Plato
Plato once proposed that there is importance in the physical things we surround ourselves with. As humans we have an affinity for varying traits, and as we grow and develop ourselves we endeavour to be more and seek more of these traits. Plato believed that like humans, objects could similarly possess such qualities. He felt that we are inherently moved when we discover in inanimate objects the qualities that are missing from our own lives.
Things like:
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structure (found in architecture and the shape of open space),
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strength and focus (sculptures, books, and material),
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happiness (ambient light and organic elements),
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calmness (darker colours, stone), you get the idea.
Have you ever been a guest at someone's house and felt a little more relaxed? Maybe you've recently moved to a new work place and felt just a little more inspired? For people who generally don't notice the design of their environment, the usual justification of such feelings falls to the situation or the person that they are there for. This is not incorrect by any means, but by examining the extremes of both ends, we can also deduce that the surroundings play more of a role than we realise.
Imagine your new office is in a compact box without natural light, a singular washed-out colour dominates the scene, and uninspiring furniture decorates the floor. Then compare it to a much more open and breathable space, the layout of desks and the seating oozes with collaboration, with floor to ceiling windows painting a long inspiring view. For me personally, this would instantly forge my mood upon beginning the work day.
Large leading fast food chains - like McDonalds - are very aware of visual design. The colours red, yellow, and orange are dominant not by coincidence, but because studies show that colours like yellow and orange invoke hunger and red, passion. In conjunction, make us excited about being hungry. But we never consider this when we walk into a fast food chain, however our subconscious does. So what does this have to do with interior design?
According to the EPA, Americans on average spend 90% of their time indoors (1989)
It goes without saying that subconscious cues should apply to our personal and professional environments too; the places we reside most. During this article I will try to focus more on personal because it is most within our control.
For me, I generally like to be surrounded with elements such as:
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Dark Wood & Metal,
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Stone & Concrete,
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Furniture with a Black and Grey prime colour,
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Plants and Large Windows,
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Art
They brings focus, calmness, ambition, principle, and masculinity.
Plato felt that artistic additions like this are therapeutic; and he's not the only one.
Saint Benedict
In his twenties, St. Benedict studied philosophy in Rome. Philosophically, he clashed with his wealthy fellow students in that they had no passion for purpose. He then ostracised himself to find a better way to live and ended up fostering small communities founded on his beliefs - which took foundation in a set of guidelines appropriately authored: Rules.
Apparently over his lifetime hundreds of people joined in communities that were governed by his Rules, and for over a thousand years there were many large institutions founded in his name and reflecting his values. He had a lot of ideas on how to eat, how you should dress, when you should sleep, and what's important in a community; but we are going to focus on his views on art and architecture as one of the guiding forces in the lives of his communities.
Benedict didn't think good art and architecture were luxuries, instead that they were vital supports for our inner selves. He understood that we are likely to take our cue about how to be by observing that which emanates from the walls around us. It's for this reason that Benedictine monasteries made a point to hire the best architects and artists to manifest the ambience associated with divinity.
Andrea Palladio
I first encountered Andrea Palladio in The School of Life's: Great Thinkers, so I am going to source and expand on most of what I know about him from there.
Starting as an apprentice stone mason, later the top architect in Venice in his 60's, Palladio viewed architecture as more than the assembly of walls, floors, and ceilings. There was purpose in architecture and it was an opportunity to encourage good states of mind in ourselves and our guests. Palladio particularly believed that architecture could support us in three psychological virtues: calmness, harmony, and dignity.
With calmness, Palladio aims to reduce the noise of surroundings; organising the room to be centred, balanced, and symmetrical. Emphasising on simplicity, he aims to use basic geometry and plain, neutral surfaces. Less furniture clutter, and an inviting emphasis on open space to help us focus. A classic example of this in his work is reflected in the Villa Cornaro, Italy - the interior and exterior both heavy with symmetry.
With harmony, Palladio explains the conformity of design. The placement of a given set of objects is to be consistent throughout the room, everything is a simple symmetrical shape, and all the doors align. This concept extends outside of physical matter to the virtues we value. The building should collate what we find important and are trying to radiate into an elegant product reflected in our immediate environment: Patterns and virtuous flow.
With dignity, Palladio wanted to provide meaning to the general meaningless. In the Villa Barbaro, Italy, Palladio highlights barns, stables, storage units, as something as grand as the house itself. This is undoubtedly recognised more in modern times, with very general objects like bells, hourglasses, birdcages and watering cans, delightfully charming us with their simplicity and actually add character to the surroundings.
Feng Shui
To paraphrase wikipedia's definition of Feng Shui: Translating to "wind-water", Feng Shui is a traditional Chinese practice of the direction of Qi (cosmic current - pronounced "Chee") through an environment to generate harmony. This phenomenon was believed to have naturally occurred in ancient times throughout landscapes and bodies of water; and contrary to the thought that Qi is always a good thing, it was believed that the wrong flow of Qi can yield negative results.
