Why is a healthy lifestyle important?

We all want to live a long, happy, healthy life with an abundance of energy and vitality, having the ability to perform well both mentally and physically with emotional balance and free from disease and disorders. One may ask, why is a healthy lifestyle important and how can we accomplish a healthy lifestyle with all the bad temptations of today? To achieve this we need to strive for peak health through a Healthy Lifestyle.

Leading a healthy lifestyle is one of the best decisions you will ever make, one which will impact on all aspects of your life - physical, mental, and emotional. The issue of healthy lifestyles is an important one. A healthy lifestyle is a valuable resource for reducing the incidence and impact of health problems, enabling you better to cope with life stressors, as well as improving your quality of life.

Many health problems can be prevented or at least their occurrence postponed by having a healthy lifestyle. Many health issues are addressed with exercise, nutrition, stress management and other healthy lifestyle practices.

Let me start here by trying to define lifestyle. Definition: ‘A way of life or style of living that reflects the attitudes and values of a person or group’.

Everyone knows that eating a healthy balanced diet, exercising regularly and coping with stress are of
benefit to the body and mind, and are habits necessary for a healthy lifestyle.

Resource from:

Healthy Lifestyle Living, By Larry Lewis, (2012) 'Why is healthy lifestyle important?' [online,blog] Available from: https://www.healthylifestylesliving.com/health/healthy-lifestyle/why-is-a-healthy-lifestyle-important/ [Access date 27/11/2015]

Why is it important to have a healthy lifestyle?

Why should I lose weight?

Maintaining a healthy weight is essential to good health. Obesity is associated with many illnesses and shortens life expectancy.  Being overweight can lead to higher risks of:

• diabetes
• high blood pressure
• breathlessness
• coronary heart disease
• osteoarthritis in the knees
• a range of cancers
• negative effects on wellbeing and self esteem.

By losing weight, your risk of developing any of these problems is greatly reduced and your self esteem and confidence is increased!

 

Why should I quit smoking?

There are many health benefits to quitting smoking, these include:

•  You will reduce your risk of developing illness, disability or death caused by cancer, heart or lung disease.
• You will improve your breathing and general fitness.
• You will improve your fertility levels and  your chance of a healthy pregnancy.
• You will reduce the chance of your children suffering from bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma attacks, meningitis and ear infections.
• You will protect the health of those around you by not exposing them to second hand smoke.

Quitting smoking will also improve your lifestyle by:

• Saving you money - as much as several hundred pounds a month if you are a heavy smoker.
• The appearance of your skin and teeth will improve.
• You will no longer smell of stale tobacco.

 

Why should I drink less?

Regularly drinking above recommended daily limits, risks damaging your health in the following ways:

• You may be affected by liver problems, reduced fertility, high blood pressure, increased risk of various cancers and heart attack.
• Drinking too much could lead to impaired judgement, slurring of speech, a tendancy to violent behaviour and short term memory loss.
• Alcohol irritates the stomach so can cause sickness, nausea and diarrhoea.
• Alcohol has a dehydrating effect which is the main reason for hangovers.

Why should I do more exercise?

• Keeping active reduces the risk of getting major chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes or high blood pressure
• Keeping active helps you to maintain a healthy weight
• It helps to maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints.
• It is a great way to reduce stress levels by making you feel more energetic and helping you sleep better.
• Physical activity Increases your confidence and self esteem and is a great way to have fun and meet new people.

Why should I eat healthily?

When it comes to a healthy diet, balance is the key to getting it right.  This means eating a wide variety of foods in the right proportions.

All the food we eat can be divided into 5 groups:

• Fruit and vegetables - it is advised to eat 5 different portions of fruit and vegetables per day, try and eat a rainbow of colours to get your vital sources of vitamins and minerals. 
• Starchy foods - These foods such as bread, pasta, cereals, potatoes and rice are your main source of energy giving you fuel for the day.  These should make up 1/3 of your daily diet.
• Meat, fish, eggs and beans provide us with protein which is needed for growth and repair.
• Milk and dairy foods - such as cheese and yoghurt provide us with calcium which helps our bones grow strong.
• Fat and sugar - It is still important to have some fat in our diet to help our body function properly.  We need to try and reduce 'bad'  fats such as cakes, butters, biscuits and pastries as too much of these foods can increase your risk of heart disease and weight gain.  That is why getting the right proportion is key!

