Salutogenic Architecture

At C& Partners, our team places a considerable value on architecture and design that has a transformative, healing power. We believe that buildings have been influenced by industrial societies for decades, and as a result, they have often been designed to mainly function. Clinical practice focuses mostly on treating illness while often neglecting a patient’s psychological, social and spiritual needs. Environmental qualities that could be considered as psychosocially supportive need to be incorporated in today’s design of our healthcare-specific buildings and spaces.

Salutogenesis is a term coined by Aaron Antonovsky, a scholar of medical sociology. The term describes an approach focusing on factors that support human health and well-being, rather than on factors that cause disease. More specifically, the "salutogenic model" is concerned with the relationship between health, stress, and coping.  

Our research has shown that the salutogenic perspective forms a theoretical framework for psychosocial supportive design since it can stimulate, engage and improve an individual's wellbeing, and thus, expedite their healing process. As a result, as part of our design practice, we are exploring Salutogenic design model. Meaning “the origins of health,” this alternative model focuses on the positive impact of design on human health. It’s a measurable aspect of design that can help a building’s inhabitants operate at their peak performance. Additionally, it can help them maintain physical and mental well-being, actually helping them lead healthier and potentially longer lives. It is the ultimate investment in people, in an architectural sense.

If you are interested to know more about this topic, please stay tuned for our upcoming posts about Salutogenic design principles and their applications.