Happy by Design: A Guide to Architecture and Mental Wellbeing

Can good design truly make us happier? Given that we spend over 80% of our time in buildings, shouldn't we have a better understanding of how they make us feel? Happy by Design explores the ways in which buildings, spaces and cities affect our moods. It reveals how architecture and design can make us happy and support mental health, and explains how poor design can have the opposite effect. Presented through a series of easy-to-understand design tips and accompanied by beautiful diagrams and illustrations, Happy by Design is a fantastic resource for architects, designers and students, or for anybody who would like to better understand the relationship between buildings and happiness. With the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis, the importance of designing for mental wellbeing has never been higher on the agenda. Whether through low-energy design, designing in better ventilation to avoid passing on pathogens or the realisation of the importance of accessing nature within an environment, this revised edition has been updated to reflect a changed world.

Ben Channon is an architect, author, TEDx speaker and mental wellbeing advocate, and is well known in the industry as a thought leader in designing for happiness and wellbeing. He is a Director at wellbeing design consultancy Ekkist, where he helps clients and design teams to create healthier places, and researches how buildings and urban design can impact how we feel.