Resource from:

Leeds let's change, 'Why is it important to have a healthy lifestyle?' [online] Available from: http://www.leedsletschange.co.uk/pages/why-is-it-important-to-have-a-healthy-lifestyle [Access date 27/11/2015]

Main functions in my pavilion

Pavilion - Functions

Function 1 - Test/check
Quick health check -> Different tests -> Height & Weight check (BMI) -> Blood pressure -> Quick check of sugar level in blood.

Function 2 - Help
After all tests -> Consultation with doctor -> Helping out with problem -> Advice -> Diet, list of exercise.

(Helping people with different healthy issues)

Function 3 - Educate
Information about healthy food/healthy lifestyle -> What is healthy food, where we can buy it -> what healthy lifestyle is -> How healthy lifestyle affect us?/benefits (Why should we chose to live in a healthy way) ->Where you can find further help

(Educate people with diabetes or food intolerance how to create daily diet and manage their life)

Function 4 - Relax & Be healthy
Space for relaxation -> After or before visiting our pavilion -> Relax in pleasant environment that we created for people -> Relax is very important part of a healthy lifestyle

Benefits of healthy lifestyle
• Exercising - Control weight
• Improves mood
• Combats diseases
• Boots energy
• Improves longevity
• Good mental health


All functions of this pavilion are made to introduce to people the importance of healthy lifestyle. Those functions are made to convince people and explain them step by step what healthy lifestyle is, but also to show and explain to them how bad behaviours /unhealthy lifestyle can affects our body and mind.
There are lost of different diseases and health conditions that are caused by unhealthy lifestyle. Many people don't know that our whole body and mind can suffer from our bad decisions and habits.

About ..Healthy Pavilion

Go -> Check -> Educate -> Relax -> Be Healthy

Promoting healthy lifestyle through pavilion. The 'Green Pavilion' will be a place where everyone are welcome to find out what they need about healthy lifestyle but also about their health.

What functions this pavilion will have?

It is not about reading some leaflets based on healthy lifestyle, this pavilion will provide professional health care, test and consultation with different range of doctors (dieticians but also people that are doing internship in hospitals).

The purpose is to provide quick and effective meeting (for free) that could help people to start healthy lifestyle. They can come straight from the street, without waiting in surgeries or hospitals.  How?

What kind of test this pavilion will provide? How this will work?

- Blood pressure

- BMI (High and weigh check)

- Diabetes check (Blood sugar test)

- Consultation

Customers will be taking through couple of different, but quick and very simple test which the results of them will be immediately. After having the results there will be a consultation with doctor.

 Everyone from our customers will be given quick note written specially for them, about food and diet,(what they should and shouldn't eat). Information leaflet about healthy eating and how easy  is to start to life more healthy. Whatever problem customers will have they will be given a list of exercise which they should do as a part of healthy lifestyle, and also links and contact numbers and address where they can get more help if they need it.

Different people different problems:

- Obesity

- Diabetes
- Heart diseases 

- Food intolerance

- Overall poor well-being

- Stress

Food intolerance is very complicated and most of people just don't know what they can eat and what don't, and in many cases lots of people even don't know that they have food intolerance. It is very hard to remember what is good and what isn't and it is very hard to compose some rational diet by itself.

That's why pavilion provide consultation with doctor, which will fully explain everyone the situation that they are in.

 The obesity is a very big problem in the UK, also as heart disease and poor well-being which can end up with depression. Lots of health problems are caused because of bad living, lack of natural environment, hours at work, lack of exercising and not caring about what we eat, how and when.

This pavilion will try to educate and convince people about healthy food and healthy lifestyle and show how easy it is. Also and mainly it will try to  help the customers to understand  everything about their health conditions.  

