5 Questions For… Bruce Haden
Bruce Haden is the principal and co-founder of Human Studio. Human Studio is a Vancouver, Canada, based architecture practice that is committed to making buildings where it’s easier to connect with your neighbors. The editors of What’s Next Health reached out to ask Bruce about his new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded project, FLUID Sociability, an open-source software product that collects data to quantify how building design can impact our social interactions and our health. This interview is part of our 5 Questions For… Series.
Q: In the next twelve months, what do you hope to accomplish with the Fluid Sociability project?
A: A year from now our goal is that a broad conversation about how building design affects sociability is occurring amongst designers and building owners. We want this conversation to focus on evidence, not the type of loose hunches that all too often substitute for rigor in this area. We envision that the visualizations, metrics and ideas generated by our project will lie at the heart of this global conversation.
To help meet this goal, we will be launching our open-source FLUID sociability software product in mid-2021. With this launch, we will begin using FLUID in Human Studio’s own design, while working with a key team of collaborators to collect meaningful data using FLUID. We will promote FLUID, as well as key information on sociability and its impact on health and design, with a larger audience to build the conversation on this important area of work, and to build the user base of the tool.
We will also work to validate the use of the FLUID software tool with actual building analysis and user surveys.
Q: What hunches, signals, or trends have you seen that give you optimism that this pioneering idea will succeed?
A: Over the past decade, we’ve seen a slow rise in the literature showing increasing social isolation. Even before COVID-19, there was a well-documented loneliness epidemic. Conversely, we’re also seeing mounting evidence that social connection increases community resilience and helps both communities and individuals to overcome trauma, health issues, natural disasters and more. Architects have known intuitively for a long time that the right building design can positively impact social interaction. Creating an evidence-based system to collect real data on how design can impact social connectivity will strengthen the case for these designs, and help us to shape more resilient, happy and connected communities in the future.
Q: What do you hope to learn through this work?
A: Through this work, we hope to learn more about how design impacts sociability. Eventually, we hope to link this work to health data to be able to learn more about how mental health and community resilience are directly impacted by design.
We also are in the process of understanding serious gaps in previous research. For example, we have identified zero research on what factors are likely to turn an opportunity for a social connection (proximity and eye contact possibility) into an actual social connection.
Q: What one thing should people read, watch or listen to that will help them understand more about your ideas?
A: Our team created the introductory video below explaining more about sociability, social isolation, and the how FLUID works, and the impact that we believe it can have on the way that we design our buildings and communities.
Q: Looking ahead five, ten, fifteen years from now, how do you see this work contributing to a healthier, more equitable future?
A: We see a huge opportunity to pair our data on sociability with evidence from the public health literature to shape design standards, trends, and policy that will inform the creation of spaces and buildings that actually enhance individual and community health, and strengthen connectivity and resilience of our communities. Currently, design features that increase sociability may be “nice to have” but when supported with data, they will become a part of the norm.
Simply put, we want to help as many people as possible to have quality day-to-day interactions, and to help them build great friendships from those moments of contact. We know buildings are only a part of this picture but we are passionate about the possibility of better design to help meet this goal.
The views expressed are those of the interviewee(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
