Webinar | Beyond Aesthetics: Wellness in the Built Environment

How can architecture move beyond aesthetics to truly nurture wellness in our lives, our cities, and our planet? This question guided the latest Architecture Hunter webinar, where two renowned architects - Koichi Takada (Koichi Takada Architects, Sydney) and Sanjay Puri (Sanjay Puri Architects, Mumbai) - shared their visions of a built environment designed not only to be seen, but to be lived in with health, balance, and connection. The conversation revealed how wellness can be embedded in architecture through sensitivity to nature, climate, and community.

Koichi began by reflecting on his own childhood in Japan, where nature was the playground, and contrasted it with the fast-paced, overstimulated life of contemporary cities. For him, wellness means slowing down and restoring our bond with the natural world. “We need to slow down and reconnect with nature - architecture can help us remember how to be human again,” he said. His projects embody this principle in diverse contexts: in Shanghai, the Solar Trees Marketplace transforms an urban site into a pedestrian forest that revives traditional market life; in Brisbane, the Upper House crowns its tower not with penthouses but with shared wellness spaces - “the best spot in the building for everyone,” as he described - fostering social encounters within timber canopies inspired by fig tree roots. On Australia’s Gold Coast, Norfolk adapts to climate through pinecone-inspired forms, while in Italy, the Sunflower House prototype proposes rotating homes that follow the sun, harvest energy, and tune comfort naturally.

Sanjay approached wellness through the lens of context and climate, showing how architecture can achieve comfort without excess energy. In Rajasthan, he designed a house in Bhilwara that uses unfired bricks, lime plaster, and a protective envelope to create naturally cool interiors despite extreme heat. His 100-acre workers’ township grows along the land’s contours, weaving shaded courtyards into daily life and running on harvested rainwater and residual energy. In Nasik, a hotel embraces natural ventilation and local stone, with solar panels supplying much of its energy. Most striking was the Nokha Village Community Centre, built in sandstone by local villagers, with a rooftop garden and rainwater reservoir that transform a desert community’s relationship with space, learning, and gathering. “When a space is naturally lit and naturally cooled, it evokes a sense of well-being,” Sanjay affirmed, “and that can happen at any scale, with any budget.”

Both architects reminded us that the question of how we live, not just what we build, is the core of architectural responsibility. Together, their voices converged on a simple yet urgent truth: wellness in architecture is not an add-on but a responsibility. It emerges when design respects climate, celebrates nature, and fosters human connection. As this webinar made clear, moving beyond aesthetics means designing for life itself.

_article written by Daniela Moreira da Silva
_speaker 01: Koichi Takada - Principal at Koichi Takada Architects
_speaker 02: Sanjay Puri - Principal Architect at Sanjay Puri Architects