Urban retreat: Holictic living

Abstract

Most of us in the city live our lives in a blur, conveniently shut off ourselves to our surroundings. We find a way to do everything faster – most of us skim through the newspaper while having breakfast, we watch movies in bits while traveling, can ask our phones to send emails while driving. There are ways to even learn in your sleep now- the one time we thought we could slow down is now dressed up as an opportunity to be productive. In this media drenched, data rich, channel-surfing, computer gaming age, we have lost the art of doing nothing, of shutting out the background noise and distractions, of slowing down and simply being alone with our thoughts. Boredom – the word itself hardly existed years ago – is a modern invention. Remove all stimulation, and we fidget, panic, and look for something to do, anything to do to make use of time. When did you last see someone just gazing out the window on a train? Everyone is too busy reading the papers, playing video games, listening to iPods, working on the laptop, yammering into mobile phones. In this fast pace of life, people adapt themselves to a very robotic lifestyles, ultimately costing them their sanity, losing the head space, and the ability to lead a wholesome life. Many times, stresses humans revert to intoxicants, attaining some kind of relief, which is temporary, and gradually leading into addiction and self-harming. It is also seen that more of the stressed and troubled youth also part takes in such activity. I believe we have inherited a 21st century that disconnects people from the places where they can feel a part of something greater, submerse themselves in a moment of solitude, or connect with nature and the universe. This work is neither a call for a turn to religiosity nor an attack on modern secularism, it is an acknowledgment of the fact that spirituality remains an inseparable part of the human condition and as we need a new topology of architecture that recognises and nurtures this spirituality. Now arises the need to desperately connect back to the history of self-healing and incorporate it into the race we all run every day, called life. A breather for everyone, without any discrimination. A better and holistic lifestyle, for the present and future. A general proportion of 89% of India’s population are succumbed to stress, not feeling comfortable to talk to medical professionals. People are already resorting to relaxation therapies and meditative remedies at a rational level. Those in need of spiritual help, those in need of addiction treatment, can gather in a built environment that is not only spiritual because the outdoor signage says so, but because the architecture itself is spiritual. By creating an architectural language that serves not only as a catalyst, but as a channel for conversation between human soul and universal energy, the built environment can carry occupants to a greater spiritual existence. Architecture that is spiritually connected to the earth it occupies, will then transfer the cosmic value of the universe into the occupant, and vice versa, creating spiritual wholeness, which results in internal peace within their mind, body, and soul. And for people searching for solutions that can help with their personal demons, this architectural language could speak the answers they are wishing and/or needing to hear. Principles can help from theoretical grounding to help architecture rediscover the affective ability of architecture in reorienting society and affecting change. If architecture can reawaken us then we may yet triumph over the homogony and chaos we are presently faced with.