Most of us know the feeling of walking into a room and wanting to stay. The light is soft, the chairs are comfortable, the noise of the street seems to fall away. Just as often, we know the opposite: rooms that feel cold, cramped or tiring, even when we can’t say why.
Designers and architects have thought about this for a long time. Writers from psychology, philosophy and neuroscience have joined the conversation too, asking why some spaces lift our mood and others wear us down.
The books below come at the question from different directions. One is a short essay written in Japan in the 1930s. Others are by an architect, a philosopher, a designer and an architecture critic. Some are practical, with ideas you could try at home this weekend. Others are more reflective, and change how you see the rooms you already live in.
What they share is the belief that the places we spend our time are worth thinking about. Not for how they look in photographs, but for how they feel to live in.
You don’t need to be planning a renovation to enjoy them.
1. Joyful, by Ingrid Fetell Lee. How colour, shape and light affect how we feel.
2. The Architecture of Happiness, by Alain de Botton. A philosopher on why buildings matter to us.
3. Happy by Design, by Ben Channon. An architect’s guide to architecture and mental wellbeing.
4. Welcome to Your World, by Sarah Williams Goldhagen. How the built environment shapes our lives.
5. In Praise of Shadows, by Jun’ichiro Tanizaki. A short essay on light, darkness and Japanese rooms.
6. Your Brain on Art, by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross. How the arts change us.
