4 min read
What is Good Design Responsible For?
We spend most of our lives indoors. WLLW founder Lisa Sternfeld explores what that means for the way we think about good design.
WORDS Lisa Sternfeld
For years, I’ve seen the statistic that we spend roughly 90 percent of our lives indoors. It’s a big number, but recently I started thinking about what it actually means over the course of a life.
If you live to 80, that’s approximately 72 years spent indoors. That’s 72 years spent sleeping, eating, working, raising families, gathering, resting and simply living in the spaces we create around ourselves. When you think about a home across that length of time, the decisions we make take on a different significance.
For most of my career, good design meant many of the things designers have always cared deeply about: beauty, function, proportion, craftsmanship, comfort and the way a space makes someone feel. My own experience with environmental health fundamentally expanded that definition. I didn't stop caring about beauty. I just started expecting more from it. That shift changed the way I think about design and what good design is ultimately responsible for.
We tend to think about a home as a collection of individual choices: the paint on the walls, the sofa we sit on, the light above the kitchen counter, the mattress we sleep on and the water coming from the tap. Together, they create the conditions we live within every day. The design process may end, but our exposure to those decisions does not.
Good design has always considered how people experience a space: how they move through it, what they touch and see, where they gather and how a place makes them feel. But there is another layer to consider: how our surroundings interact with our bodies.
A window determines a view and the quality of light in a room, while that same light helps regulate the body's circadian rhythms. A rug changes how a room looks and feels, while its fibers, backing, dyes and treatments become part of the indoor environment. A bedroom can be beautiful, while its air quality, temperature, light, sound and materials all contribute to the conditions for sleep.
“The design process may end, but our exposure to those decisions does not.”
Lisa Sternfeld
Our surroundings can also actively support us: morning light that helps anchor the beginning of the day, fresh air, a connection to nature, materials that feel good in the hand, and spaces that encourage sleep, conversation, movement and gathering. We can be aware of what we want to limit in our homes while also asking what our surroundings can offer us. That changes the questions we ask.
One of the simplest questions I ask when looking at a material or product is: What is this made of? We know the color, dimensions, price, lead time and performance specifications. We may know that something is described as natural, sustainable or low-VOC. We often don't know what's actually in it.
What has been added to it? How has it been treated? What is in the finish, coating, adhesive or backing? What does the manufacturer disclose? Those questions help us make more informed choices and create demand for something our industry needs much more of: transparency.
The same thinking extends beyond materials, to the quality of our air and water, daylight, sound, nature and the ways a home supports sleep, movement, gathering and rest. These questions belong in the design process.
A home may take months or years to design, but it will be lived in for decades. Through mornings and meals, nights of sleep, children growing up, celebrations, routines and thousands of ordinary days, what we create becomes part of everyday life.
Which brings me back to 72 years.
What is good design responsible for? For me, the answer has expanded. Beauty is still at the heart of good design. I just believe we can ask and expect more of it: to consider the air we breathe, the water we drink, the materials we touch, the light and sound we experience, and ultimately, how a home supports the people living within it.
Feature Image: iStock
