Ener-Chi Solutions

From our own experience we know that shortly after we enter a space, a building, an office, a restaurant, or a store, we have a visceral experience of whether the space makes us feel good or not. Beyond our direct experience are physiological, mental, and emotional responses to things we can’t see or feel or be aware of. Things like the air quality. The water quality. The acoustics and so on. 

The design, flow, materials and overall gestalt of a space greatly affect our health, well-being, and even our creativity. 

Sometimes we are unaware of these influencing and impacting elements and forces. They may not be visible to our eyes or register with our senses. They may affect us just as leaves are moved by wind. 

We see the leaves moving, yet the wind is invisible. Sometimes we are moved and deeply affected by things we can’t see or sense.

A great example of this is the story of the development of the Salk vaccine for Polio. It may never have been discovered had it not been for the impact that architecture had on Jonas Salk. He had been working on developing a cure for polio in his Pittsburgh laboratory with no success. He took a trip to Umbria, Italy and spent time at the monastery at the Basilica of Assisi. It was during his stay there that he had inspiration in the development of the vaccine for Polio. 

As Salk would say:

“The spirituality of the architecture there was so inspiring that I was able to do intuitive thinking far beyond any I had done in the past. Under the influence of that historic place I intuitively designed the research that I felt would result in a vaccine for polio. I returned to my laboratory in Pittsburgh to validate my concepts and found they were correct.”