“Wellness” is having a moment.
It’s in our inboxes, on our cereal boxes, and it’s made its way into landscape architecture, too. But at BLOCS, we’ve always believed wellness is more than just fitness stations and yoga lawns. It should support the whole person: physically, socially, and emotionally.
Here’s how we break that down:
Physically:
Okay, fine, you caught us. This might include a yoga lawn. But physical wellness, to us, is about more than just plopping down a few workout stations. It’s about designing landscapes that actually make people want to move. How do we encourage someone to walk across a site instead of cutting around it? Can the stairs feel more inviting than the elevator? It’s about using design to nudge people into motion without them even realizing it.
Socially:
This one’s our favorite, because it’s fun. For most people, wellness means feeling connected: to others, to place, to community. And what better stage for that than the outdoors? Sure, seating areas are great (we love a good table arrangement), but we also ask: what else sparks interaction? A quirky piece of art that starts a conversation. Shared tools or games that make people share and interact. Moveable furniture that lets people shape their own moment. Social wellness lives in those subtle, delightful design cues that bring people together.
Emotionally:
Landscapes should make people feel good. That means offering spaces that support a range of moods. Places to be alone, places to be near others without joining in, and places that help people process what they’re feeling. Real emotional wellness is about belonging. Our job is to create spaces that welcome people as they are, no matter what headspace they’re in.
We invite our clients and collaborators to push beyond the surface-level idea of wellness (no shade to Goop, but you get it). Let’s