What's Up Docs? Can buildings make us healthier?
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Mar 24, 2026 Lisa Finlay, architect and partner at Heatherwick Studio, talks about how design, light, materials and spatial choices at Coal Drops Yard shape wellbeing. She describes openings, circulation and varied vantage points that invite curiosity and social life. The conversation highlights how visual interest, scale and accessible routes can lift mood and encourage movement.
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Built Environment Shapes Health
- Buildings silently shape mental and physical health by directing behaviour and emotions.
- Coal Drops Yard's openness, seating, and preserved Victorian fabric create calm, sociable spaces that people choose for relaxation.
Encourage Flow And Discovery In Spaces
- Design or choose routes and spaces that flow, offer multiple entries, and create discovery.
- At Coal Drops Yard opened archways, ramps, and varied levels deliberately encourage wandering and slow, relaxed movement.
Visual Character Is Architectural Nutrition
- Visual character and 'visual nutrition' in buildings produce emotional responses like joy and curiosity.
- Heatherwick Studio leverages existing historic fabric at Coal Drops Yard to give people memorable, human-scale detail.
