Homes designed around nature can enhance wellbeing—and provide an opportunity to watch the fall colors, writes Elizabeth Fazzare
Kuusamo, Finland | Snellman Sotheby’s International Realty
There’s something about being in nature that has a calming effect. In fact, it’s scientifically proven. Research shows a direct link between the great outdoors and humans’ mental health and overall wellbeing. Homes in close proximity to nature—particularly in forests—can maximize that good feeling, especially if their architecture and design engages directly with the outdoors. And as the Northern Hemisphere embraces fall, there can be spectacular colors to observe.
Olson Kundig, a Seattle-based architecture studio, is known for its exploration of the relationship between built and natural landscapes. “We design architecture that will recede into the forest, positioning the building as secondary to nature,” explains co-principal and co-owner Kevin M. Kudo-King. Sensitively siting a home on a forested lot is crucial to achieving such harmony. “Our structures weave through and around trees,” he adds, and stand on stilts “to inhabit the forest from an elevation closer to the canopy, while still allowing native plants to grow under and around.”
Matching facade materiality to the adjacent woods through the use of timber furthers this connection, while a roof that opens to the sky taps another benefit of living in a forest: little light pollution makes for incredible stargazing. However, when designing or purchasing a home in a forest, “the most important strategy is carefully placed transparency, like windows that extend from floor to ceiling so that it feels as if you were walking outside through the forest,” says Kudo-King. “It’s even better if the windows extend down past the floor and up beyond the ceiling, removing any sense of a barrier between you and the woods beyond.”
On a forested peninsula in northern Finland’s Iso-Veska Lake, a polar pine log construction lends a rustic feel to an all-season cabin. However, the 1987 property’s large floor-to-roofline windows feel wholly contemporary—and bring nature into every room of the home through expansive vistas. In Wilson, Wyoming, the glazing designed for another custom-built retreat offers panoramic scenes of the Jackson Hole Valley, Grand Teton mountain range, and Snake River. The material palette makes a physical connection, too: handsome wood clads the exterior and continues on to the interior where it is joined by stone flooring.
Such homes with a coveted indoor-outdoor feel—especially one that can truly open to nature—brings the benefits of the environment directly to the homeowner. According to the United States’ Forest Service, forests have “a higher concentration of oxygen than urban spaces do” as well as the airborne presence of phytoncides, a plant chemical that when breathed in can reduce blood pressure, heart rate, and stress, and help the human body fight disease.
“The forest can feel like a safe place; instead of feeling exposed, you feel cozy and protected,” says Kudo-King. “The light is dappled rather than intense. The smells are soft and familiar, and there’s a comforting level of humidity.” Extending these sensations through architecture is a worthwhile goal.
Kuusamo, Finland | Snellman Sotheby’s International Realty
After all, as Kudo-King states: “Time in the forest is akin to time meditating: your anxieties melt away, your heart rate drops, and your mind clears”—and the latest science seems to back him. Who wouldn’t want that?