In this pavilion will be a space where people can just simply sit and relax as this is very important part of the healthy lifestyle, it is also important for our body but also for our mental health.

Rethink my design idea

I redevelop my first idea because the purpose was still not very specific and clear. I use the whole idea nr 1, like just one function in my second idea. I didn't change the whole thing I just combine my first thoughts and design with new ones. Previous researches just give me an idea what I can do and inspiration of how my pavilion can look like. But also an inspiration of creating very fresh and unique pavilion that will bring lots of benefits to others.

So..

what I want from the beginning from my project is to design this for people and make a design that will have benefits for them. I was thinking then about how people are live now days and how I am living. Lots of stress, hours in front of the screens at work, school, and then at home, sitting lifestyle, bad eating, no exercising, living in urban core with lack of nature. This behaviours and choices have a very bad impact on our health and our well being.

At the start of the unit I was hardly stick with nature theme, and to design installation/pavilion/structure that will bring nature to the urban core and will provide place for people to relax. 

I focused my research on connecting people with nature, and what benefits it have, I found out that the nature have big impact on us and our life's, and that it is a important part of our healthy lifestyle. So after this I was think more about my project and about the purpose of it because it was still a bit unclear. 

And this lead me to do more specified research, about healthy lifestyle, how it affect us, and what actually healthy lifestyle mean.

I decided that my design will be about promoting healthy lifestyle and helping people to start to live that way. It will be about to educate people and fully explain to them what the healthy lifestyle is and why people should chose this way of living. It will also have some green place for people to rest and relax as my previous researches shows that being around nature/greenery/pleasant surrounding is very good for our physical and mental health. 

Gathering Pavilion

During the 2014 summer semester, the College of DuPage Architecture Department offered its first ever Design +Build summer studio. This course became a hands-on, experiential learning opportunity for our students to explore space and the built environment through the design and construction of a creative, spatially innovative, temporary structure.

Designed and built by 16 students, this temporary gathering pavilion is located on the COD main campus adjacent to the west campus pond. This project allowed our students to have a first-hand experience designing, and then building a structure. The necessity of building a design forced students to consider both the poetic and the tectonic simultaneously, adding a richness to the design conversation.

Conceptually, the gathering pavilion is an exploration of "framing" – framing space, framing views, and framing experience. The design is a series of five sectional bays, or frames, which are positioned adjacent to one another. While all of these sections are based on a consistent module, each frame varies in height, alignment, and seating placement. These five frames collectively create a space that allows for students to gather and interact with each other.

Resource from:

ArchiDose, 2014. A Daily Dose of Architecture/Gathering Pavilion. [online] Available from: http://archidose.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/gathering-pavilion.html [Access date 07/12/2015]

Living Pavilion

“Living Pavilion” is a low‐tech, zero‐impact structure that employs reclaimed milk crates as the framework for growing a planted “green wall” surface. The pavilion’s construction is simple and modular, relying on common materials such as heavy‐duty packaging straps and weather‐treated wood for its assembly. Erected in the courtyard of Liggett Hall for Governors Island’s summer season, the pavilion will provide refuge from the heat in a shaded environment kept cool by the evaporation from its planted surfaces. As the pavilion’s vaulted form meets the ground, it unfolds into a mat of crates planted with crops that can be harvested and distributed to the community. At the end of the season, its modular design will allow easy disassembly and distribution to the New York area for use in homes, public places, and community gardens.

The selection of “Living Pavilion” is the result of an international design competition to design and build a pavilion as a central, temporary gathering place on Governors Island. This competition is unique in that it asked designers to consider the full lifecycle of their proposals. With as little environmental impact as possible, considerations included the sourcing, materials, placement, de‐installation, and the future of the pavilion once the summer has ended.

Resource from:

Open Buildings, 2010. Living Pavilion. [online] Available from: http://openbuildings.com/buildings/living-pavilion-profile-2114# [Access date 07/12/2015]

Pop-up Pavilion

This is one of research that I did when I was looking for a case study and inspiration for my design.

