Using Time, By Design

Time passes. Sometimes faster, sometimes slower, but for anyone reading this post, at least, it does continue to flow forward.

Design that takes into account the passage of time is design that boosts our well-being, and our mental and physical health.

Natural and circadian lighting help your body stay in sync with your location on the earth, which is a fancy way of saying they'll help you keep track of what time it is, and reduce your stress levels, too, all while boosting your mental performance and ability to interact positively with other people. So, open your curtains as wide as the thermal power of your windows permits.

For circadian light without fancy investments, make sure that in each room of your home there are some warmer white light bulbs and some cooler white ones. Turn on the fixtures with the warmer lights in the morning and evening and use the cooler lights during the middle part of your day. To even more closely support natural lighting with your electrical lights, it’s great if, during times when you’re using the warmer lights, light levels are, relatively, a little dimmer and if cooler lighting, when it’s turned on, is relatively brighter. Whenever possible, it’s also best to put warmer bulbs in lower fixtures/lamps, such as those that stand on the floor or are placed on tabletops, and cooler ones higher up, say, in on-ceiling fixtures.

Another way you can mark the passage of time in your home, and to live in a positive, comfortable, biophilic way, is to slightly change your décor every few weeks. Re-arranging/using what you already have is a great way to do so without spending a dime—and rearranging/reusing can do all the same things for you that buying new might.

Trade one air freshener for another or play different sorts of music, for example. Look in the back of your closets, under your bed, and wherever else you might have stashed things; a few of those items can be swapped into more prominent places to change what you see as you look around your home. To keep visual clutter in check, tuck away out of sight one thing currently out on a tabletop, etc., for each one you take out from your closets, etc.

If you change up your home, then, ever so slightly, over time, you’ll have all sorts of clues that will help you keep track of when something happened. Modifying things every so often also adds a new ritual to your life, and rituals also help us note the passage of time. They create a mental latticework that helps you keep track of when things have happened.

But whatever you do, don’t abandon the familiar.

Predictable is positive (for our minds and often our pocketbooks). We favor the familiar in the physical worlds that surround us.

Being around and experiencing familiar things generally makes us comfortable and boosts our mood. We prefer to look at art we find familiar, for example.

Familiar doesn’t mean exactly the same as other things we’ve seen, however. It means that most of the elements in a picture are predictable, but not all of them, for example. If paintings of the British countryside are your thing, for instance, add new art that features rolling hills, etc., but don’t be surprised if you feel like purchasing an image completed with green rolling fields and a few purple cows. Make sure those purple cows find a way into your living room.

A bonus from being in a familiar sort of environment: When the world around us is relatively familiar, odds are we’ll be in a more trusting mood.

Physical things that are familiar can bring to mind all sorts of positive memories we associate with times past. But object-associated memories can be a reason to make a change as well. If something really negative happened somewhere—you learned of an unexpected death while sitting in your breakfast nook, for example—changes in the décor may be in order. You might consider changing the upholstery on the seats in that nook. The physical changes won’t eliminate that negative experience, but, ultimately, a design modification will weaken links that bring it quite as forcefully top-of-mind.

Design with time to design good times.

For more information on this topic, take a look at: Stewart Brand. 1994. How Buildings Learn (Penguin Books).