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How do buildings make you feel?

It’s a question we’ve been asking in lots of places. And the answers might surprise you.

Because the way buildings look from the outside isn’t just a neutral thing, a backdrop to our urban lives. People instinctively tell us that it can actually affect their mental health.

In 2023 Humanise commissioned Thinks Insight + Strategy to survey people in the UK. 76% of people told us that they way buildings look impacts their mental health. “If when you’re walking down the street and the buildings look all similar then it is quite depressing,” one said.

And it’s not just a UK thing either. We asked the same question of people in Seoul, South Korea in 2025. 90% of them told us that the outsides of buildings impacts how they feel. We’re asking people in the US in 2026 too.