Feng Shui is therefore revolving around the idea that the way we structure our environment has an affect of the flow of Qi throughout it, and the harmony we experience. Feng Shui has many complexities, so we will focus on the basic concepts: Bagua, and the Command Position.
Bagua (The Eight Areas) divides up into eight areas of human life. Fame, Wealth, Partnership, Creativity, Travel, Career, Knowledge, and Family. Since it the 8 positions can be arranged into a radial shape, each aspect of life is also associated with an orientation: North, North East, East, South East, etc... This is in reference to orientation around a space (rooms in a house or positions in a room). Finally, each octant is associated with a material: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood, which should be the dominant material in that section of your location. Apart from the literal additions of the element, colour is just as important and can act as a substitution. For example, you wouldn't just have a fire in the back corner of your room in some circumstances, but you may choose red and orange decorations.
The Command Position refers to the ideal place to be centrally located in a room to intersect with the Qi flowing through, and is probably the most important elements of Feng Shui. There are some general rules around where the command position is located, such as being furthest away from the room's door and always facing it, and having your back to a solid surface and not a window. This ties heavily into our natural state of comfort and survival instincts to have a broad field of vision of vulnerable points: a Primal Comfort.
Habitual Design
In international best seller, Atomic Habits, James Clear expands further on environmental design as an important aspect in the reinforcement or erosion of habits. During his writings, Clear explains that of our senses that vision is the most utilised; with around ten million sensory receptors of our eleven million being dedicated to it. For this reason visual cues are, in his words, the greatest catalyst for behaviour. Without getting too far into the science of how cues lead to out comes - which if you're curious, you should definitely pick up the book - we are going to explore the design category of item placement. James' results boil down to increasing the likelihood of good habits and minimising the likelihood of bad habits.
If you want to reinforce a good habit such as learning the guitar, then you would leave your guitar in a more visible location. If you wanted to avoid looking at your phone in the morning (a bad habit), charge it on the other side of the room from your bed. The reason this is effective is because it raises or lowers the difficulty or amount of steps required in initiating the habit; because let's face it, humans are inherently very lazy. Another example would be if your water bottle is on your desk instead of in your bag you are going to drink it more often, the list goes on.
This is an example of item placement, now let's explore how the same ideas can be used for interior design. For a start, you can distance your bed from your desk - or have your desk in a completely different room - to reduce the association of productivity with relaxation. This could make you less awake when trying to sleep, and less sleepy when you're trying to work. Maybe your bed is next to a window to utilise the morning sun to help you wake up. Maybe your TV couch faces the window to your outdoor gym so that even while you're enjoying leisure time, you strangely later feel the urge to work on your fitness. What I'm trying to say is that there are definitely benefits for our psyche and our goals relative to the placement of what we see in the areas we spend living in most.
In essence, adjusting habits is an extension of who we want to identify as. As James writes, in the situation whereby you compare two smokers who are trying to quit smoking and each are offered a cigarette: If one says "No thanks, I'm trying to quit", it seems like a reasonable and noble response. But compared to the other who says "No thanks, I'm not a smoker" we can immediately see why this person is more likely to succeed; they have formed their identity as someone who doesn't smoke.
Associative Psychology
In his best-selling book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman explores associative psychology in the form of Priming.
Priming, The Florida Effect, and the Ideomotor Effect
Kahneman discusses the concept of Priming: a way of influencing future actions with present stimulus. Sound familiar? We're expanding on what we just read from James! In his example, Daniel explains Priming through the Florida Effect (priming future actions with a word association game), an effect specifically relating to the induction of actions pertaining to the elderly. This over all phenomenon is, as Daniel tells it, the Ideomotor Effect. He goes on to explain how it can work in reverse, that actions can influence our thoughts as well as the aforementioned thoughts influence on actions.
So why do I bring this up?
Put simply: Our environment primes our thoughts and behaviours.
This is easily applicable beyond interior design, to things like background music, what we smell (candles or diffuser scents), and the particular things we do in said environment.
What is the end result? Do you want to walk slower or feel invigorated in your own space? If it's the former, well, we already know what you need to do! But if its' the latter, then what designing choices would prime that behaviour?
From what we now know about associative psychology, we would want to surround ourselves with (or even better, interact with) associated terms. For invigoration, we turn to foliage, to natural light, higher tempo music, vibrant colours, and generally more positive décor.
What we choose to surround our self with in our natural state is an expression and manifestation of our identity: who we want to be.
If this is the case, how does your living space prime you for what you want to become? To summarise with a quote from Richard Rohr,
"We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking "
