Until a few weeks before recording this conversation, I hadn't heard of geophilia, so I invited Greek architect Lydia de León to explain it to me.

Geophilia refers to a love or strong connection people feel towards nature and their surroundings. Lydia calls hers and her husband’s firm’s work 'holistic architecture' as it considers everything including terrain, climate, history and—most fascinatingly—personal health.

I think there's something to all of it.

Modern architecture is a betrayal—ancient homes aligned with earth’s rhythms, but today’s concrete slabs mock that wisdom.

— Vandana Shiva, environmentalist and scholar

Without sounding woo-woo, the space you live in and spend much of your life certainly impacts your mental and physical health. Beauty is superior to vulgarity and your wellbeing improves when your environment works with you, not against you.

For example, the following is a photo I took in Hong Kong.

I mean, it's impressive in a sci-fi, technocratic kind of way, sure.

But it's depressing in every other way and I'm very glad I don't live there!

Depression leads to pills and physical illness. We all know what Soviet architecture looked like and what it's purpose was. We've all seen modern Western architecture and how awful it is and I'm convinced that a miserable environment adds to a miserable life.

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.

—Steve Jobs

🎙️ Podcast episode

Lydia chatted about her holistic approach to architecture including 'healing designs' of ancient temples and the role of 'sacred geometry'. She also dropped some fascinating thought bombs about history being cyclical and the existence of giants.