When we design, every team member at VMDO considers how our work can promote the health and well-being of individuals and an entire community. With empathy and compassion, we design with a strong desire to improve and enhance our livelihoods. Currently, a growing number of American adolescents and adults struggle with some type of mental illness, and access to affordable resources that promote health and well-being is critical to promoting health. So, when considering the growing mental health crisis, designers at VMDO began exploring how greenspace and parks can promote well-being and provide proven physical, emotional, mental, and social benefits. Many of our team members doubled down on ways we could connect people and nature within our built environments and communities—and how greenspace and a connection to nature promote well-being.
But first, it’s important to better understand our built environment and how to design with wellness in mind due to the current state of our nation:
- In America, 1 out of 5 adults suffers from a mental illness, but around 60% of them don’t receive treatment.
- In 2019, 20% of the US population were diagnosed with a mental illness—which is 50 million people.
- Half of U.S. adults who have a mental illness (nearly 27 million people) are battling mental illness without treatment.
- 10.6% of American youth suffer from major depression. These youth are among the most vulnerable of our population and are the future of society (NAMI, 2022).
- Those suffering from depression are 40% more likely to develop heart disease, one of the leading causes of death in the United States.
- Over a third of those diagnosed with a mental illness experience substance abuse which leads to further dramatic physical consequences.
- Individuals who are suffering from mental illness are far more likely to experience sleep-related problems such as sleep apnea and insomnia.
- There is a strong link between those suffering from mental illness and chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and arthritis (PlanStreet, 2022).
Additionally, when considering the COVID-19 global pandemic, the World Health Organization found that in the first year of the pandemic, “global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25%” (WHO, 2022). A few explanations of this increase include the unprecedented stress caused by social isolation from the pandemic, loneliness, fear of infection, suffering and death for oneself and for loved ones, grief after losing a loved one, financial worries, and so forth.
In an effort to address these growing problems and provide adequate care and resources after the first few years of the pandemic, VMDO continues to focus its efforts on promoting health and well-being through design by implementing evidence-based design methods that promote well-being—such as access to natural light, green space, and the outdoors—in every building.
One major reason VMDO has focused on increasing access to green space is because a growing body of research has found that access to green space can improve individual health and wellness. For instance, a sweeping 2019 nationwide study of approximately one million people in Denmark found that childhood exposure to green space – forests, parks, hiking trails, etc.– reduces the risk of developing an array of psychiatric disorders during adolescence and adulthood. As the largest epidemiological study to date documenting a positive connection between green space and mental health, this research reaffirms what we’ve known all along – that access and views to nature, coupled with immersive learning and sustained exposure to natural settings, serve as effective strategies for enhancing health and wellness. Layered onto this knowledge is now specific evidence that green space-focused planning and design are effective early intervention tools for reducing mental health problems later in life.
Stead Park Aerial Rendering
With this research in mind, we considered questions such as: what are the nimble planning, operational, and community-based park design strategies that can help maximize exposure to nature and its benefits while still enforcing public health guidelines during the pandemic, now and into the future? We studied biophilic design and how to incorporate this practice into our community-based designs. To learn more about biophilic design, you can read about the biophilic design initiative and 14 patterns of biophilic design here and here.
And since then, VMDO has been fortunate to work on multiple projects, including urban parks, that provide access to green space, improve community engagement, and provide necessary community resources. A few of these projects include Lubber Run Park and Community Center (Arlington, VA), Original Mt. Vernon High School Human Development Center (Alexandria, VA), Stead Park Recreation Center (Washington, D.C.), and Marlow Heights Community Center (Marlow Heights, MD).
Using Lubber Run as a case study, this community center was designed with strategies that promote accessibility and flexibility, offer connections to nature within an urban footprint, and recognize the need for mental health support and services during rapidly changing times.
Lubber Run Front Entrance
Together, Arlington Parks & Recreation and VMDO developed a context-specific community engagement process involving a series of transparent public workshops that generated community feedback in an effort to promote equity, access, public health, and sustainable design. The team applied an empathetic approach to gathering cross-generational voices that informed the design of numerous blended spaces connected to nature – spaces inside, outside, and thresholds in between, interweaving building and landscape. Through an interactive design process with input from community members, VMDO selected a final design that sought to blur the distinction between indoors and outdoors and encourage occupants to feel connected to the park landscape around them. The 50,000 SF replacement structure includes both indoor and outdoor programming that promotes exercise, healthy eating, community gathering, open recreation spaces, improved access to the facility, and much more. The final design offers a holistic response to an urban challenge – ultimately creating a public space that is greater and greener for residents.
Lubber Run Entrance from the Street
Lubber Run Ramp to Underground Parking Garage + Outdoor Programming Spaces
We look forward to advancing projects that improve both individual and community health and collaborating with researchers, designers, community members, and so on to create built environments that better serve community needs and promote well-being.
Citations:
Engemann K, Pedersen CB, Arge L, Tsirogiannis C Mortensen PB, Svenning JC. Residential green space in childhood is associated with lower risk of psychiatric disorders from adolescence into adulthood. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Mar 12;116(11):5188-5193. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1807504116. Epub 2019 Feb 25. PMID: 30804178; PMCID: PMC6421415.
National Alliance on Mental Health Illness. (2022, June). Mental health by the numbers. NAMI. Retrieved June 22, 2022, from https://www.nami.org/mhstats
The current state of Mental Health in America in 2022. PlanStreet. (2022, April 6). Retrieved June 17, 2022, from https://www.planstreetinc.com/the-current-state-of-mental-health-in-america/#:~:text=Over%20a%20third%20of%20those,as%20sleep%20apnea%20and%20insomnia
World Health Organization. (n.d.). Covid-19 pandemic triggers 25% increase in prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide. World Health Organization. Retrieved July 1, 2022, from https://www.who.int/news/item/02-03-2022-covid-19-...
