CANNES, France – March 30, 2022 – CRTKL personnel Katie Pattison, Associate Principal and Jodi Willaims, Principal, recently attended MIPIM, an international property event hosted in Cannes, to join the panel “Delivering Happiness Now: A New Global Index.” The panel focused on answering the question, “What makes people happy, and why is it now more important than ever to harness it?”
We spend over 90% of our time within the built environment, so how do we look to build resilience and wellbeing from a human-centric perspective? Happiness is becoming a currency, recognized by governments and corporations alike, but why should the property sector take notice?
CRTKL has formed the Happiness by Design partnership with culture coach DH Global, and leading Egyptian developer Mountain View, working together on a pilot project in Egypt with Mountain View’s ‘Happy HQ’ being used as a case study for Happiness design principles in action. Combining CRTKL’s human-centric design expertise with DH Globe’s science of happiness, the data-driven process has been worked into a Happiness by Design Index, which could potentially be as important as BREEAM in assessing the performance and social impact of design.
At MIPIM, the partnership – moderated by Katie Pattison and joined by DH Global Director, Javier Muñoz and Mountain View Founder Soliman as well as our own Jodi Williams — unpacked the Happiness movement, explored how something as intangible as Happiness can be effectively measured, and discussed the benefits of a Happiness-led building design approach for all involved.
“[Since the pandemic], now when we ask each other ‘How are you?’ there’s much more depth to that question,” Javier began. “Mental health is now more relevant than ever… and when we consider the five dimensions of happiness that we know: meaning, vitality, connectedness, autonomy and progress, we can leverage the built space as an opportunity to disseminate those values.”
From there, Amr shared how the Mountain View Headquarters building was the first designed and executed by the Happiness Design Co team and has since become a precedent in the Middle East to be studied for future design. “Seemingly simple solutions like the air bridges we have between offices and amenities provide a connection with nature to imbue happiness even on your way to the bathroom.”
Amr also shared insights on Mountain View’s profitability from 2019 to now as a company and showed that revenue has increased from $3 million to $20 million in the past three years since the inception of the Happiness by Design initiative.
Finally, Jodi discussed the importance of cultural pathways to connect people with place. “The key when we talk about designing for happiness,” she starts “is to connect the people – with their unique knowledge and skills – to the cultural initiatives and pathways that lead them towards happy design. Based on the science of happiness and the science of design, this dynamic system provides a roadmap to make better connections between buildings and the people who inhabit them.”
Watch the full panel discussion here: