Positive Health ( Integrated medicine for the 21st Century ) Issue 95 December/January 2004
Review by solar design engineering consultant Dr. Richard Hobday

In this book Thomas Saunders argues that the quality of our lives is being steadily diminished and that we are adapting to the process - like a frog in water which is gradually being heated to boiling point.

Our health is being compromised because we inhabit a built environment which has not been arranged to promote wellbeing. Modern buildings undermine the health of people who live and work in them in a variety of ways and these are examined in the first part of The Boiled Frog Syndrome.

Common hazards include contaminated air, radon gas, land contamination, asbestos, electromagnetic fields, overhead power lines, noise pollution, geopathic stress and inadequate maintenance. In each case there are suggestions as how best to minimize their adverse effects.

The content of the second half of the book proves to be much more challenging and controversial. This identifies why it is that older buildings sometimes possess the positive life-enhancing qualities which modern buildings so often lack, and introduces the reader to some of the more esoteric aspects of design which were practised in earlier times: geomancy; holistic medicine; and the application of the principles of 'divine harmony'. Each of these would have been familiar to traditional master builders such as Vitruvius, the Roman military engineer and architect whose Ten Books on Architecture have been widely read since they were written 2000 years ago, but little understood.

Vitruvius held that the true architect should possess a working knowledge of medicine. This was essential if an architect was able to select a healthy site for both cities and for buildings within the city walls. Unfortunately, medicine no longer forms part of an architect's training, nor do many other disciplines which Vitruvius stipulated an architect should learn and practise. The author suggests that the quality of the built environment will only improve if schools of architecture provide students with the skills that Vitruvius said they should possess. He also recognizes that building is a collective endeavour, and that an informed client can be as important to a successful outcome as a talented designer.

This provocative book may not win many converts within the building professions but it will give potential clients and building occupants, some valuable insights into the art of creating spaces that are harmonious and healthy.

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