Pop-Up Bowooss Bionic Research Pavilion Inspired by Nature's Efficiency.

Ever heard the phrase "less is more"? This is a principle we see constantly in nature. The natural world is a showcase of efficiency, constructing systems that prevent waste and ensure survival of the surrounding ecosystem. Students at The School of Architecture at Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany, have incorporated natural principles into a temporary research pavilion inspired by Mother Nature's affinity for sustainable design. 

The shell-like structure is called Bowooss, which, roughly translated, stands for “bionic optimized wood shells with sustainability”. The pavilion’s perforated design resembles a bug’s shell or oval-shaped beehive. Although it’s more open than enclosed, the structure demonstrates both remarkable strength and portability.

The unique pattern used to construct this pavilion lets in natural light from every angle, while still providing lightweight, sustainable shelter. It’s easy to imagine how, if strategically covered with some sort of insulating material, such a criss-crossed design could be used to build affordable residences for low-impact home enthusiasts.

For now, the Bowooss  pavilion offers a unique place to relax on campus while also testing a new technique for architects to consider. The pavilion was even outfitted with swinging hammocks for passersby to rest in.

Research from;

Inhabitat, 2012, By Beth Buczynski 'Pop-Up Bowooss Bionic Research Pavilion Inspired by Nature's Efficiency' [online] http://inhabitat.com/pop-up-bowooss-bionic-research-pavilion-inspired-by-natures-efficiency/ [Access date 27/11/2015]

This pavilion is inspired by mother of nature and it is created for students as it is in university campus. This pavilion offers a place to relax, and the swinging hammocks are there to help people to rest and have reflection time. It is made from wood - natural materials and it is a temporary pavilion.

I chose this design for my research because I also want my pavilion to be a place where people will relax and interact with each other. But I also want my pavilion to be temporary and based on nature, so people have chance to relax and connect with nature for a while even in built core, as this is my main purpose - to bring some nature into build environment. 

About My Design & Design Brief

Pavilion. 


Take a break from daily rush with our Pavilion.

What I want from my project is to connect people with nature through my design and to give people place where they can relax and ''recharge their life force battery''. 

Design which could be placed everywhere in every location. Temporary pavilion that brings some nature aspects to our build environment and society. The purpose of this pavilion will be to design structure and multi space for relaxation, contemplation, and social interaction.

This pavilion will be designed and intended for people that are stressed out because of their work/school/daily problems. I want this pavilion to be like a little break from daily rush and routine after long day. This pavilion should reduce stress and calm the mind and soul and also be a place where people can breathe fresh air and just stop for a while.

My earlier research shows that this is important as nowadays we live in very urban environment and we are disconnected more and more from nature, which is bad for our health and overall well-being. Our society is also very stressed out because of many life's issues. Its proven by many researches that being around the nature have lots of benefits, it have also therapeutic functions for our body and soul.

Because nature is a very important part of our lives and its proven that nature even in small dose like gardening is good for our health (mental and physical) I want to try to use the nature as a device that I can use in my design.

So this pavilion will be outside and will be a spatial device to give people some relaxation space, reflection time also as interaction and recreation place.  

Design brief.

Client - Southampton City Council

Location - One Guildhall Square

Project - ''Reduce your stress and calm your Mind & Soul'' with our Pavilion

End date - 08.05.2016

Business case

The project is about to reduce stress  and help people to calm their minds and souls in this pavilion. Our client want to reduce stress of citizens but also to give them a chance of run away from built environment to deal with daily problems and routines. They state also that lots of people in the UK are suffer from depression and obesity and many more health problems, this can be caused because of the stressful life but also because of lack of natural environment/experience.

We understand how people live nowadays that they are hours and hours at work or school/universities and that they have lots of stress because of different reasons; deadlines, projects, meetings, always trying to be the best, or may be because they hate their jobs or have some family issues. They are also isolate from nature and spend most of their times in front of the screens which is bad for their mood and health.

