"Expanded" Architecture

Well-being occupies an increasingly central role in our practice. As social demand grows and more scientific disciplines integrate with architecture, we expand our approach to create spaces that care for people.

At Ljudtopia, we refer to “expanded architecture” as that which transcends the traditional criteria of designing buildings and habitable environments, which historically focused on:

• • Siting and orientation
• • Climate protection
• • Resilience and durability
• • Functionality and usability
• • Aesthetics and proportion
• • Accessibility and inclusion

Today, discussing well-being in architecture requires addressing significantly more variables than in the past, primarily due to advances in the chemical/pharmaceutical industries and the proliferation of wave/frequency-emitting devices with potential health impacts.

From our beginnings, Ljudtopia has chosen to go a step further by naturally incorporating insights from specialists across disciplines. As society evolves, new threats to our physiological balance emerge – but so do solutions to counteract them. This is where architecture plays a pivotal role: by rethinking materials, building systems, and spatial distribution to deliver effective responses.

Key factors for healthy architecture

At Ljudtopia, our design process applies 14 factors, organized into three clusters, inspired by research on the built environment's health impacts:

• Occupant Health
• • Invisible hazards management: Chemical, physical & biological agents
• • Indoor air quality & health-optimized ventilation
• • Building acoustics: Harmful noise/vibration mitigation
• • Non-toxic, hygroscopic & vapor-permeable materials
• Holistic Wellbeing
• • Circadian lighting design
• • Neuroarchitecture: Subliminal environmental perception
• • Biophilic integration
• • Universal & cognitive accessibility
• • Environmental psychology in spatial design (telework, respite spaces)
• Sustainability & Resilience
• • Eco-design & low-impact materials
• • Circularity: Design for disassembly/recycling
• • Near-zero energy & emissions (nZEB, EPBD 2024)
• • Water stewardship (LEED WEp1)
• • Carbon footprint reduction & biodiversity net gain

A well-designed environment accounts for all these variables, reducing the risk of environment-attributable non-communicable diseases (as documented in the European Environment Agency report: EEA. Healthy environment, healthy lives) while enhancing health outcomes, lowering stress, and preventing burnout.

At Ljudtopia, we create buildings and spaces that prioritize health, integrating sustainable materials, innovative technologies, and human-centered designs. Because we believe architectural environments should inspire, protect, and heal.