There are approximately 1,73 million apartment balconies in Finland. In a context where housing design qualities are under threat due to a drive towards energy efficiency and profitability, it is ever more important to consider the meaning of the balcony from the perspective of the residents’ well-being. Balconies are being studied within the Sustainable Housing Design research group ASUTUT at Tampere University. Approaches include design, usability, adaptability, energy and well-being.
Balconies overlooking the Aura river in Turku, Finland.
The recent Covid 19 pandemic highlighted the importance of the quality of housing design to create a resilient society that can respond to unpredictability. In most of the world, residential balconies were shown to be crucial as private outdoor space during the pandemic, for mental well-being, and were important as a visual connection to outside. If designed well, they can also support an adaptable and flexible use, potentially extending the living space and its time span of use.
In Finland, glazed balconies have been implemented widely since the 1980’s. Predominantly to increase the usability of the balcony, glazing has been shown to play an important role in overall building performance. The current design solutions are efficient in reducing energy consumption, for heating in the winter, and improving the durability of concrete structures.
At the same time negative impacts, although unintended, are observed at the scale of the balcony. The recent addition of glazed enclosures and the increasingly high temperatures of this Nordic climate cause problems of overheating and discomfort as well as a potential need for cooling systems in the apartments. The current trend of fully glazed railing systems, although providing views when sitting down and seemingly aesthetically appreciated, can create a ‘fishbowl’ effect that effects visual privacy.
The extension of balconies across facades implies no or limited direct access to daylight other than through the balcony. It creates a negative shading effect, amplified in a context where living spaces are already reduced and building depths extended. This results in diminished access to direct natural light.
These few examples highlight the implications and interconnections of balcony design in relation to user health, comfort, and happiness. However, in the grand scheme of things, on the scale of humans as a now indoor species, it is at a much broader level that we should first consider the potential of this architectural feature for our well-being.
As a basis for further reflections, the theories explored below are meant to help us discover new ways of optimising and developing our whole built environment.
Balconies overlooking the Kupittaa park in Turku, Finland.
Being outdoors
Biophilia is a concept that describes the human tendency to interact with other forms of life (nature, plants, animals, the environment, etc.) and the consequential joy and delight it brings us. Access to natural light, ventilation and views are often mentioned as attributes of biophilic design, but providing access to nature is another element high on the designers’ checklist on how to enhance this concept in building design.
Rightfully so, it can be argued that the term ‘nature’ is incorrectly used in a context of urban developments and makes us wonder on what constitutes contact with nature? Can it simply be associated with being outdoors? There is no clear definition on which we can rely as the concept of nature is so broad and multi-disciplinary.
A more common understanding of nature is green space or vegetation, and research has shown that outdoor environments influence overall health and mortality and that access to more greenery significantly lowers mortality rates from various illnesses.
In summary, there is a deep and unfailing benefit of spending time outside. With that in mind, the protection and increase of vegetation in urban areas, and providing visual connection with living spaces through window design, and balconies are part of this. At the scale of urban housing design, the residential balcony can play a big role as it is often the only element in urban apartments that enables this indoor-outdoor connection.
Balconies overlooking a courtyard in Helsinki, Finland.
Concept of ‘Prospect and refuge’
To explain preferences for an ideal environment and spaces, prospect-refuge theory explains that we look for surroundings where we both feel protected and can monitor our environment. In the fields of architecture and design, the definition was extended and suggests that increased opportunities for collecting and discovering information creates better living conditions if balanced with feelings of safety. This theory can help create spaces that are comfortable, stimulating and fulfilling for users and that promote well-being.
This is seldom linked to balcony design in literature. However, as a semi-enclosed space overlooking a public space, balconies seem like the ideal protagonist to fulfil the natural human motivation to explore our environment while being in the safety of our own private space.
One might argue that increasingly smaller distances between housing blocks, large, glazed facades and lack of greenery allow for greater opportunities of monitoring our environment, but it also can make us feel more exposed.
Balconies overlooking the harbour in Västerås, Sweden.
Circadian health
Seasons as well as 24-hour periods of day and night link human physiology and circadian rhythms, and it is crucial for our well-being to help us avoid circadian disruption. It influences among other things our sleep patterns, brain activity, metabolism, hormones and has an overall positive effect on our emotional state. In Finland, it can be particularly difficult to balance especially during the long winter months. Exposure to artificial light and noise pollution can affect circadian health negatively, and highlights the importance of the overall quality of our environment.
As we now spend most of our time indoors and are exposed to electric lighting at night, there is a bigger risk of disrupting our circadian rhythm. The characteristics of a building in terms of exposure to light (timing, amount, natural or artificial, etc.) is therefore important to ensure the health and well-being of the user.
This essential relationship with the built environment potentially presents the balcony with great opportunities to benefit our circadian health. Undoubtedly, access to a balcony provides more natural light at daytime which would help establish and reset the circadian rhythm.
Healing daylight and fresh air
Sunlight and air are two main themes that recur in relation to how housing conditions affect health and well-being.
While our circadian health is mainly regulated by the dark-light cycle, the link between daylight and our health is not only circadian. Daylight is valuable to treat certain conditions, e.g., the sanatorium movement that emerged in the late 19th century in response to tuberculosis. The treatment consisted not only to expose patients to sunshine but also fresh air for which the balcony became an essential tool.
Following the health concerns regarding poorly ventilated housing conditions and the energy crises of the late 20th century as well as the concerns of energy efficiency, increased airtightness was introduced with reduced window sizes and ventilation openings, jeopardising access to sunlight and natural ventilation at warmer times of year.
Conclusion
Considering sustainability, spaces that satisfy residents’ well-being and needs, including balconies, are clearly likely to be more enduring over time. The choices made regarding our built environment have effect over a long period of time and on many people over its lifetime. This increases the importance to promote a sustainable built environment that advocates for user well-being.
As part of this, understanding the perspectives of all stakeholders involved in the design process (i.e., policymakers, urban planners, developers, designers) and the users (i.e., residents), as well as the architecture in a comprehensive manner (energy and daylight models, in-situ monitoring of daylight, apartment floor plan analyses, etc.) is essential and is done so with the overreaching goal to optimise their sustainability potential of residential balconies.
We briefly touched upon the meanings of the residential balcony for our wellbeing, whether it just being the possibility to be outdoors, connected to outside and especially nature, or a tool to fulfil our human needs of clear views and safety. Good balcony design should be a main concern in our growing cities with for instance the various benefits of easy access to daylight and fresh air.
Fresh air can make us feel happier, give us more energy, improve metabolism, and support our immune system. When balconies can provide this daily, they undeniably are very valuable to our well-being.
Léna Jegard
Architect M.Sc
Doctoral Researcher
Photographs: Léna Jegard, Matti Karjanoja.
Further reading:
Heschong L., Visual Delight in Architecture, Daylight, Vision, and View, 2021, Routeledge & CRC Press.
Baker N., Steemers, N., Healthy Homes: Designing with light and air for sustainability and well-being, 2019, RIBA books.
Dosen, Annemarie S., and Michael J. Ostwald. Evidence for Prospect-Refuge Theory: A Meta-Analysis of the Findings of Environmental Preference Research. City, Territory and Architecture 3, no. 1 (May 4, 2016): 4. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40410-016-0033-1.
James, Peter, Jaime E. Hart, Rachel F. Banay, and Francine Laden. Exposure to Greenness and Mortality in a Nationwide Prospective Cohort Study of Women. Environmental Health Perspectives 124, no. 9 (September 2016): 1344–52. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1510363.