So the aim of the project is to design a pavilion that will be located somewhere around the City Centre in Southampton, as this is the main concentration of different kind of offices and workplaces, but also there is a university campus (So potentially lots of people that are stressed, depressed, sad or upset). The main role of this pavilion will be to reduce stress and help people to calm their minds and souls even for couple of minutes for a day, which also might help people to deal with other health problems for example; depression or simply tiredness, our client believe that the nature have big influence on our wellbeing and our health, so also the aim is to bring some nature aspects within this pavilion to the heart of the City. We want this pavilion to have different function for different people, some of them can only relax there for a while alone for example on the break, some of the people can use it for daily routine like eat lunch there with friends, outside the building which in some way also could be a form of reflection and relaxation time.

Key findings -  To look at the sites, chose the best one think about approximately size of the pavilion. What materials can be used. How it will show that this is pavilion where people can relax for a while in this daily rush? Overall look of the design.

Project goals, aims and objectives - Design that help people to reduce stress and calm their minds in urban environment. Bringing some nature aspects within a design, to the concrete City.  Nature brings joy and have lots of benefits that help with our mental and physical health, and lack of nature in our life's caused us with problems like: depression, ADHD, obesity, autism and declaim in creativity, this health problems are also caused because of very stressful life which lot's of us have. Pavilion need to be interesting and attractive to involve people in, but also people need to know what this pavilion is for. Another goal is to use natural materials and to think about different function that this pavilion will have, so it will be appropriate for everyone to use and will attract people.

Background research and future aspirations -For our background research we use different kind of natural shapes and patterns to have some inspiration and to  get the first idea of our design, then we look at different designs of similar theme. Future aspirations can be a set of different pavilions around different towns in lots of different locations, but with the same theme to reduce the stress and to calm our mind. It can be that kind of project that appears and everyone knows what this is and what it is for.

Target audience and end - users -  Our audience will be the citizens of Southampton, and it will be for everyone that feel a bit unhappy, tired and stress because of some reason.

Key project stages - Different kind of diagrams to really understand and go deeply into design, how it should be look like to achieve all the goals and functions. Concept drawings and models to test every idea. Evaluate all ideas and chose the best one.

Time scales and deadlines - End of first stage of the project is: 4 of December 2015.  The deadline is for 8 of May 2016.

Deliverables - Drawings, sketches, collages, plans, visualisations.

Nature - Research

As I want my design to be based on nature theme I was doing few researches on the beginning of the unit that could back up my idea.

I was looking at why people should connect with nature and how nature affects us. 

I found out lots of different articles and journals that are explaining why nature is important in our life's and why we should explore the nature daily. 

ScienceDaily says that:

• People feel more alive being outside
• ''Nature is fuel for the soul'' - Richard Ryan
• Nature experience is immportant for out mental and physical health
• Instead of drinking coffee, go outside it is a better way t get energized 

ScienceDaily, 2010 'Spending time in nature makes people feel more alive, study shows' Source - University of Rochester [online]  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100603172219.htm [Access date 26/11/2015]

University of Minesota says that;

• Environment can increase or reduce our stress, which in turn impact our bodies
• Nature or just viewing scenes of nature reduces; anger, fear, and stress
• Nature experience help us cope with pain
• Nature increases attention span later on children with ADHD
• Time spend with nature connect us with nature
• Unpleasant environment; feel anxious, sad, helpless - this elevates your blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and suppresses your immune system. A pleasant environment reverse that. 

Taking Charge/University of Minesota, 2014, Taking charge of your health and wellbeing 'How does nature impact our wellbeing?' [online] http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/enhance-your-wellbeing/environment/nature-and-us/how-does-nature-impact-our-wellbeing [Access date 26/11/2015]

WebMD says that;

• 'Nature prescriptions' o help treat a variety of medical conditions, from post-cancer fatigue to obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
• Many health care researchers and practitioners say that ecotherapy (also known as green therapy, nature therapy, and earth-centered therapy) -- a term coined by pastoral counselor Howard Clinebell in his 1996 book of the same name -- can have regenerative powers, 
• Walk in the country reduces depression in 71% of participans
• 5 minutes in natural settings improve our mood, self-esteem, and motivation

WebMD, Health and balance, 2015, By Carol Sorgen 'Do you need a nature prescription?' [online] http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/nature-therapy-ecotherapy [Access date 26/11/2015]

This is just three research summary that I did for my project. Rest of it I have in my book where I collect everything that I do for my Feasibility Project. I did this researches to help me to understand how nature is important for us, which it also back up my design idea as I want to design a pavilion/shelter that will connect people with nature and will help them to relax. 

