Three Aspects to Consider When Designing Your Home
May 6, 2017
Leé goes to Leh! [and some window stuff]
July 9, 2017The influence of flowers in our senses is proven and not only in sight or smell, there are many studies (here and here) demonstrating how flowers positively affect our mood and our psyche.
We are attracted to flowers from earlier than we believe, there are studies that show pollen deposits found in burial sites dating back from 100 000 years ago. Historically we are attracted to flowers not only for its colours, smells and shapes but because flowers mark the place where later there will be fruit, so our attraction to them is ingrained in our brain. Even more, there are theories that talk about how flowers may have evolved to attract humans in addition to attract insects to help them reproduce.
Aside from the many studies, in architecture, flowers can change the whole look of a house, change the feeling of a business or change how much we enjoy a city.
Below we present you with a few ways we can explore and utilize the famous “flower power” in the level of architecture:
In our house:
- If you live in an apartment, hanging or putting flower pots is the easiest way to change the look of your house, you can hang them from the balcony or windows.
- You can use for example bougainvilleas to create a flower roof over your patio or pergola.
- Another way to use the bougainvilleas is as a natural fence because of its spiky branches it is a good protection instead of a spiky wire for example, bougainvilleas can grow very big and you can shape them as you wish, it is always nice to see a wall of pink flowers along the pavement than the usual common wall.
In your business:
- Flowers are welcoming and attract people, putting pot flowers by the entrance or in the terrace of a restaurant will invite people to sit.
- Use flowers as a decorative feature, to add contrast to the colours of the walls and to make it more alive, for example a white wall with pots of red flowers or a blue wall with yellow round shaped flowers.
- Flowers have shown too to improve creativity, therefore adding pot of flowers near your work station can help you relax and make you more productive.
On the urban level:
- There is nothing nicer than a street full of trees and pots with flowers, a kerb with flowers of different colours influence the number of people passing by, which can make a street safer.
- We can create beautiful settings with flowers in a park, depending on the type of flowers, they can blossom at different times of the year and change the appearance of the park in radical ways. Flowers attract butterflies, bees and different insects that can get little children out of the house and exploring.
A story
One of the best experiences I had regarding flowers was during my trip to Spain, in many of the towns I went through, there were many streets full of hanging pots of geraniums. It was incredible how a simple flower could change the whole face of the street, not only that, but in Leon there were towers of flowers, many people stood by to take pictures. Leon seeks to be the “city of the flowers” as per a Spanish newspaper, I think it is a great idea as it increased the tourism which at the same time helps businesses in the city.
