildings that were built over the last century are in this category. ‘Humanise is not just a book. It's a carefully woven, multi-sensory voyage of discovery to wake us up to the dramatic consequences of creating most of the world's cities over the last century with buildings that don't match what humans inspire, need or love. At the same time, it unravels the hidden potential of evolving humanity by constructing buildings that ‘humanise’.
What were my three most inspiring insights?
1) The
impact of buildings on our lives. The book cites
well-researched findings about the amazing effects that the exteriors of
buildings have on us, the passers-by. I found the most interesting of the many
studies cited in the book to be the one about understanding how we perceive the
geometric shape of a rectangle versus a curve. In 2013, neuroscientists put
completely different people in a brain scanner, showed them pictures of
buildings with more curved forms versus rectangles, and asked them which they
thought were more beautiful. Significantly more people said the curved shapes
were more beautiful. And the brain scans told them why. When we look at curved
shapes, our emotional reward center is activated. Rectangular shapes fire in
our amygdala, the center that deals with stress and anxiety. These findings
have been replicated in many places. Young children, as well as travelers in an
airport, are more attracted to round shapes. It seems to resonate with calm and
peace in us.
2) What's
beautiful is not a matter of individual taste.Using many examples,
such as the Casa Milà in Barcelona, combined with research studies, Thomas convincingly
outlines that a building we find beautiful has the right tension between repetitive
and complex elements. Not either-or, but complementary. And this attraction
should hold true at all distances: from 40, 20 and 2 meters. But especially
from a distance of two meters, which is the distance for people passing by
every day. Unfortunately, most buildings built over the last century are too
flat, too shiny, too monotonous, and too anonymous for the social animals that
we are. In line with the brain research cited above, Thomas reports of
empirical evidence that just passing by such buildings every day causes us
stress, to the point that living in such buildings may even shorten our lives.
3) The
need to create emotional value for passers-by. Thomas,
himself a building designer, has written this book as a manifesto for us to
recognise the disastrous effects we are exposed to every day as we walk past
certain buildings. He argues that it is not only the interior of a building
that should create emotional value, but also the exterior. Like Steve Jobs
introduced the aspect of beauty in designing a computer - something completely
technical and functional - he votes for buildings that are made for us, humans,
who pass by, not for architecture rewards, city planners, or property investors.
And indeed, how can we explain that millions of people visit cities like
Barcelona year after year, pilgrimaging to Casa Milà or sacred places like
cathedrals? Thomas argues that these buildings allow us to resonate with
ourselves, creating a state of well-being and peace. They were created with the
aim to delight us not only with their stability and functionality but also with
their beauty.
How does the content relate to today’s times?
The book warns us
that today's construction industry is responsible for 5 times more carbon
emissions than aviation. Whereas in earlier historical eras buildings were
built to last a thousand years, most of our buildings now have an average life
cycle of 40 years before they get demolished and rebuilt: "While the media
focus on plastic straws, supermarket carrier bags, and air travel, the greater
damage is being done by our addiction to demolishing unloved buildings and -
all too often - replacing them with buildings that are no longer loved"
(p.473). The author's thoughts point us to a huge hidden potential to steward
our world into a more sustainable and equitable place that we may have
completely overlooked: By 'humanizing' our construction industry, as Thomas
suggests, we will have a huge leverage to reduce carbon emissions and at the
same time enable more people to enjoy living in humanized and humanizing
places.
How did the book change my thinking?
I now have a
completely different view of building facades in particular. And it made me
think about my own feelings and experiences with buildings. For example, when I
lived in Frankfurt for three years, I ended up changing flats three times.
Until now, I could not rationally explain why. My first two flats were very
luxuriously renovated, with parquet floors, very large and in one of the most
beautiful parts of Frankfurt. But somehow I did not feel at home. I ended up in
a very small, old, student-sized flat on the top floor, much less attractive,
with linoleum floors. After reading 'Humanise' I can better understand why. It
was not because of the inside of the flat. It was because of what I saw every
day when I looked out of my windows. From my first two flats, I had to look at
the walls of the building opposite. From the top floor flat I could see the
roofs of other houses, the sky, the horizon and the green of some tall trees in
a park. I've realized how much buildings we have to look at
every day can be on our wellbeing - in my case even more so than the interior.
What did I appreciate most reading?
Well-researched,
well-documented, it was the first non-fiction book of around 500 pages that
took me on a completely enjoyable, playful and at the same time enlightening
journey where I was not 'bored' for a single moment. It's a masterpiece in
terms of both content and production. Thoughtfully written with love, deep
knowledge and passion, it takes the reader on a journey of discovery in an
understandable, human way that is highly interesting, even for people - like me
- who have no relation to the field of architecture. I believe that a large
part of this effect lies in the fact that the book is produced according to the
same design rules that the author claims for buildings. It's a mix of text,
lots of pictures and illustrations, different fonts, different layouts and a
tactile cover. Not in a shiny glossy design - like many picture-heavy books -
but in modest shades of grey and paperback. I think it's the reinforcing
alignment between content and making of the book that makes it so compelling,
as it perfectly reflects the author's mission: to call for a down-to-earth,
beautiful and humane design of buildings that brings us higher resonances of
joy and love. Thomas not only finds the right words for make us understand the
rules of design for human buildings, he masterfully demonstrates their
application right away in the design of the book: the right amount of
complexity, repetition and beauty. Chapeau for this masterpiece.
My most inspiring quote
“As a young man, on
seeing a picture of Casa Milà what I fell in love with wasn’t one building but
the potential of all buildings.”
What wisdom in this book will I use in my daily life?
As I create 'social
spaces' for leaders to engage in meaningful discussion, to listen to each other
in different ways, I have been confirmed in the importance of thinking about
making office environments, spaces - including virtual spaces - not just
functional but beautiful and sacred places that create emotional value. For
example, we know that sitting in rows is the most functional way to seat a
large amount of people, but it does not inspire us to connect or feel safe and
comfortable to speak up. Specifically, in our increasingly virtual
interactions, we are exposed to certain virtual backgrounds in the same way
that we are exposed to buildings we pass by: they can make us nervous or calm
us down, give us peace or invite us to relate. Designing such physical and
virtual social spaces with an eye to their emotional impact is something that
most managers dismiss as unnecessary 'perfectionism'. But it is actually a deep
love and passion for creating human spaces that not only serve a function, but
the highest emotional human vibration we are capable of creating: love and joy.
I am grateful for all my clients who value this dimension and let us more
consciously ‘humanize’ our meeting spaces and gatherings.
Who should read this book?
For town planners and architects this book is certainly a must. Beyond, all those who worship architecture as an art. They run the greatest risk of inadvertently helping to promote the cult of creating buildings for the sake of art, rather than for the sake of the masses of people who pass by them every day. But Thomas himself has dedicated this book to us, the passers-by - not the experts. He wants us to speak up and share these insights for a more humane building industry. .... Here we go!