Guildhall Square

After showing my tutor all 3 sites, we decided that the Guildhall Square site is the most interesting, and the mos appropriate for my project (even if I'm still struggle a bit with my design). There is lots of open space where I can put my pavilion. It will also make good contrast to the site as I want my design to be from natural materials, and because on the site are lots of concrete, which make it a bit depressing. 
Site is very open which give lots of free space for my design and people will be able to move easily around the pavilion. 
Guildhall Square is in the middle of cultural quarter which bring lots of different people every day. 

Then I was asked to observe my site in different days and in different times, so I will know how the social life looks there.

Panoramic view from W. Marlands Rd

Above Bar Street/Direction City Centre

One Guildhall Building/Business Centre

Why this site is good for my project

Site plan

Different view of my site

O2 Guildhall 

Southampton Solent University Conference Centre

New Art Complex/ Under construction

One Guildhall Building

My Sites

When I was looking for my sites I was thinking where the most potential customers will be, and also to have interesting surrounding.

Site 1. Southampton University Campus. (Green space in front of the University Library)

Pictures from - Google.com

Site 2. Guildhall Square/West Marlands Road (Southampton)

Site 3. Mayflower Park (Port in Southampton)

Pictures from - Google.com

Brain storm nr 2

My idea of the design is still not very clear and need to be more specific, also I need to fully understand what I mean by my design, who it is for and what my clients are.
I still want to design something that will be in touch with nature and will be outside for people use. I chose my audience to be people that have lots of stress and need a minute to slow dawn from daily rush. I still want my design to be from natural material so it will be a fresh accent for urban core.


My brain storm nr 2:
- Nature
- Less - technology
- Natural materials
- Shelter/pavilion
- Urban environment
- Health benefits
- Including nature aspects in design
- Bring some nature to the urban core
- Green spot in built environment
- Attract people with my design

October/November

This first two months was to discover and explore what we want to do for our feasibility project which then we will continue for our final major project, and also at the same time we think about our dissertation title which should help us with our project.

From the beginning when I was thinking of my design I want it to be something based on nature, for people use, something small but compact, where people can relax or spend time with friends. I know how stressful life could be now-days, people spend more and more time in front of the screens forgetting about 'outside' world.

My brain storm nr 1 - Lack of nature in built environment make that people are suffer more and more from depression, stress and other health problems. I want to look on how natural environment are affect humans health and behaviour. This lead me to:
- Shelter/pavilion/outdoor design
- Outdoor design
- Connect people with nature through design
- Interactive pavilion
- Design that brings nature to the build core
- Natural materials
- Reducing stress (How?)
- Nature in interiors

Now I am after couple of tutorials on which I discuss with my tutor, my ideas and thoughts.

Tutor comments  :
Nature and interiors...very vague at the moment. 
You need to make this a specific project about something. 

In what context is this relaxation taking place?

Looking at Southampton university green spaces.

But these are open spaces which implies buildings ...so what are you intending to design?

Who is this for and who is your client?

To give people a place where they can choose to be alone or with other people.

What do people need? What research do you have to show what people need? You cannot just rely on your own guesswork (which is what you are also doing in your essay) to prove a point?

You need to take YOUR photos of the sites to show us what is actually there...take photos at different times to show activity.

You need to stop being lazy in your approach to analysing your site.

I already have 3 sites analysis and I chose one to be for my design.
I'm still not sure on how my project will look like, and I'm a bit struggle with it... I was talking with my study group about my ideas which was actually very helpful and help me a bit to make my idea more specific.