The Garden of Emotions
The spaces around us hold the key to our wellbeing- and we should design them with this in mind.
Think back to life, pre-pandemic. Do you remember how you were feeling? For most of us, whether we were in a great place or somewhere not so good, the complexity and stability of our wellbeing has been in fluctuation ever since Covid-19 forced the world to grind to a halt. Our collective awareness around mental health and wellbeing has rocketed in recent years, led by a generation of Gen Z-ers determined to unearth those pesky feelings we’ve worked so hard to bury behind our stiff upper lips. Despite this new, heightened awareness, however, a year of lockdowns has left many of us without the tools we need to take care of ourselves and our minds.
A 2018 study of 38,000 students in the UK found that almost nine in ten struggled with feelings of anxiety. After eighteen months of lockdown and remote learning away from their peers, this has only worsened. It’s tempting for some of us to dismiss feelings like anxiety as a sign of weakness- aren’t they just outcries from a generation of ‘snowflakes’? But the students of today are the workforce of tomorrow. They are our doctors, our nurses, our scientists and campaigners. For many, starting university may be the first and only opportunity to access mental health support. Our 2021 project, People and the Pandemic, championed the extraordinary contributions from staff and students at King’s College London in the fight against Covid-19, but our work with NHS staff for Night Club has also highlighted the alarming rate of burnout suffered by healthcare workers and professionals.
Discussions around student wellbeing conducted by King’s College London revealed four key challenges that their students face: coping with uncertainty, building resilience, a lack of tools for self care and a loss of social connections with their peers. Whilst these feelings have been brought to light by the pandemic, they are familiar challenges that we can all face in our personal and working lives. With this in mind, we have partnered with King’s to create a space specifically tailored to help students — and staff — to connect more deeply to their wellbeing and needs.
Nestled in Science Gallery London, The Garden of Emotions is a multi-sensory environment that allows visitors to step out of their day to day and take a moment of personal and emotional reflection. Using elements of the natural world, large-scale provocations and nuggets of practical content, the space encourages visitors to identify and work through their individual needs, connect with others, or simply sit quietly and breathe.
Building nature into our urban landscapes is not a new concept — we know that the world around us can have a profound effect on our mental state. Studies have shown that simply being in green spaces can boost the serotonin and dopamine levels in our brains. With plants spilling out around comfy deckchairs and soundscapes of birdsong floating across the air, The Garden of Emotions brings nature to life for visitors, whilst the zones of content and exercises support different emotional states and offer advice for self care.
Normalising a culture of care in the workplace will have a fundamental impact on the future of our society, and for this to be successful it needs to go beyond digital delivery. The Garden of Emotions has been designed to be a multisensory experience that offers a compact wellbeing solution, taking over a small space but creating a big impact.
We believe that good design can change the way people think, feel and act. If you would like us to create a wellbeing space for your organisation, business or institution, get in touch. Email amanda@the-liminal-space.com to find out more.
