We spend 85% of our time inside but do we ever stop to think how the design of a building is affecting us? Architecture can change the way we feel, the way we behave, it can even change our brain.
Are we so obsessed with iconic exteriors that we’ve stopped thinking about the people inside them?
Architecture critic Tom Dyckhoff presents a three-part series looking at how architecture affects us at home, work and play, and discovers the secret ways that buildings profoundly influence our behaviour, feelings and wellbeing.
He embarks on a mischievous journey inside some of the world’s most beautiful architecture and into the buildings in which we live and work.
Abandoning his usual approach of looking at empty buildings, this series sees Dyckhoff immerse himself in the lives of the people who use them everyday.
He’ll show how we have hard-wired desires about what we want from our spaces, and reveal how architects – and businesses - manipulate these desires.
In a series of experiments, he will explore the emerging science of space with the world’s leading environmental psychologists, behaviourists, philosophers and neurologists.
Armed with this new knowledge, Dyckhoff meets some of today’s pre-eminent architects including Norman Foster, Richard Rodgers and Zaha Hadid to re-evaluate their creations with new eyes.
He challenges their assumptions by bringing the architects face-to-face with the people who actually use their buildings every day and argues that architecture should be less about ego, art and economics and more about environmental psychology and individual well-being.
Wherever you live and work: you’re never going to feel the same about buildings again.
Design: tell us what works, and hear from the experts
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Design a school
As a new academic year gets under way, some schools are settling in to new premises. But what sort of choices and trade-offs are made during the design process?
Take part nowDesign a schoolLevel: 1 Introductory
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Debate: What makes for good design in school buildings?
We nearly all have contact with schools - and we mostly all have ideas about what works and what doesn't. Share your views!
Read nowDebate: What makes for good design in school buildings?Level: 1 Introductory
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What makes a great school? Water Hall
The rebuilt Water Hall School in Milton Keynes has found favour with the people who have to use it every day - the pupils. They shared with us how great design was helping their education.
Watch nowWhat makes a great school? Water HallLevel: 1 Introductory
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Design and creativity
A series of design experts reveal their secrets, and share their tips for design which reaches the iconic.
Read moreDesign and creativity
The Secret Life Of Buildings
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The Secret Life Of Buildings - Play
As the series ends, Tom Dyckhoff explores the buildings we turn to for our leisure. Are they all they could be?
Read nowThe Secret Life Of Buildings - PlayLevel: 1 Introductory
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The Secret Life Of Buildings - Work
You might not enjoy going there, but for most, a workplace is inevitable. What can be done to make them better buildings to be in?
Read now The Secret Life Of Buildings - WorkLevel: 1 Introductory
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The Secret Life Of Buildings - Home
In the first in the series, Tom Dyckhoff explores the building that is closest to us - our homes.
Read nowThe Secret Life Of Buildings - HomeLevel: 1 Introductory
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Secret Life Of Buildings on Channel 4.com
For links to watch the programme on 4OD and more about the buildings featured, visit Channel4.com
Read moreSecret Life Of Buildings on Channel 4.com
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